Tuesday, January 31. Visit to a Banna farm.

On our way to a Banna farm the next morning, we saw these young boys filling up their water cans at a well. Wells such as these had been provided mostly by Norway.




Their little sister was there with them...




A Banna farmer met us along the road, and we proceeded to follow him through the fields to his farm...(not a great photo, and I should work on cropping it, but wanted you to get the feeling of the countryside :-)...




He was extremely friendly (note his unique hair style, pulled forward and held with an ornament down his forehead...the headband and band around his neck also denote his tribe as Banna)...




...he wanted us to meet his family, including his two wives (note that these women have braided hair, but it is not shiny with clay and butter, as is used by the Hamar women)...








...we also met some of his 18 children (we asked if any of his children go to school, and he said no, that he needed them to help tend to the cattle and the fields)...








In addition to protecting his farm from predators with his rifle....




...he also showed us how he uses a bow and arrow to scare away animals such as baboons...




He explained that the bow and arrow is much cheaper, as each bullet costs him 50 birr (this is equivalent to about $3.00, which is a lot of money in southern Ethiopia). The belt he is wearing was a belt for ammunition, but he also said it is now used as a money belt.

He showed us his family compound. For the Banna tribe, the farms are separate family compounds, rather than the village being all together in one location...




So each wife had a hut...




...and they also had storage facilities for their crops and other items...












...they even stored some things up in the trees, as we've seen with other tribes...












Two of his sisters showed up from a nearby farm to check out the American visitors...




Even the rooster was curious...




He was very proud of his family and his land holdings. He hoped we would share our photos with others in America so they could know his family.

As we left the farm, this boy wanted us to see his prowess with stilts...




We then headed to Jinka, where we would be spending the next two nights, but first we stopped at the South Omo Research Center, which has a museum with an overview of the cultures of the various ethnic groups living in South Omo. Objects exhibited ranged from clothing and adornment, to household items, ritual paraphernalia, musical instruments and more. Some of the "more" included descriptions of some of the disturbing rituals that are still performed on women in this region. There were comments posted on the exhibits from some of the women indicating that these rituals, which include "cutting," show their courage, and so they could not refrain from participating; otherwise, they would be looked upon as cowards. It was quite an eye opener.

Another ritual that we had heard about and that we learned more about at the museum, was bull jumping, which is done by several tribes, most notably, the Hamar tribe. The bull-jumping ceremony is performed by young men as a "coming of age" ritual. The ceremony involves the young man leaping onto and running rapidly over a series of cattle held by other men. He runs back and forth four times. Once the jumping is successfully completed, without falling, the bull-jumper is a man in the eyes of the tribe, and is then allowed to take on a wife and have children. One of the parts of the ceremony which is not as widely known is ritualistic whipping of the bull jumper's sisters. The women look upon it as a sign of strength, loyalty and obligation to their brother. If the future brings hardship to the women, they hope that he’ll remember them because of the pain they went through for him. The scars are worn as a badge of honor by the women. Also, if a boy fails to complete his four runs, he will be publicly humiliated. He will be whipped by his female relatives, and for the rest of his life, he will be teased, insulted and beaten by both men and women. (the whole thing was quite disturbing to learn the whole story regarding this tribe ritual)!!

The museum also had a library of videos that had been recorded, some by the founder of the center, Professor Strecker from Germany, who lived among the tribes with his family, including a young daughter and son. There was a documentary filmmaker also visiting the museum when we were there who was also staying at our hotel. She was planning to be there for several months to consult with them to hopefully put together some kind of documentary from these videos.

Tomorrow we will visit the Mursi tribe...

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Location:Omo Valley, Ethiopia