Addis Ababa is Safer than My Birthplace, Toronto: Windsor University Student

Addis Ababa January 17/2022 /ENA/ Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa is much safer even to walk at night than my birthplace, Toronto, Canada, a Windsor University Student, Jason Okoro Power said.

Jason came from Canada with his mother as part of the Great Ethiopian Homecoming Challenge initiated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that invited one million Ethiopian diaspora and friends of Ethiopia during the celebration of this year’s Christmas and Epiphany.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Jason said despite the fact that the country is going through hard times due to various reasons, the Great Ethiopian Homecoming initiative is a good idea as it provides Ethiopians to visit their home and support the nation especially in this moment.

Witnessing the current situation in the country in person Jason said, Ethiopia is very safe and I am very happy and proud of what the government of Prime Minister Abiy is doing to ensure the peace and stability of the country.  

“The western media are definitely over exaggerating the situation. They have been doing this for a very long time. However, Ethiopia is very safe; me and my friend have been going around Addis. We have been to the lounges, to different restaurants and this is even a lot safer than you had expected. It’s even a lot safer like it's safer to walk in Addis Ababa at night than the city I was born in Toronto, Canada.”…So, this is very much over exaggeration from the BBC, CNN and Aljazeera especially on what is happening in Ethiopia and this is not a new thing.”

This is not the first time this has happened, he said adding that these media outlets have been doing this continuously since Africa started to gain its independence.

The idea of the Great Ethiopian Homecoming is a very intelligent idea that can be replicated by Africans, he pointed out.

 “Since I am very much into politics, in the future I want to be politician, but since I am now in university, I like to maybe on the media to fight against the western media which really doesn't care about Africa."

He created club in his university ‘Black Student Union’ which is composed of people of African descent and bring topics that are very important to Africa.

“If we can discuss issues and find it best for our continent, now be the first steps I can take in order to help promote pan Africanism.”

His mother, Choice Ufuoma Okoro, who also joined the Great Homecoming  on her part said that the wellbeing of Ethiopia is the wellbeing of Africa and Ethiopia is the defender of stability in this region.

She added that some western media are ignoring the impressive progress in Ethiopian and sending out only message of war.  

 “Africans have a common board to say no, we are with Ethiopia and we want strong Ethiopia and we want to stop the miscommunication, exaggeration and lie that have been perpetuated by western media about what was happing in Ethiopia,” she stated.

Italians celebrate Rome as a romantic city in the world and “we all have accepted,” she pointed out that “but when they talk about Africa, they say the poorest country in the world which African government should start to reject.”    

“Ethiopia is ready for tourism; it has Lalibela, warm springs, beautiful climate and food, so why it is not receiving tourists like Italy? Because of the negative media propaganda which we know is a lie. So, African governments should push away from allowing the word humanitarian to be used in association to it.”