ETHIOPIA 

HAILE SELASSIE  I

My Story Continues from Royal Palace of Sweden to Imperial Palace of Ethiopia

Life was rather easy and peaceful in Ethiopia during His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie´s time. Students wanted to change the system as they always do. At the end they managed to do it.
The climate in Addis Ababa was pleasant and moderate, not too hot, not too cold, either. Expatriates travelled to country side for weekend camping. A couple of times we saw the car of Emperor on the road. Security cars stopped us and we waited for Emperor´s car to come.  His Majesty came out of the car and gave one dollar notes (Ethiopian birr) to the people. We bowed down when we saw that the  Emperor has seen us, His Majesty nodded. Also once a German Operette came to give a performance in Addis  Ababa. Some foreign people working for the Governement were invited, so we were there also to attend the performance. H.M. Haile Selassie came about 15-20 minutes late and after it Operette started. When Jubilee Palace construction was completed, we were invited to the inauguration ceremony with some foreign expatriates from the Mininstry of Public Works. So, rest of life was very normal. Our second son, Iivo was born in St.Paul's Hospital, Addis Ababa. We lived in a rented house, near the Golf Club, in Old Airport area. My work in the Ministry was to check construction documents sent for approval of the Ministry. They were mainly about clinics, hospitals, schools, police stations, etc. All this happened in co-operaton with a local partner. We also redesigned some buildings of bad quality construction documents. We prepared new Building Codes and Regulations, again in co-operetion with local partners and some foreign consultants.

Architects Tesfaye Beza and Esa Paaso

Weekend by Lake Langano