Two young Suri men by the river. Southern Ethiopia, 2017.
A young Bena woman in a market in Key Afer. Key Afer, Omo Valley, Ethiopia, 2017.
This is Koto, from the Hamer tribe. There is a division of labour in terms of sex and age. The women and girls grow crops (the staple is sorghum, alongside beans, maize and pumpkins). They’re also responsible for collecting water, doing the cooking and looking after the children - who start helping the family by herding the goats from around the age of eight. The young men of the village work the crops, defend the herds or go off raiding for livestock from other tribes, while adult men herd the cattle, plough with oxen and raise beehives in acacia trees. Sometimes, for a task like raising a new roof or getting the harvest in, a woman will invite her neighbours to join her in a work party in return for beer or a meal of goat, especially slaughtered to feed them. Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia, 2013.