The Omo valley in Black and white
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This is Vilori and her baby from the mursi tribe.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmo ValleytribesafricaMursiPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribal people
This is Teri, a young girl from the Hamar tribe.
Teri is not yet married, evident as she does not support the hairstyle of little dreadlocks of a married woman. Wife beating is an accepted part of life rather than a taboo, and the convention is that a man will not generally tell his wife why she is being whipped. On the other hand, if a beating is severe then family or neighbours will step in. After the couple have had two or three children, the beating stops.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmo ValleytribesafricaHamarPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribal people
This is Olibesin, a young Shepherd from the Mursi tribe. The Mursi cultivate along the Omo from September to February each year and then they return to the inland grassy plains to cultivate during the rainy season from March and August. People cultivate sorghum and corn. Sometimes they grow beans and pumpkins. Cattle provide milk which is often eaten with porridge. Cattle are vital in times of drought, since they can be exchanged in local towns for money to buy grain.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmo ValleytribesafricaMursiPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribal people
Children in the town of Jinka.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleytribesafricaJinkaPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribal people
This is Selasoti, a young Arbore virgin. The Arbore People whose primary religion is Islam, are from the Omotic language family and live in Southern Ethiopia, south-west of the Omo Valley. Konso is the lingua franca in this area. They have ancestral and cultural links to the Konso people and perform many ritual dances while singing. The Tsemay people are their neighbouring tribe. Arbore people are pastoralists (livestock farmers). They believe that their singing and dancing eliminates negative energy and with the negative energy gone, the tribe will prosper.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleytribesafricaArborevirginPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribal people
Hamar parents have a lot of control over their children, who herd the cattle and goats for the family. It’s the parents who give permission for the men to marry, and many don’t get married until their mid-thirties. Girls, on the other hand, tend to marry at about 17.
Marriage requires ‘bride wealth’, a payment made to the woman’s family and generally made up of goats, cattle and guns.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleytribesafricaHamarPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribal people
This is Nataere a young women from the Mursi tribe. Surrounded by mountains between the Omo River and its tributary the Mago, the home of the Mursi is one of the most isolated regions of the country. Their neighbours include the Aari, the Banna, the Bodi, the Kara, the Kwegu, the Nyangatom and the Suri. They are grouped together with the Me'en and Suri by the Ethiopian government under the name Surma.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleytribesafricaMursiPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribal people
The supposed historical link between lip-plates and the activities of slave traders is an idea that goes back to colonial times. In an article in the September 1938 issue of National Geographic Magazine, C & M Thaw report meeting women with large plates in both their upper and lower lips near Fort Archambault, on the River Chari, about 400 miles south-east of Lake Chad, in what was then French Equatorial Africa.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleyTribeafricamurciPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribestribal people
The Nyangatom live on the west bank of the lower Omo River. Their territory extends all the way to the Kenyan and Sudanese borders and also into Sudan itself. Like most tribes in the area they are – as they claim – surrounded only by enemies: to the south are the aggressive Turkana, to the north the Surma, and to the east across the river the Dassanech.
The Nyangatom were the first tribe in the Omo Valley to use automatic weapons (AK-47) which they obtained from Sudan just across the border. They use the machine guns to guard their precious cattle from neighbouring tribes and also to fight their tribal wars. Herds of cows are their most valuable property.
Omo valley, southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleyTribeafricaNyangatomPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribestribal people
Young woman from the Arbore tribe.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleyTribeafricaArborePhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribestribal people
This is Yodit a young midwife. Yodit like most Ethiopians is unsure of her age although she believes to be in her early twenties. Yodit has recently finished her training as a midwife and now forms part of a Government project to take health care and schooling closer to the tribes. Yodit is based in a small clinic were she shares a bedroom with two other health care Professionals. She hasn't actually delivered her first baby yet, and although she is very excited to be here and able to help, she is also a little worried since she will have to do it on her own. The villages surrounding the clinic belong to the Mursi tribe who are amongst the most traditional of all the tribes in the Omo Valley.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleyTribeafricamidwifePhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribestribal people
Murci woman and her children.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleyTribeafricaMurcicowlip platePhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribestribal people
A cruel tradition still has exists for some Hamar: unmarried women can have babies to test their fertility, but some of them are just abandoned in the bush. This tradition is on the decline but NGO's still save abandoned new born's. Hamar believe that a child born out of formal marriage has "mingi", something abnormal and unclean. For them, it is the expression of the devil, which may cause disasters such as epidemics or drought in the village. So, illegitimate children are abandoned. These kinds of beliefs can also be observed in other Ethiopan tribes: many parents prefer to sacrifice their own child rather than risk being affected by the evil eye.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleyTribeafricaHamarPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribestribal people
Women from the Arbore tribe under a tree.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleyTribeafricaArborePhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribestribal people
Hamar man sleeping in his hut. Hamar men can often be seen carrying a little wooden stool which they use for sitting when away from home or as a pillow when sleeping. The bed comes in the form of a very thin Cowhide which they roll away during the day.
Hamar Village, Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleyTribeafricaHamarPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribestribal people
Scarring or tribal beatification marks can be used to accentuate the shape of the female body. Mursi women have elaborate symmetrical scarring patterns made on their bodies. They focus on the stomach but also curve around the breasts. The flat skin of the stomach is raised with sharp thorns and then cut.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleyTribeafricaMursiPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribestribal people
The Hamar have very unique rituals such as a bull-leaping ceremony, that a young man has to succeed in order to get married. A Hamar man comes of age by leaping over a line of cattle as an initiation rite of passage. It’s the ceremony which qualifies him to marry, own cattle and have children. The timing of the ceremony is up to the man’s parents and happens after harvest. Cows are lined up in a row. The initiate, naked, has to leap on the back of the first cow, then from one bull to another, until he finally reaches the end of the row. He must not fall off and must repeat successfully the test four times to have the right to become a husband.
On the afternoon of the leap, the man’s female relatives demand to be whipped as part of the ceremony. The girls go out to meet the Maza, the ones who will whip them. The Maza are a group of men who have already leapt across the cattle, and live apart from the rest of the tribe, moving from ceremony to ceremony. The whipping appears to be consensual; the girls gather round and beg to be whipped on their backs. They don’t show the pain and they say they’re proud of the scars. They would look down on a woman who refuses to join in, but young girls are discouraged from getting whipped.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleyTribeafricaHamarPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribestribal people
The Karo tribe is known for their expertise in body paint, face-masks, hair, etc. But what all Karo women (and men) share in common are scars. Dozens of scars line their stomach and chest – for men, it’s the chest only. When Karo daughters are young, their grandmothers and mothers cut their stomachs with a knife. Then, ash is rubbed into the wound in order to irritate it. This essentially creates an enormous welt.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleyTribeafricakaroPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribestribal people
Young Hamar boy looks after his families goats. A families goats are there most treasured possession, supplying the family with nutrition and currency when needing to marry a child away.
Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.Ethiopiaomo valley tribesOmoValleyTribeafricaHamarPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribestribal people
Few families own a television set in the town of Jinka. So many people pay to go into one of these TV huts to view there favourite program, or like these two kids they just try and get a peep from outside.
Jinka, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.EthiopiaOmo Valleytribesomo valley tribesafricaMursiKaroHamerHamarArboreNyangatomBodi EthiopiaOmoValleyPhotito travelphotitotraveltravel photographydocumentary photographyspencerphotographyculturewww.photito.comomo valeeypeople of the omo valleytribal people
