(excerpt from
the book ‘The Greek presence in the horn of Africa’)
In 1902, the railway reached Dire Dawa in the southeastern of Ethiopia
and the Greek workers were among the first Europeans who settled in. Over
the next decade, Dire Dawa transformed into a modern city with restaurants, café
and hotels such as the ‘Continental’ of Stelios Bololakos. Nearly and around
the hotel there were most of the Greek trade stores and a cinema that belonged
to Alexandrou. Undoubtedly, most of the Greeks were involved in the coffee
trade. Some of the dominant trading houses were those of I. Vozikis,
Michaelidis, Karellas, Papakonstantinou, Kermelis brothers, Varbetas, Vrachatis
brothers, Philippatos, L. Kalos, T. Armantzas, M. Dalentzas, Diamantopoulos, E.
Theofilou, Zafiriadis, Salavrakos, V. Klitsas, N. Baltsorias, Giannatos, C.
Koutsogiorgis, G. Kalaidis, I. Tzelatis, Michalitsianou brothers.
