Meet Nachuna and her son Olabile from the Surma tribe. Nachuna runs her own household and owns her own fields. She is free to spend the profits from the crops as she whishes as opposed to women in other more male dominated tribes. Nachuna sometimes wears a lip plate. At the point of puberty she had her bottom teeth removed in order to get the lower lip pierced. Once the lip was pierced, it was stretched and a lip plate was inserted in the hole of the piercing. She, like all Surma women, sees this as sign of beauty. The size of the lip plate also indicates her value in cattle on the day of her wedding day. The bigger the plate, the more valuable she becomes.
Meet Kato from the Hamer tribe. Kato lives in a small village near the town of Turmi together with her husband and his other two wives. Kato is the third wife as symbolized by the two metal necklaces she wears. This makes Kato more of a slave than a wife. Because they live so close to a town, her family has become to rely on the products which are on offer in Turmis' weekly market. In order to afford this, Kato is made to walk for hours with a heavy load of firewood on her back which she tries to sell to locals. Like all Hamer women, Kato braids her hair and then applies a deep red clay mixed with animal fat to it. This custom is a very important one for Kato and all Hamer women as it makes them more attractive.
Meet Dara from the Karo tribe. Dara, like all Karo people, enjoys decorating herself with paint and flowers found in the nearby slopes leading down to the Omo River. Dara has pierced a hole on her lower lip in which she places a metal nail, or in this case a flower for adornment. Dara has no clothes other than a long skirt made of cowhide. She lives in a small hamlet known as Konso, found on a plateau overlooking the stunning Omo River. Every afternoon before darkness Dara descends the steep slopes down to the river, and after washing herself she returns with heavy containers filled with water used for cooking and drinking.
