Ancient And Historical Town Of Harar Tourism Essay

Harar is an ancient and historical town of Ethiopia, which is located in the eastern part of the country and about 525 away from the capital city, Addis Ababa. According to the current regional Administration set up it is the capital of Harari National Regional State.

In 2008, Harari Region had a total population of 188,173 of which 94,688 were males (51.6%) and 93,485 were females (48.4%) Currently the population of Harar city is estimated to be 199,321. The area of town is about 1720 hectares (17. 29 Kms). The city has two distinct sections, the new and the old parts of the city. The old city comprises the walled part, popularly known as Jegole is far more densely populated than others areas of the city. The town has got five gates namely Erer Ber, Buda Ber, Senga Ber Felana Ber, and Shewa Ber. At present, the town has six Kebele Administrations (KAs) and nineteen sub Kebeles.

Harar has been and remains the major trade center in the eastern part of Ethiopia. Its commercial orientation dates back to the older times, when it had contacts and strong trade links with India, Greece, Turkey, Italy Yemen, Egyptian and other Arab Nations. The Jegol with its five main gates represents a unique historical and religions place for residents and an attraction for tourists. The “hyena show” is a unique phenomenon in the country and perhaps in the whole world. The cultural heritages including the Mosques, Shrines, Harari National House, traditional handicrafts and tools make Harar one of the most important places and centers of attraction in the country. Recently the UNESCO had included the city in its list of world heritages.

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In such a place SWM gains importance as people from all walks of life from all over the world pay visits to know more about the city. Hence, this project is quite relevant to make the city cleaner and the population healthy and productive.

Moreover, the migration adds woe to SMW in Harar city. It adds number to the existing population and contributes to the rapid increase in garbage accumulation which negatively influences MSWM in the city. Migration is one of the components of population dynamics that can affect the population size of an area when its volume is significant. People move towards areas which are believed to be desirable for either economic or non economic reasons through interplay of push factors at the place of origin and pull factors at the place of destination. The following are major push factors that face people to leave rural areas in the region and come into Harar city.

Scarcity of agricultural land in rural area,

Poverty of rural people due to various socio-economic crises, and

Existence of trade in Harar town especially, large scale contraband trade, illegal smuggling of cattle and chat from the region to neighboring counties

As population increases all over Sub-Saharan Africa, the quantum of garbage accumulated on each passing day also increases multifold. Many countries in African Continent are in the stage of development and the problems they face in all spears of life are numerous. Among them collection of garbage accumulated, mange the collected garbage and its disposal are of paramount importance as it affects the day to day life of almost every household with respect to Sanitation, Health, Economy, Livelihood and Socio-Cultural Phenomenon. Ethiopia is not an exception in this regard. There exists a system of garbage collection and disposal in the capital city Addis Ababa. Although it might be as efficient as it should be, the public gets some support and help from the municipal administration to live in a related clean environment. Moreover, there are mechanisms and devices in place in Addis Ababa metropolis to handle and manage of solid wastes accumulated. On the other hand, elsewhere in the country including the Historical city of Harar, one can find no established system exists with regard to garbage collection and disposal in general and solid waste management in particular. Hence, this study had looked into the factors that affect the solid waste management of the Harar municipality form different angles.

On one hand Garbage management in general is a huge task to a developing country while its population and social participations is increasing rapidly. On the other hand, solid waste management in particular poses a great threat to its population challenging the health, economic, educational and socio-cultural fronts.

Further, in the modern times occupational migration takes places, especially in developing countries, at a faster rate than ever before. This brings along with it economic strains, environmental population and various diseases. This is quite true to Harar city in Ethiopia as urban migration is in full swing as the city develops fast.

There are umpteen numbers of constraints with regard to solid waste management. It varies from financial to sc social constraints. Some of them are geographically influenced while others are caused by negligence of personal and environmental hygiene. Hence , this project aims at bring to the notice of the policy makers of the country in general and to the Harar municipal administration in particular to take necessary actions and prepare interventions so that the solid waste management in Harar city soon becomes effective and this Historical City becomes a green and beautiful city. Moreover, this project may forward some input as the inclusion of direct water supply and sanitation targets are directly included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the nation.

It was basically hypothesized in this project that demographic, institutional and socio-economic factors of the household were playing key roles with regard to SWM of Harar city. However, these factors were greatly influenced by the following broad based phenomena with respect to municipal SWM system.

In any given country solid waste management system displays several problems, including low collection coverage by concerned authorities besides, poor collection methods. The garbage collected is not properly stored and eventually disposed. Consequently, disease spreading micro-organisms spread at alarming rate and speed. Several factors are responsible for this situation. They can broadly be grouped as institutional, social, financial, technical, economic, and constraints as explained below.

Technical Constraints

Lack of Human Resource

This is a major problem in developing word. On one hand, people do not want to be sanitation workers as they believe that are looked down by the society; the compensation for such workers is indeed very low, on the other. Consequently, there is enough manpower to so the job. Therefore, the development of human resources is essential

Ineffective Planning

Another important aspect is planning with regard to SWM. In the absence required resources even an effective plan fails more often than not. Moreover, experts in SWM planning are few. Even those very few experts available in this filed are not given any skill upgrading training. This results in inefficiency as they could not plan as per the demand of the situation. It is fact in many countries in Africa that SWM planning is always linked with general planning.

Lack of Research Activities

Almost all countries in Africa lack funds for all- round development in general and SWM in particular. In the absence of required funds, research activities can not be initiated. In the absence of research, any development in this filed is impractical. Hence, more research activities are to be carried out in this regard. The current project is a step forward in this regard.

(b) Financial Constraints

Funds Provided by Central / State Governments

MSWM is not given priority in many parts of the world, especially in several developing nations. The annual budget allotted for MSWM could not meet even 6 months need. Lack of funds is indeed a great barrier in MSWM.

Willingness to Pay by the Users/Households

The problem is indeed great at the local government level in many developing countries. People in many countries in the developing world believe that MSWM is the total responsibility entrusted with the central, regional and local authorities and the individual citizen has nothing to do with it. Hence, the willingness to pay by the citizens is very low and it gets worse as the income of majority of the people in the developing world is bare enough to make both the ends in their day-to-life leave alone their willingness to pay for MSWM.

Lack of Industrial Development

It is needless to say that industrial development in the developing world is slow and it faces several continuous constraints. The governments, hence, are forced to import spare parts and machines from abroad using their hard earned foreign currencies. This has a negative impact in the development of the nations concerned. The lack of industry is responsible for several bottlenecks in MSWM as the municipalities could not get needed implements and machinery to collect, store and dispose the garbage safely. Moreover, due to lack of industries, the solid wastes could not be recycled and reused.

(c) Institutional Constraints

Lack of Coordination between Institutions

Communication between and among institutions that have stakes in MSWM is matter of concern. There exists lack of coordination among them and this creates hindrances in effective MSWM. The sanitation workers may not receive timely instructions form the MSWM controlling body and the MSWM controlling body itself may not receive any communications or instructions from health institutions, hospitals, industries and the like on the nature and amount of SW available for collection and disposal.

Difficulties in Enforcing SWM Laws

No laws were enacted in many countries in the developing world with regard to MSWM. There are several social and tradition al constraints in enacting any law in MSWM. Although a few countries enacted laws in this regard, they could not effectively enforce them due to financial constrains, lack of manpower and public cooperation. Moreover, there is lack of clear legal authorization to local governments from the federal level with regard to MSWM.

(d) Social Constraints

Households’ Attitude towards SWM Personnel

Even in the current 21st century, some people still believe that a sanitation worker is doing an inferior job such as collecting industrial and human waste. This taboo prevents many from joining the sanitation team paid or unpaid.

Absence of Social and Economic Incentives

It is a fact that the educational level of the people is far below in the developing world in comparison with industrialized countries. Hence, social attitude towards MSWM is not encouraging. People do not come forward to participate in any cleaning activities proposed by local administration or Non Governmental Originations or Environmental Activists. Although some people may come forward to participate in such activities, they may not get required devices to perform the job such as a broom-stick, a fork and a garbage collection container. Moreover, scavenging from waste disposal is a livelihood strategy to many people. They collect materials from the garbage that they could sell in the market or individual and earn money. Large number of people involved in this activity. They have no training for change of profession and to become creative citizens.

Thus, this project looked into the factors mentioned above aggregately focusing on the demographic, institutional and socio-cultural realities related to the households in the selected study areas of Harar city with regard to SWM.

Statement of the Problem

We discussed above several factors that have direct relationship with and influence on SWM in Harar city. Any onlooker in the main streets of the city can easily say that the current SWM system in the city is quite wanting. One could see garbage is spilled on the road sides, corners and in front of dwelling premises. There is municipal overseeing in the city with regard to garbage collection and distribution. Yet, there are several factors that make the SWM of the city poor and inefficient. The following illustrations illuminate the problems of SWM system of Harar city.

The following snapshot clearly shows that SWM is not in a desired level. Rubbish and refuse are thrown indiscriminately all over the place in the city. Although there are garbage containers placed at different locations in the city, there is no controlling mechanism to see that they are properly maintained. People and animal alike live together in the place very close to garbage collection containers. To make matters worse materials for human consumption such as vegetables are kept for sales in close proximity of garbage containers that may result in environmental pollution and health havoc.

Photo 1 Proximity of Public-Business- Animal to Waste Containers

Source: Own Photography, 2010

Another snap shot taken a few days ago at the study area depicts the awful situation

in which human and mammal make day-to-day living along with the garbage as if nothing unusual is happening. It is evident from the picture that the garbage container is very much in place; nevertheless, the hazardous garbage is spilled all over the place where human and animal walk on that. This may eventually result in epidemics and environmental degradation. It is evident from the picture above and the one below that garbage collection is erratic and the socio economic condition of household living in the vicinity plays its own role towards this environmental condition that prevails in the study area.

Photo 2 Animal – Human- Business – Garbage Together: a Health Hazard

Source: Own Photography, 2010

From the picture below one can get a horrible sight adjacent to the city limits. People who make their living from collecting materials that they can sell from the rubbish are doing their job in a condition that might infect them and eventually make them unproductive citizens. Here also man and mammal are close to each other. The pickers do not wear any protective gears- not even gloves. This is due to the fact that the collected refuse is not stored properly and the disposal system is indeed alarming. The rubbish may decay in very short time due to humidity and spill into waterways and water points nearby. The wind plays its part in bringing the garbage back into the city. Neither sanitary workers nor municipal guards are seen anywhere near the dump.

Photo 3 Waste Pickers- Young and Old with Animal- A Risky Survival

Source: Own Photography, 2010

In the following illustration we could see that the municipal sanitary worker collects the garbage into a small mobile container. Although the container is already filled to its capacity, the worker is on the process of filling it with more garbage only to make it fall on the road reroute. The mobile container is small that it may not suffice the need in comparison with that the total amount of garbage collected in the area that is thickly populated. A single sanitary worker is in action in a place where hundreds of kilos of rubbish generated in a single day. Moreover, the sanitary worker uses a broom stick made of local grass and has no spatula nor other devises that are needed to handle the rubbish.

Photo 4 Ill-equipped Sanitation Worker

Source: Own Photography, 2010

We shall now look at the final destination of the garbage collected from the city. They are brought to a place just outside the main settlement area of the city and dumped in an open field without any protection or fence. The garbage is piled over and over and eventually they fall into the waterway underneath and reach the households nearby. They are highly contaminated and for sure put the members of the households in risk that come into contact with the rubbish. More importantly, this dump is the breeding ground for flies and mosquitoes that spread diseases of different kinds. The vegetation near the dump site dwindles due to the toxic soil caused by the chemical reaction of the rubbish stored for unlimited number of days and months. Above all the dump site is certainly not an attraction to any visitor to this historical and UNESCO preserved city.

It is evident from the description and illustration above that the SWM system is not upto the desired level at Harar city. There are several factors that make SWM not effective elsewhere in the country in general and in Harar city in particular. The current SWM system in the city puts the households at the risk of getting exposed to health hazardous and socio-economic debacles. Moreover, neither any survey researches nor project works were carried out in the city on this thematic area although some reports were submitted by appointed consultants to the local government on SWM in Harar city. The researcher, thus, feels there is gap in this regard and he believes this project can fill to a given extent.

Project Purpose

Solid waste is generated more and more at the end of each day throughout the world. Therefore, the space needed to store it and its handling techniques decrease fast. Yet, there are people who are really concerned on this issue. Our households and industries create waste; hence, it our duty to device a mechanism to solve this problem. We have to reduce the refuse, reuse the remaining, and recycle the rest. It is obvious that it is easier said than done as many people live in cities of “REFUSE”. To make matters worse, the wealthier nations are bargaining with the needy nations to accept their waste, both civil and nuclear.

However, the problems and short comings in SWM may not be similar in all countries although it is indeed a challenge to the world in general and developing countries like Ethiopia in particular. It is even worse in place like Harar- a historical city in Ethiopia due to the combination of several problems.

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to look into some factors that the researcher believes contribute towards the poor and weak SWM in the city.

1.4 Objectives of the Project

The general objective of this study is to look into factors that negatively affect SWM in Harar city

The Specific objectives are:

The current level of SWM in Harar city, and

Factors that effect the SWM service delivery in Harar city

It was hypothesized for this project that the prevailing municipal SWM system at Harar had several challenges and threats influenced by demographic, institutional and socio-economic factors. Based on this hypothesis the following questions were addressed for this project

What is the current Status of the Solid Waste Management by the Harar municipality?

What are the challenges faced by the municipality and the household members with regard to garbage accumulation, collection and disposal in the study area?

What are the threats that face both the municipal administration and the household members in this regard?

What could be the solutions to mitigate the challenges and threats so faced by the municipality and the household with regard to Solid Waste Management?

Methodology

Harar city is situated 525 Kms away from the capital city Addis Ababa to the east. It is a historical city dated back to several centuries. It is one of the holy places for Muslims all over the world. Harar is also known as “Walled City” as the entire city was circled by a long wall then. Presently, the city is extended out side the wall limits. It is a city known for trade. Almost all types of trades are carried out here. There are six Kebele Administrations (KAs) in Harar City. In addition to these PAs there are nineteen sub-Kebeles in the city. The following is the map of Ethiopia that shows the location of Harar city.

Figure 1 Map that Shows the Location of Harar City in Ethiopia

Source: Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, Harari Regional State

For this study two Kebele Administrations viz. Amernur Kebele from within the Jegol and Jinela Kebele outside the Jegol were purposively selected based on the fact that they are larger Kebeles in population and size. Moreover, these two KAs contribute the largest share to the daily garbage accumulation of the city as per the available information from the Municipality of Harar. Both Amernur and Jinela Kebeles are inhabited by households who are involved in trade, civil service and skilled and unskilled jobs. Jinela Kebele has the largest open market of the city with household population. In Amernur Kebele the SW generated included both household rubbish and trade refuses whereas in Jinela Kebele the SW generated included both market refuses and leftovers and household rubbish. Thus both Kebeles were similar in SW generation. Moreover, the modes garbage accumulation and collection processes were quite similar in both the Kebeles. Hence, fifty households from each Kebele were randomly selected as samples. The samples were selected randomly for the reason that the numbers of households live in both Kebeles were near similar although Jinela Kebele has the largest open market of the city. Besides household samples 20 municipal workers, who involved in SWM were selected on voluntary basis. Additionally, Garbage pickers numbering 5 (two elderly men, one elderly woman, one young lady and two boys) who were present collecting materials at the time of visit of the researcher to the dump sites were selected. This was because of the fact that those garbage pickers did not have any permanent address nor contact details. Aggregate case studies collected from both the municipal workers involved in SWM and the garbage pickers were presented in the result and discussion chapter. Further, the ethics of social science research were strictly followed for this project and the rights of the sample participants with special reference to sample selection, data collection procedure were adhered.

Five enumerators, besides the researcher, were selected who had experience in conducting research projects/surveys and who could communicate in the local vernacular Harari and Afan Oromo besides the country’s official language Amharinga. The enumerators were given training for a week before data collection on the nature of the project and ethics of data collection in social science related projects. A checklist was prepared for the interview and group discussion and a semi-structured mini-interview schedule was prepared to elicit information from Households on SWM. Both the interview checklist and mini interview schedule were pre-tested with non-sample population in the study area and needed amendments/modifications were incorporated in them. The data so collected were interpreted in words supported by relevant tables, figures and individual case studies.

1.6. Delimitation of the Project

The study was conducted only in two Kebele Administrations of Harar city viz. Amernur and Jinela Kebeles were selected due to time constraints and for the reason that the researcher lives and works in the proximity of these Kebeles ,visiting these Kebeles almost two to three times daily either for professional or for personal reasons or for both. Thus, he is well aware of the challenges of SWM in these Kebeles. Moreover, the facts emerged from this project with regard to SWM in these Kebeles are, more or less, true to other areas of the city.

1.7 Limitations of the Project

The major problem that the researcher faced in this project was the disinterestedness of the sample population to undertake any campaign with regard to weak and poor SWM right in their dwelling area although they are quite aware of the health hazards that non-disposed or improperly disposed garbage might bring on them. One could understand from the photographs exhibited above how man and mammal live together with the garbage disposed. Hence, the researcher had to induce interest in them by talking to them the need for a better SWM system in the city and how in turn it would make their day-to-day life more pleasant than it is now. Eventually, he could make them actively participate in focus group discussions and answer the questions raised for data collection. Accordingly all samples gave all information available with them with regard to SWM in the city.

1.8 Significance of the Project

As far as the knowledge of the researcher goes, no credible research done at Harar City with regard to MSWM except for a few consultant reports as mentioned elsewhere in this project. Therefore, it is believed that this project could serve as a secondary for potential research to be carried out in the days to come.