Concluding her visits, a foreigner walked around souvenir shops hoping to get artifacts that she could take with her, back to hometown. On one corner at a gallery was a medieval silver cross. Caught with surprise, she had turned her head to the dealer and said, pointing her finger to the cross: “How much it costs?” She was sure to pay for the artifact. She decided to suffer the cost, even if an arm and a leg. To her amusement, the dealer uttered hesitantly: “200 dollar….”
The visitor was a little bit shocked but pretended to act normal. The shock wave was due to the “little” cost, it had rather originated from the opportunity to own an invaluable artifact for a USD 200. The dealer soon had disappeared into a backdoor. After a little while, she came reappeared with another similar cross in her hand. Struck by curiosity, the visitor sneaked into the room.
A group of artisan was busy manufacturing souvenir articles. On top of this, the people at the back door also skillfully work to give their products an antique look. Hersudden presence in the room shocked everyone, some of them were even to jump out of their skins. Diametrically opposite to their reactions, she had this to say: “You are even smarter. The treasure is in your mind.” In addition, she was more than happy to pay for the product these craftspeople manufactured. At last, she bought the artifact with the same price to encourage them.
A participant recounted at a forum organized by Addis Ababa Culture and Tourism Bureau last Friday. The forum drew participants from customs, police, and souvenir dealers, among others, to raise their awareness on ways of countering mobile heritage’s illicit trade. In a recent assessment the Bureau made in Addis Ababa, the Bureau identified, as most legal souvenir dealers are involved in illicit trading of antiques.
“However, our approach for the time being is to provide dealers with adequate information on the damages illicit heritage trade could bring to the society and the country at large,” Asnaku Tesgaye, Mobile Heritage Expert with the Bureau. Despite the wide scope of the task, the Bureau endeavored to prepare heritage inventory in Addis Ababa.
The result will be made accessible to customs bureau, police, and even to legal souvenir dealers to collaboratively deal with the menace, she added. However, the fight seems to be on two folds. One is feeding all stakeholders with information on the destructive aspects of illicit antique trade. The otherimportant aspect has to do with encouraging and legalizing craftsperson who engage in the production of replica of antique, argues Selamawit Alene who represented St. George Art Gallery. In most cases, artisans who design and produce replica of ancient artifact and other gift article and home accessories opts for doing their jobs in secrete places.
The products are confusing, and look like authentic. Playing hide and sick with the artisans is good for nothing, according to her. Giving the right training and informing them on the benefits of tagging real descriptions on the product can help tackle many problems, she added. “Many youths join our gallery and unleash their talents of handcraft.” To her, such training supports the fight against illicit antique trade, not to mention its role to preclude the trading of unrepresentative artifacts in Ethiopian galleries.
“Masks are generally unknown in Ethiopian tradition, for instance.” Artifacts produced in India, China, Uganda and Kenya are smuggled to the Ethiopian Souvenir shops and tourists who may have little information to Ethiopian peculiar motifs end up paying for unrepresentative products. Selamawit recommends training youths on the design and production of souvenir articles can generate earnings to themselves and to the country as well. “
They also become ardent watchdogs against illicit antique trading.” Such effort enhances job creation in addition to its touristic benefits—meaning tourists will benefit in many ways, they can get legal receipt and genuine descriptions about the artifacts they buy. She has also not shied away from mentioning that only few tourists setting feet in Ethiopian soil spend in souvenir items. “Promotional works may do the tricks.”
Herald March 1/2019
BY WORKU BELACHEW
