Addis is a city at a crossroads. A massive redevelopment project is reshaping Ethiopia’s capital into what Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has called the ‘Dubai of East Africa’. His vision of a glistening metropolis of skyscrapers, wide roads and bike lanes aims to draw in investors and tourists alike.

So what does this transformation feel like from the inside? For the past year, journalist Maya Misikir has been trying to answer that question through her Letter from Addis Ababa series - one of New Internationalist’s longest running columns. Traditionally, these letters have been written by women based in the Global South, changing hands every year, and offering perspectives that rarely make the headlines.

Subscribe to New Internationalist magazine to read the full archive of Letter From columns, dating back to 1973. Use the code THEWORLDUNSPUN for 20% off your first year of a print and/or digital subscription.

Fertile Ground (Bethany Rielly, Maxine Betteridge-Moes and Maya Misikir in New Internationalist)

Cover photograph by Amanuel Sileshi