Bringing Children to Addis

On this page you can read about school options in Addis, things to do with Children, hiring Nannies, finding children’s products, and finding toys.

Education and Schools

See here for map of schools and kindergartens in Addis.

High Schools (some of which offer kindergarten too)

• International Community School (ICS): This is the best school in Addis but costs nearly 40,000 USD per year. It used to be called the American School but has rebranded to ICS. If your employer is paying, this is the best option.
• Sandford International School: This is the British School. It has a good reputation and apparently costs around 22,000 to 25,000 usd per year at the moment.
• There is a French School, German School, Italian School, Turkish School, etc.
• The location may be a factor in choosing a school so check out our google map of schools in Addis.

Kindergartens

• Little Einsteins is located in Bole Airport. Our kids go here and we really like it. It has a great atmosphere, lovely staff, and a learning-centred approach. The best bit is that, if you live nearby, there is a school bus which picks your kid up from your house!
• Humpty Dumpty is also very popular with parents and is apparently slightly cheaper than Einsteins.
• Most of the schools listed above (British, French, etc) also have nurseries / kindergartens, etc.

Things to do with Children

There’s plenty to do with Kids in Addis. In particular, we recommend:

• Unity park – there is so much for kids to do here including a playground, animals to see, etc.
• Friendship park – there are even more playground things to play on but it gets very crowded on the weekends
• Zoma museum – is really lovely to walk around with kids. There are no cars inside so the kids can run around freely.
• Ambassador mall has a great indoor playground, which is perfect for when the weather is bad. There are also indoor play areas at other malls around town, such as Garad City Center Mall (5th floor) but the Ambassador one is the biggest. They also do facepainting.
• Playground at the Hilton – it’s free if you’re having a drink or food in the bar
• Swimming pool at the Hilton – see here for a summary of the pool options in Addis but, imho, the Hilton pool is the best option for kids as it’s the warmest.
• Entoto Park (fun entrance)

Hiring Nannies

One of the best things about bringing children to Addis is the affordability of home help and I highly recommend getting a nanny, especially if you have young kids. As I explained here, I recommend finding a nanny that is recommended by other expats.

There is no consensus on how much to pay nannies in Addis; I have heard of monthly salaries ranging from 4,000 Birr per month (80 usd) to 250 USD per month, paid in USD. Of course, you get what you pay for and so the 4,000 Birr nannies will not speak English or come with experience. You will decide on a price for you, but I hope that you decide to pay them fairly, not just what you think you can get away with!

I met one expat family that was earning over 300,000 USD per year(!) that chose to pay their nannies 11,000 birr per month, which is less than 100 USD at the black market rate (almost 200 at the usual rate – this was before the currency changes). I find that pretty disgraceful. I personally want to value the person who is responsible for the well being of my children at more than 3 USD per day!

Products for Children

Anything imported is usually expensive in Ethiopia, and children’s products especially so. For example:

• Aptamil baby formula costs around 3500 Birr (31 USD) per box, in the UK its 18 USD.
• Pampers range in price but I saw some size 5 yesterday for 2,570 (23 USD) for 48. That’s 53 Birr (50 cents) per nappy. In the UK they are 8 USD for 39, or 20 cents each.
• Kids Scooters in the UK cost around 30 to 55 USD, whilst here they cost 50 to 80 USD.

Bring as much as you can from abroad. There are some restrictions on what you can bring in if you’re not a diplomat, but they mostly concern electronic goods. Baby items should usually be fine.

Where to buy Toys

• Shekla Ethiopia has some nice wooden toys
• Signum Vitae (behind Fresh Corner Signal) is an Eye Care Centre but has some nice local, crafty gifts
• Aynalem Elias has some nice wooden toys
• Century Mall has a toy area
• Some toy scan be found in All Mart supermarkets