Time for street corn on the cob
Fantu Debele, a mother of four small children, has been preparing the corn for half a day and is about to carry it to a street near to her village, Cazainchis. She bought a sack of corn (corn on the cob) for 150 birr from the market, where many gather to bargain with the wholesalers, helped by the brokers who mediate. This is her main business and the way she provides for her four children, for whom she cares alone after her husband died six years ago. “I rise from bed early in the morning and cook breakfast for the kids, then leave for the market. I spend the whole day making up the corn, which I aim to get ready before six,” she says. She has been doing it for four years and predicts it would have been successful if she had had enough money and someone to help her. “The most difficult part of the job is purchasing the corn on the cob from the market and breaking it down so that the pot can hold it up to its brim,” she says. Many Ethiopians endure the cold winters by sipping