Thursday, February 2. King of the Konzo tribe.

The first thing that we did this morning was to stop at a school. Some of us had brought some pens with us and wanted to donate them to the school The school was not in session as it was a time for their holiday, but we were able to see all of the paintings that have been done to the outside walls of the school to assist the teachers with the children's studies....here are some of them...








We also got to talk to the school administrator who told us it was hard to keep the students in school as their families want them to help out in the fields (seemed to be a theme there) They also have trouble obtaining supplies...so members of our group made some donations to him for supplies...


They even had a drawing showing how liquor is distilled....


This one was "almost" right...


Next we stopped to talk to a veterinarian...


He said that it is hard for the people to sometimes get their animals to him in time to save them, as they are too far away or don't have the money...


We then stopped at a medical clinic...the nurse there said that the biggest problem in this area is malaria (yikes, reminded all of us to keep taking our malaria pills!!), with Aids being second . He sometimes doesn't have enough supplies to take care of the people in this region. It is also hard to get doctors to work in the area, which is why this clinic is staffed with a nurse...


We next stopped at the local market to see members of several tribes exchanging goods...








This camel just walked right into the market....didn't seem to be tended by anyone. Even the locals were taken aback by his presence...


This was the first time I had seen them wearing these wooden skull hats....cool...


Our next stop at a Konzo village was to be the highlight of our day...





Our guide, Solomon...


...had arranged for us to meet with the king of the entire Konzo tribe...


This tribe was one of the larger tribes we visited in this region, with one source saying they have a total of about 250,000 people. This king was extremely progressive, as he attended university in the city, and worked for the civil engineering department within the government for a while. But his dad died prematurely, and he was required, as the eldest son, to come back and take over his duties as king He even said he preferred the city life, but if he had not come back, he would have been cursed....as progressive as he was, he believed in that curse!

He explained how they deal with disputes (or crimes such as murder) within his tribe. The case comes before a council of chiefs from each village, which works like an arbitration committee. If they find someone guilty of murdering his wife, e.g., they don't give him the death penalty, but ostracize him from his village, and he can no longer have any contact with members of the village, including other family members. Another village would probably take him in, but they would keep a close eye on him. While their dad was meeting with us, the king's kids had fun playing peekaboo with us...


Then, his cell phone rang :-)...and our meeting with the king came to an end...


...after he posed for one final photo...other signs of his time in the city were his jacket and his expensive watch...


He was quite an interesting king!!

Our trip is close to coming to an end, with only one more full day in Southern Ethiopia before we head back to Addis Ababa!

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Location:On the way to Yabelo....Ethiopia