In Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, there are hardly any families who have not been affected by death, missing relatives, or injuries.

The survivors of the civil war, which lasted for years, and the famine, are working under extremely primitive conditions to construct a huge dam. Fifteen hundred farmers, including a father, son and daughter who recently gave birth, lug sacks of earth and use their bare feet to stamp down the foundations of the dam. The water reservoir, which will result from the construction, is expected to make it possible to harvest crops two, maybe three times a year.

Far away in the capital Addis Ababa, democracy is getting off to a hesitant start after the feudalistic rule of Emperor Haile Selassie and the bloody dictatorship of army leader Mengistu. Maarten Schmidt and Thomas Doebele filmed the current Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, a former minister under Emperor Haile Selassie, and a journalist with the independent newspaper, The Reporter. They each tell their own story of the past, present and future of Ethiopia.

From a political point of view, Ethiopia seems to be sailing in smoother waters. But "you can't eat politics like you can eat bread," says a former soldier of the liberation army, now an invalid, in the dry northern region of Ethiopia. A sick mother, who lost a son and a granddaughter during the great famine in 1984, still has hardly enough time to ponder democracy. Her primary concern remains: Is there enough food today for the children?. In exchange for a daily ration of grain, her family is now working on the dam and hoping for a better future.