southern Ethiopia: I miss Coka Kaskaza

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We've made it to southern Ethiopia and the Omo valley, to visit the famous tribes. After the long trip south we have decided to rent a car and driver hoping to enjoy the tour. We found out that the roads are a lot better when u travel with your own car.

bull jumping ceremony

We felt very lucky. We've heard that there is gonna be a bull jumping ceremony. The ceremony is conducted by the hamar people and is the symbol of the transformation from kids to men. After the ceremony they are becoming MEN and are allowed to choose a woman and get married. The ceremony was fascinating: It starts with everyone in the village getting prepared: the women apply fresh butter and mud mixture on their hair, the men are applying colors on their faces, the guy that is gonna jump later that day is getting prepared to his big day. During the preparations, the women (most of them are young and unmarried) are provoking the "marriageable" young men to whip them with twigs. It looks and sounds painful, and the girls look like they really enjoy it: they keep coming back to get bitten. The scars symbolizes how strong a woman is, how committed she is to her family and would show every potential mother-in-low how strong she is. The elderly married women are watching the ceremony, checking out the young women, looking for a potential bride for the son... To us it seems barbarian and painful, I just can't understand how a woman would choose to be beaten again and again, how can they stand the pain, and continue dancing, singing and asking for more. For the Hamar people, it's the most significant ritual in the life of every young man and woman. The young guy preparing to jump is a bit isolated, supported by his friends who have already jumped before. The highlight of the day is when the young men are holding the bulls together in a straight line and the guy jumps on them, complete naked, and runs from one end to the other 4 times. everyone cheers. He is happy and relieved. so am I. After his jump, starts the "singles" party. young unmarried men and women are dancing traditional dancing...

Every one has a braking point

The omo valley area is dry, desert looking but not really a desert, there are trees and most of them are green. so there is water under there, that the local people are not using, or don't know how to get them. the dry rivers are Hugh, so it's obvious that when they have water, they have lots of them. but on dry years like this one, they are completely lost. drinking muddy water from the Omo river, or carrying water from a distance. they don't cultivate the land because the river is too low, or too dry. The trip wasn't easy. physically and mentally, I hate the dry weather, I hate the "jumping" from one tribe to the other, without really understanding whats going on, and what I hated the most was the Fraze: "photo. 2 birr (the local currency)". It seemed like the people think (or know) that "white people" are only interested in taking photos, not in them. It was so difficult to brake the "photo. 2 birr" demands and create some sort of communication: "what's your name, how old are you, where do you go to school, what is XXX mean?".. we took a local guide wherever we went. Usually a kid who speaks English, and asked him questions about the life, education, history, what does he wanna do in his life.. In all of the tribes we had visited,but one, we have managed to create some communication. All of them but one, that's the one that made me cry. That's the one that the guide was shocked with the fact that we wanted to visit the village, that's the one, that the only guy who spoke English chose to answer our questions with: "this is a traditional house. now photos? this is traditional storage. photos? this is traditional earring. photos?" when we know that there is a meaning to everything, every necklace, every house, every color symbolize something, that there are reasons for the houses to look as they look, the color of the hair bands. I was heart broken. It was the last tribe we've visited.

KOKA KASKAZA

when ever I am asked whats there in Africa, I answer it teaches me how to appreciate what I have. Southern Ethiopia taught me to appreciate the fact I can choose. almost everything. Asphalt and real roads, water, cold coke (koka kaskaza), aircondotioned cars, clean toilets, (or toilets, to be honest), chocolate. etc. there is lots more I can't remember at the moment... in my next blog I will tell you all about my short visit to what seems to me like Europe in the middle of Ethiopia.. sorry. can't get more photos online...

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Photos

bambi
and I are having heart to heart