Remember "Do they know it's Christmas?" That's right, the 1984 hit song intended to raise money for famine victims in Ethiopia. If that's not ringing a bell (See what I did there?) then here's the video:
You probably didn't get very far, so here are some of the inane lyrics:
And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time The greatest gift they'll get this year is life Where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
In addition to reinforcing all sorts of stereotypes about Africa, this video gets one very important thing wrong: Do they know it's Christmas time? No, they don't, because Ethiopians are Orthodox Christians and don't celebrate Christmas until January 7th. So next time someone says they love this song, you now have an annoying know-it-all response to shut them down -- which you can consider your holiday gift from this blogger. Merry Christmas!
[On a more serious note, Ethiopia has made huge strides on food security since the fall of the Derg. If you want to read more on that, MoreAltitude (an aid blogger who recently relocated to Addis) has this take.]