road work

The main highway in Addis Ababa is kept relatively clean and free of
debris by the women who walk along the shoulder in orange overalls and
big straw hats carrying shovels, brooms and pushing wheelbarrows. They
work in groups of two or three and seem unconcerned as cars go speeding
past them at 80kph. Somehow they manage to get most of the grit and dirt
into their wheelbarrows and the rest of it collects on their faces. They
are not the only ones on the side of the road, though, as it seems there
is always someone hopping the concrete median wall and waiting to run
the rest of the way across to the other side of the highway. Some cars
tend to drive down the middle of the two-lane highway, giving themselves
a little leeway to slow down or avoid the people crossing the road.
Naturally, accidents do happen. Sometimes you can see a crack in the
median wall where a car must have hit. Of course it is the job of the
road workers to shovel all of this into their wheelbarrows and remove it
piece by piece as they walk along what must seem like an endless strip
of concrete.