A product of the Global Housing Research Seminar, the story of ‘Mengeste’ is the result of a micro-ethnographic research based on a student visit to Kechene, a district of Addis Ababa. Through outstanding hand-sketched visuals , it aims to bring together representations of everyday life in the sefer (neighbourhood), showing aspects of how human life shapes its environment and vice versa. The narrative is told through the eyes of Mengeste, a man who leaves farm-life behind to reunite with relatives in Kechene. Tracing his adaptation to city life, the story not only depicts contrasting conditions between rural and urbanized areas in the Addis Ababa region, but also brings to light key spatial qualities that make up the traditional Kechene home.
