An exploratory visit to Ethiopia by LCS, Sept. 2008

Introduction: Aims of Visit and Itinerary

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Our first-ever visit to Ethiopia began on Sunday 14th and ended on Monday 29th September 2008. Prior to arrival, much communication had been exchanged between us, Paul Rankin and Nicolas Villaume, and our Ethiopian collaborators especially with Darout Gum’a and Wondimu Gaga from the Initiative for Community Action NGO (ILCA) to make our brief time productive and relevant. The purpose of the visit was to create exposure and facilitate experience sharing between the LCS team and their potential Ethiopian collaborators and communities in order to look for possible ways of expanding LCS missions to Ethiopia.

Several destinations in Southern Ethiopia were included in the schedule to meet communities and cultural organizations as per the original proposal of Dr. Wolde Gossa Tadesse, Program Officer of The Christensen Fund (TCF) for the African Rift Valley (see http://www.christensenfund.org/frame_about.html ). Ethiopia, especially the Southwest is a a hotspot of cultural diversity- see for example the map of language groups, http://gughe.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=57

We started with a meeting at Shiromeda near Addis with the Gamo weaver cooperative.Our journey then from Addis in a rented 4x4 took us South along the main tarmac arterial road, past fertile green plains near the Rift Valley lakes, with an excursion to the university of Awasa, then SW from the junction at Sheshamanee in a loop W of large lakes, along rather variable roads via Sodo to the lovely southern 'mosquito capital' of Arba Minch, some 220 miles S. of Addis. With Arba Minch as our base, we continued S to see communities around the crossroad town of Konso, then W along a surprisingly good new road under construction to Woito. From Woito we made a short visit to meet herder communities in dry hot Aerbore in the Stephanie Wildlife Reserve near the Kenya border.

Returning Arba Minch, we made several trips N on difficult roads, even for a 4x4, into the highland cultures in the chilly and sometimes very rainy mountains around Chen'cha before returning to Addis Ababa. At the end of the trip we were fortunate to be able to witness some of the Mesqala festivities that are an important and colourful celebration in Ethiopia at the end of September. (Mesqala, or Meskel meaning cross, is a huge feast celebrating the legendary finding of the True Cross on which Christ is said to have been crucified. It was reputedly first celebrated in AD 326.)

During the visit, opportunities were taken to make audio recordings of some sample stories from storytellers and take their photos, after explaining the reason and getting their permission of course. These story samples can be helpful to explain the possibilities for LCS work in Ethiopia, but also to show a model of how LCS tries to work respectfully with young and old alike.

This blog records our daily experiences. Much of the text has been written by our friend, Darout Gum'a. Some conclusions are drawn at the end.

Notes: Clicking on any image should open a magnified view.

Click on 'Older posts' at the end of this page, bottom right
to see all the blog and our final conclusions

© Living Cultural Storybases 2008. All the published material presented or displayed in this blog including text, images and sounds is copyrighted. Please do not use this material without written consent, by contacting the authors or via http://www.storybases.org/

Sept 13th: Arrival in Addis Ababa

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Addis seen from the Entoto Mountains

The LCS team arrived in Addis Ababa on Saturday 13 September 2008. Darout and Wondimu met Paul Rankin who arrived earlier in Ghion Hotel, and had a talk on LCS’ and ILCA’s missions with him that evening. Nicolas Villaume arrived late in the evening, and joined the team the next morning. The visit began on Sunday 14 September 2008 and ended on Saturday 27 September 2008. The whole program was planned on a daily schedule. Each day’s accomplishments are described below.

Sept 14th: Shiromeda (Addis), Gamo weavers' cooperative

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The team traveled up to Shiromeda district of Addis to visit the Entoto settlement. In the weavers’ cooperative office, we met five men and two women elders accompanied by eight members of the itinerant weavers cooperative from the Gammo highlands.
The two parties talked about the LCS mission, life and work in Addis Ababa, and the weavers’ connections with their region of origin. Eight of participants in the discussion, namely Dejene Malie, Malke Mammo, Dabala Damota, Atsede Dangarssa, Goqa Goamasha, Motche Mokonnen, Ayele Arja and Goashu Goabaze contributed their reflections and understandings on the issues. Points raised in the discussion are summarized below:

The mission and work of LCS were highly appreciated by the cooperative participants, who expressed that the community would be happy to cooperate with LCS if the activities related to traditional stories and other folklore could be done in their current place of residence as well as in their original regions.
There are many itinerant weavers in Addis, who have lived on weaving for more than 50 years. Pride in their high-quality work, designs and skills was very evident. The weavers are very rich in the skills of the weaving art and possess traditional knowledge that has been passed down through many generations and shared among the community members. Many of these weavers are also very capable in both adapting and inventing various new weaving designs. But often when their newly created designs are sold to a retailer, the retailer hires other weavers than the inventors, and they then plagiarise the Gamo designs at cheaper prices.
Capital for investment in looms is also difficult to accumulate. Microfinance loans (3% per month interest) are possible, but even the minimum deposit eg of 1000 Birr for 5000 Birr credit is difficult.
Though the weavers endure time consuming, back breaking and often exhausting labour to create their weaving craft, they do not benefit fairly from their products. Much of the benefit goes to the middlemen engaged in domestic retailing and export. The weaver doesn't control the price for his product; rather it is the retailer. This is mainly because the weaver is very poor with hardly adequate financial power to cover even the daily living expenses for his family. This situatation deprives him of any negotiation power in the value chain of the products' market.

Atsede Dangerssa, a wife of a weaving designer, for example, quantified the exploitative relationship between weaver and retailer as follows. Her husband would have to pay about 100 Birr (nearly 10 USD) for labour, materials, electricity, water and house rent in order to produce a complete women’s dress in a week. He would sell this dress for 150 Birr (about 15 USD) to the retailers whereas the retailers who have shops, would then sell it for 500 Birr (about 50 USD). In another example, the raw material for a dress costs 20Birr, the weaver invest 6 hours of work and sells the fabric to the retailer at 30Birr, who in the end sells it at 70Birr.

Even more galling, there had been attempts to plagiarize the Gammo Weaving Communities’ designs in the past which have even been awarded first prize at an International World Trade exhibition. A weaving products export company had publicized on a magazine page that the highly attractive and expensive designs it collected through purchase were the sole property of that company and even stated that no other entity would claim copyright. Luckily enough, this ownership claim was disproven by actions some weaver cooperative members then took.
Because of such unbalanced trading conditions, the weaving community members have remained and still stay extremely poor. As a consequence, many are looking for a way out of weaving and abandoning the activity altogether in the face of rapidly rising, current living costs, compounded by a rapid population growth that weaving income cannot support.

A participant in the meeting, Goqa Goamasha stated that he joined weaving in his later years pushed into the work by the conditions of agricultural land shortage and infertility in his place of origin (the Gammo highlands). He colourfully expressed the failure of some modern farming approaches saying, “The agricultural land has been known to collect bribes!” (referring to the continued artificial fertilization that the land needs after fertilizer introduction). He had been advised by agricultural development agents to use the artificial fertilizer if he wanted large harvests. Accordingly he introduced the fertilizer on his land but couldn’t continue to use it next season, as the prices of artificial fertilizer escalated. He also had stopped producing the traditional manure fertilizer in the hope that he would be using the new artificial fertilizer. Thus the farming cycle was disrupted, pushing the peasant farmer into the weaving work in Addis Ababa.

This weaver (Goqa Goamasha) was lucky enough to join a weaving-art training program organized and conducted by Dr. Nitty (An Indian). The latter had trained some weavers in innovative design and entrepreneurship. Dr. Nitty had also facilitated an international market for those weavers and promoted their products. During this period Goqa Goamasha earnt a good income. However, after the relation with Dr. Nitty ended (probably along with his international outlets), the weaver’s favourable income also stopped, returning him to poverty.

Atsede Dangarssa, a wife of a weaving designer also emphasized the women's issues in the weaving community. She pointed out that both girls and women of this community would walk to the eucalyptus plantations around the suburbs to cut down trees, carry firewood to the city and sell it - after considerable searching in the city for buyers. These females are often attacked by vagrant rapists. Many community girls, engaged in firewood collection at the expense of school time, are not sufficiently competent to continue their further education. Consequently, either they stay as wood collectors, run into a marriage or fall into risky activities in the city.

As final comment, the weavers hoped that the visiting LCS team could work to help restore the pride of the weaver community, attempt to establish known brands for the weavers’ products, open up an international market for the weavers’ products and revitalize the weaving craft that is presently at risk of abandonment. They spoke of the young people's disinterest in continuing the hard work of the weaving tradition, which can conflict with education time.

In response, the team suggested to the cooperative that a clearer market focus (mass low-price items vs. niche high-price or even commissioned artwork), with a clear brand labelling to mark authentic products and their own organised distribution might increase their share of the value chain. They warned that online sale of craft work over the Internet is not so simple, because of the logistics of fulfilment, export/import regulations and promotion required, although online craft sale aggregators like the Community Friendly Movement might assist (http://www.whycfm.org/). Finally, LCS are developing some novel new ways in which the stories of the weavers and the meanings of their designs could add value to their products, especially for commissioned items or some of their newer Gammo designs which tell a (moral) tale, just like the concepts which LCS are currently exploring with a similar weaving community in Peru.

Concluding the meeting, the team visited the weavers' working premises and saw samples of their fine high-quality products in the weavers’ cooperative shop.

Sept 15th: Meeting with a master weaver;LCS Talk at Hawassa University

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The journey South along the main Ethiopian arterial tarmac road via Shasamene to Awasa is easy, passing through wide fertle pastures of green injera grass, the staple food of Ethiopia which is made into rather grey-looking pancakes on to which the meal is heaped. Along the road, we were surprised to pass an airliner!

In Awasa the team met Ato Hailu Mekuria, Board Member of the Association of Indigenous Knowledge and Culture NGO, ARCIKCL. We also met Dr. Ferdu Azerefegne and Associate Professor Ato Zerihun from Hawassa University. All parties were introduced to the LCS mission and the arrangements for the LCS talk at Hawassa University in the afternoon were discussed.

Reflections of a Master Weaver

Then the visiting team headed to Ato Habtemariam Doyya’s house at Yirgalem, about 40km S. of Awassa. Ato Habtemariam, former head of the itinerant weaver’s association in Awassa, was at his weaving premises. On the arrival of the team to Habtemariam’s house, all the family members gathered in the salon room to receive us with much hospitality into their friendly family. Our introductory exchanges went into LCS’s mission, as well as life and work for weavers. Nico showed LCS work with Quechua Peruvian mountain weaver communities, eliciting a strong resonance for the Ethiopian weaver. Ato Habtemariam expressed his view that the LCS mission and methods are very useful in order to maintain communications between the older and the younger generations.

He was then happy to narrate some of his life story as a weaver for recording, after prompting by the visitors. He has been a weaver from the age of 10. In the beginning he was an apprentice to a master weaver. He made rolls of weft and learned how to weave ‘Dantcho,’ a thick and narrow strip of cloth that is worn in several rounds around the waist, especially by women in order to keep the full body garment in place. Afterwards he progressed to learn how to make ‘Bulluko’, a garment which is traditionally used by women to cover all their bodies , as over wear for men, and night wear for the family.

The third stage in his occupational career has been designing and weaving those designs and others in his products. He creates new designs from his conceptions of people, places, events and nature. As a master craftsman, he doesn’t have to start by drawing new designs; rather he simply uses his metal images and goes straight to the cloth. As a model, he showed the visitors two of his designs named The Queen of Sheba (an ancient Ethiopian queen said to have relations with king Solomon of Israel) and the Flowers of the Heaven.

A fragment of the explanation to the LCS team by Ato Habtemariam about his designs, interpreted by Darout can be heard using the play button below.(You will need the Adobe Flash Player installed, see http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ )

He bitterly expressed that weaving is a very hard work and a time consuming activity without appropriate return for its investment. Therefore, he had decided that none of his children should be engaged in the weaving trade. Similarly none of his children are willing to engage in it. Amazingly this reflection of the changing world coincided with the prophesy of abandoning weaving by the Shiromeda weavers on the preceding day.

As an aside, table tennis is surprisingly popular in Ethiopia, on the way we often passed people playing on tables on a village green or on the town streets. Ato Habtemariam Doyya’s daughter, Birtukan proudly showed us the medals she had won as a champion player in the sport.

LCS Talk at Hawassa University

In the afternoon, after a very hospitable welcome by Dr Ferdu, head of the Institute for Society and the Environment, a presentation on LCS was given by Paul and Nicolas to the Hawassa University community. The 1.5 hr talk began at 4:00pm with 130 participants attending, thanks to the promotion and organisation work of Ato Zerihun. The global background of rapidly disappearing minority languages and cultures was explained, followed by LCS's mission to revitalize cultures using modern technology to carry traditional narratives, connecting the generations and linking traditionally-living people with their urban diaspora again. The organisation and its first two years' activities in the Peruvian mountains and Saharan desert in Mali were highly appreciated by the audience, agreeing its importance and a lively discussion ensued. Several young men and women expressed their interest in the LCS work, for example posing the following questions:

Is there any possibility to use this technology and approach in Ethiopia?

The work is marvelous; but how can its sustainability after introduction to communities be assured?

As the technology and methodology are very relevant to Ethiopia, how can they be linked under the government constraints and national interests in fostering cultural diversity ?

The joint presenters, Paul Rankin and Nicolas Villaume responded for example as follows:

LCS is visiting for the first time to look for possibilities of introducing their methodology and technology to Ethiopia as encouraged by their sponsors, The Christensen Fund. This university audience as a community in a higher education institution and especially the new Hawassa Department of Anthropology can help LCS in researching possible entry routes and in proposing collaborations. Other Ethiopian friends working with LCS such as NGO’s like ILCA are expected to establish a cooperation with LCS to guide, strengthen and help find funders for an introduction of the LCS approach.

As to the question of sustainability, this is a question for people on the ground. As the determinants of sustainability, they are more responsible than anyone. The communities would have to value their culture and sustain the system of LCS methods and tools. Certainly LCS has novel ideas about how indigenous knowledge and cultural narratives can add value not only to craftwork, but to the wider society. But the LCS approach throughout aims at community empowerment - encouraging ownership, not only of their traditional knowledge, mores and narrative content, but also of choices and the whole process, including the training of community youth, the selection of content genres of local importance and identification of relevant metrics for impact assessments. In any case, from a global point of view, one might question the long-term sustainability of the Western majority cultures of competition, greed and resource consumption!

Of course LCS must also assess the compatibility of its mission and work with government interests in Ethiopia. The balance between national state interests and minority cultural interests is often difficult. The LCS team therefore would expect some government representatives in planning talks and needs their guidance and comments. Ethiopia's recent declared national policy to foster cultural diversity and value the diversity of its Southern 'nations' opens the way for cultural actions like LCS.

As a relaxing finish to a long day, before returning to the Rastafarian-owned hotel in Shashemene, the LCS team were able to visit the shore of Lake Awasa as the sun started to set. There courting couples were eating popcorn or strolling hand-in-hand along the bank past the painted tour boats and a fisherman's reed boat tied up for the night.

People sat and chatted watching the golden sunset across the shimmering wide waters of the lake, which is rich in fish and birdlife such as kingfishers and herons.

Sept 16th: Travel to Arba Minch

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Our driver Mesfin took us West from Sheshemene off the main North-South arterial road, through the cross-road town of Sodo.

After savouring coffee which is delicious everywhere in Ethiopia, we then drove southwards, skirting the West side of lake Abaya.

The landscapes are hotter and drier and the journey slows down as the road deteriorates. We passed scenes of a quieter rural life, with people riding in horse-drawn transport rather than cars or walking to markets well-stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables.

Our hotel in Arba Minch has a beautiful clifftop location outside the main lake-side town, overlooking dense jungle below which runs up a facing mountain peak, with the lakes of Chamo and Abaya in the distance. The name Arba Minch comes from the forty mountain springs which converge here.

Sept 17th: Arba Minch, GIAMA and CIQ meetings

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The team went to Arba Minch University in the morning to present an LCS lecture. However, the university talk had to be postponed due to the low attendance. We talked with Alemayehu, Vice President in the university administration and the public relations office for a reprogramming of the LCS presentation, as the advance communications about the event seemed to have broken down, so there had not been any wide promotion of the talk. We rescheduled it for Monday 22 September 2008, whilst understanding that this was a difficult period as several staff were away on a curriculum review and many students busy with examinations.

In the afternoon, the team visited the offices of Gughe Indigenous Art and Music Association (GIAMA) and Center for Indigenous Questions (CIQ).

In the office of GIAMA, we met Ato Kata Kelilie, their Executive Director and exchanged ideas on missions of both parties, seeing several possibilities for collaboration. GIAMA has about 5 people in their association, mainly concentrating since June 2006 on the organisation of the celebrated Thousand Stars Festival of Music and Dance. GIAMA's aims are:
- to promote and invigorate the indigenous art and knowledge of Ethiopian Rift Valley communities and cultures
- to encourage and support cross-cultural links and creative exchange
- to further understanding and appreciation of the cultural heritage of the Region locally, nationally and internationally

The imminent Festival on 13-15th December 2008, would include not only the 56 S. Ethiopian 'nations', but performers from Kenya, see http://www.gughe.org/ . They want to ensure that performers themselves benefit from the sales of videos etc of the event through promotion of copyrights. GIAMA have been building up analogue archives of music and traditional knowledge such as in healing medicine and want to build up a resource centre on traditional cultures for universities and others.

LCS noted the increased potential if archives have been digitized, the attraction of also inviting master storytellers to the 1000 Stars Festival and the LCS methods for including the whole community in a celebration of their oral traditions via multimedia exhibitions, the Internet as distribution and two-way communication medium, and potential use of mobile devices.

Ato Kata posed the following two interesting questions:

What is the guarantee for the digital equipment that LCS gives to children or youth in communities for story recording? Can’t it go missing or even get lost?

How easy would it be to attract the young generation and get them engaged in revitalizing traditions, as the young are highly attracted by aspects of the stream of modernization ?

The team replied to these questions as follows:

From experiences in other communities, LCS has observed that youth recruited for LCS work are very happy with the training and skills they acquire and the whole operation.

They are very proud of using the digital gadgets, often several other community members follow them when they are recording, photographing and playing back or exhibiting their recordings. So, they are seen to care for the equipment, do their job with pride and are happy with the recognition they get from their elders for helping preserve their culture.

In fact, the strength of the LCS approach is in the trick of combining the interest of the young in using digital gadgets or the Internet with the desire of the elders to have their voices heard and their traditions respectfully appreciated by the young.

Ato Lemma (Executive Director), Tarekegn Shado and other staff members warmly received the visiting team at the CIQ office. CIQ is a relatively new organisation, fostered by seed capital from The Christensen Fund (who are sponsoring much of the cultural diversity initiatives in Southern Ethiopia through several NGO's). CIQ has been licensed for NGO work since Dec. 2007. CIQ's aim is to provide assistance for indigenous community associations, or ICAs. (In 1997, there were only 3 ICAs, now there are 63.) CIQ provides advocates and consultants. Their goals include running training workshops in technology or finance, helping establish community bylaws, governmental recognition or in application for grants. CIQ will subsume some of the work of the Culture and Arts Association (CASE), which for example have helped build capacity in the Gammo Weavers Association (35% supported by TCF). CIQ have arranged an Arba Minch workshop on biodiversity, seeds and trees, sacred sites and forests. About 7 or 8 ICA's are currently helped by CIQ. Many more in the large Gammo region also want assistance, but CIQ has limits on how fast it can grow.

Both parties exchanged ideas on the missions of their organizations and saw many possibilities for collaboration bringing complementary approaches to cultural re-vitalization. The CIQ staff provided the LCS team with the necessary information to set up contacts for the subsequent visits to Konso and Aerbore communities.

After another productive day with many new contacts, the visitors returned to their Arba Minch eco-lodge for the night.

Sept 18th: Konso, Parka meeting and Gamole village visit

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The team traveled S from Arba Minch to the town of Konso in the morning. Konso is a special Woreda (region) with a population of about 215000 in 200km2 with its own language and cultures.

We had time to sample its colourful market, where everything from grain to cloth, from animals to firewood is bartered.

In the town we visited the office of Parka, a local NGO for Environmental and Cultural Protection which has a strong community base and the support of the Christensen Fund. Parka is committed to preserve sacred sites, a harmonious relationship between environment and traditional community (therefore biodiversity) and the recognition of the value of indigenous knowledge in sustainable development.

Konso cultures are remarkable for the traditional ways that they conserve precious water using wells and soil resources by terraced agriculture - a paradigm of the inter-dependency between traditional practices and environmental conservation. Customary laws reflect the duty of each family to undertake the ardous work to maintain the stone terrace walls. If one generation did not repair the stone walls, then heavy rains would wash the topsoil down from the hill tops and centuries of hillside farming would be lost forever. Sacred forests are protected from wood-cutting by taboos. Another old tradition is that people should only marry between the ages of 18-36, thus limiting population growth until recently to that which the land could sustain. Culture and environment are thus closely linked. The whole agricultural system is therefore threatened by new attitudes, fast population growth, modern education of the young, their movement to urban centres and their disinterest in arduous manual work. It was clear to the LCS representatives that a truly informed balance will need to be struck by the communities between respect for traditions and the changes brought by the 'modern' world.

In our friendly meeting we exchanged explanations of the missions and objectives of the LCS and Parka organizations with Ato Koashona Kollo, the manager and Ato Garmo Qerre, the Parka treasurer. Many parallels were noted between the mountain communities, with whom LCS works in Peru and which also practice terraced farming and weaving, and the hillside communities in Konso region.

In the afternoon, we visited Gamole, a showcase village of a traditional Konso settlement protected by dry stonewalls where various cultural practices are still intact.

In Gamole village, Ato Koashona, the Parka manager briefed the team with the administrative responsibilities arrangement of the Konso generation and the responsible generation’s tree erection.

In the communities of Konso, each generation is assigned the responsibility of protecting and leading the community for 9 or 18 years. The cycle is 9 years in the Kera area and 18 years in the Karat area. Special ceremonies mark the synchronised hand-over of all roles and responsibilities to the subsequent generation. Each newly-responsible generation erects a newly-cut tree against the trees of the old generations to symbolize itself and binds the tree together with the earlier ones. The youngest generation tree is always the tallest.

In Gamole village, the team also visited the house where the young men of the village sleep, its impressively-constructed dry stone walls and narrow passages between the huts, the village entrance and exit gates , and the village compound (Moara) where traditional practices are staged and the village court is held. The Moara contains the generation trees, a playing or ritual field and the night-stay house. This house functions both as a guard house and a place for visitors to stay. Through the night stories are traditionally told here. (These special house are therefore very interesting as possible centres in Konso villages for LCS work on digital story recording and exchange). The young men's house at Gamole has been rebuilt recently with the help of Parka and TCF funds. (Many of such traditional houses were burnt during the Derg communist regime, which until the early 90's had banned traditional practices and undermined the inherited authority of the community elders.)
We were also privileged to meet Kalla Gezahegn, the traditional Konso chief of the community at his nearby sanctuary, where he lives near the sacred forest in a compound separated from the village.

Gezahegn can speak both Amharic and English very well. He had trained as a civil engineer, but returned to the village 6 years ago to shoulder his serious responsibilities as the chief after the death of his father. He showed us photos of his father and grandfather, both when they were alive and now mummified, and briefed us on the succession of Konso chiefhood and its associated rituals and responsibilities, eg for local judgements on customary laws. Gezahegn is the 20th chief to have been in the same place - each chief usually holding position for an 18 year cycle. Gezhaegn is also a member of the managing board of Parka. He told the team that there is a very high appreciation of Parka's work from the 6 local communities with which it works, There are 48 villages in the Konso region - other nearby villages are requesting Parka's assistance. However, a shortage of resources constrains the association from accommodating all these requests.

Parka pay some money to village elders to teach children in appreciating traditional knowledge and practices, including storytelling. Both sides saw the strong potential for LCS methods to help Parka on the mission of linking the generations, improving social dialogue/cohesion and the passing on traditional knowledge to the young. Parka could be a collaborative platform for LCS to quickly scale up to reach many communities e.g. via LCS training workshops and multimedia exhibitions.

The team left the Parka personnel with an appointment to come back later in the LCS trip in order to visit some other Konso villages which are more remote and less affected by tourism than Gamole (see Sept 21st below).

Sept 19th: Woito meetings- Tsamako & Birrale communities and CASE

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The team traveled to Woito in the morning. Travelling west in the mountains from Konso, parallel to the Kenyan border along a surprisingly wide new road that is being built (not without a few problems, see photo!), the hill landscape changes with views of distant lakes and green cotton plantations below on the plains.

As we descended from the mountains to the plains, the temperature rose radically as we entered a hot flat acacia scrub land, with quite different flora and fauna. Here the cultures and languages are quite different from Konso. Tribal communities mainly herd animals, but may also now find work in the irrigated privately-owned plantations or grow crops suitable for a semi-arid climate.

After unloading the two extra passengers riding in discomfort on the car roof (bought by Darourt and Mesfin for their forthcoming family celebrations of Mesqala festival), we sheltered from the sun and met Horra Galcha, Manager of Culture and Art Society of Ethiopia (CASE) Woito Project and other staff for traditional Ethiopian food served on injera pancakes. The two parties introduced each other and discussed arrangements for a meeting with local community elders.

That afternoon, we had a meeting in the tree shade with 13 male and 7 female elders from the Tsamako and Birrale communities. (The Tsamako tribe has about 10 000 members.) The purpose of our visit, mission and work of LCS were explained for the elders via a translator. The elders, whose contributions were dominated by Gosha Armirie, the tribal leader, appreciated and supported the LCS activity. As they said, tourists come and just want to take photos of us and leave, this is the first time visitors have sat down with us to talk. Continuing about the problem of tourism in the region, they said that some local people come to Woito just to try to be paid to have their photos taken. They advise people to stay at home, and have the tourists come instead to a local community-run lodge where they can buy things and eat local food and watch organised dances, so confining the impact.

On a question from the visiting team about their culture, the community elders tellingly said “You can easily imagine the status our culture is in simply by looking at our environment. You can see that our environment is badly degraded; and so is our culture.”

There are have been problems for traditional herding due to the introduction of enclosures e.g. around the very large local cotton plantation, and the water requirements for irrigating the latter. In the last 10 years, such privately owned plantations may not bring any benefit for local people and so there have been conflicts. (When they were established, workers from the highlands came to cut trees to sell for a quick return as firewood . In the last 5 years there have been attempts to educate for a re-forestation with indigenous trees.)

The elders emphasized that there has been a high rate of deforestation, and a serious shortage of rains in the area. “The last good rain was a year ago, we used to expect two rains a year.” There is therefore a high concern on basic food continuity. Besides, the community members expressed their insistence in their culture. They said. “Though it is the fate of our culture to be degraded, it is inevitable that still we continue living in our culture.”

A serious problem they raised about their livestock was that their traditional vetinary knowledge has become eroded over time and now there are few people with sufficient knowledge of traditional medication (and possibly a lack of herbs). But the number of modern practicians for animal health is also insufficient, thus they lack proper animal health care. The community members often try to imitate some modern procedures when they give medication to animals. They would buy some tablets or injection chemicals from contraband suppliers and try the procedures themselves on sick animals. Many such attempts result in the death of the animals owing to problems related to expiry dates, dosage and mismatch between the medicine and the disease. (LCS noted these symptoms of poor indigenous knowledge transmission between generations).

It was noticeable in this dialogue that not only men, but some women in the gathering spoke out with their views. This was to be the exception during the LCS visit, as most of our meetings were with the elders of male-dominated social groups. (In fact this bias became the reason why the LCS visitors specifically called for a meeting at the end of the trip to hear the views of female community representatives). The meeting closed respectfully with the mantra from both sides: “You are human beings, We are human beings. God bless you”.

After the meeting with the community members, the LCS team met Culture and Art Society of Ethiopia Woito Project Office staff in their office to review the community meeting and learn more. According to CASE staff members, the Woito project is presently coordinating 11 culture and natural resources protection associations in the surrounding area. CASE has been active for the last 3 years in the locality and have also been working with park rangers and wildlife protection agencies to try to stop animal poaching (sometimes using machine guns!) in and around the local Stephanie Wildlife Reserve.

CASE reported their experiences in relation with critical issues of bicultural diversity. They reported that the Tsamako and Birrale communities in the area formerly had a variety of 36 types of crop before the introduction of the modern improved seeds to the land promoted by the Government. Some time after the adoption of the improved seeds, they were left only with the new maize, which requires fertilizer. (Probably a monoculture is more vulnerable to the variability of a semi-arid climate too.) Now, the CASE project office has collected the original types of indigenous crop from various areas and distributes the seeds among the community members.

Returning to the issue of the lack of skilled vets and the misuse of modern medications, CASE staff mentioned that they have also been trying to re-introduce traditional of 'ethno-vetinerary knowledge, for example the use of dog's urine to overcome the problem when a cow rejects a newborn calf. They also confirmed the LCS view that traditional knowledge is transmitted through storytelling and the value of myths and proverbs -there is no written language for some of the local cultures. CASE also mentioned the tribal separation of the male and female societies - boys (should) respect their father's peers, girls their mother's. Women are not the decision makers. When the children go to school they are often left alone at home to do everything.

One aside that was made was that some time ago, people got outside aid for free, but now labour is expected in return. People are sometimes reluctant to work to get this assistance now (dependency syndrome).

The Government priority on education can also bring some conflicts, as the youngsters are more focused on going to urban schools, help less with the farming work and can put their culture aside, e.g. referring to their parents' 'backward attitudes'. In the last year CASE has been trying to address this problem by introducing two or three 45min. sessions a week on local culture and traditions into the local school curriculum. A male and female elder are paid by CASE to give these sessions in the Woito and Aerbore schools. (LCS noted the opportunity here to build on this cultural revitalization bridgehead in the schools - amplifying it via LCS methods, digital equipment and e.g. multimedia exhibitions. Unfortunately, there is no local-language radio station that can be used.).

In all this was a very illuminating day, with strong memories, friendships made and much learned by the LCS visitors.

Sept 20th: Aerbore visit, meeting elders of herding community

2008-09-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

The team traveled south through the hot dry landscape of the Stephanie Wildlife Reserve on the Kenyan border to the township of Aerbore, where other pastural ethnic groups live in this culturally diverse region.

There we met Gelane Oolle, the Aerbore Culture and Natural Resources Protection Association manager. We visited the korkoro, the Aerbore traditional house, constructed in the Aerbore School compound. The korkoro was built with CASE's assistance with the aim of keeping cultural articles like utensils, clothes, working implements and the like in order to regularly exhibit them to school children to keep them in touch with their traditions.

We met with a group of school children and recorded a long and very amusing old fable which was expertly narrated by one youth about a sheep and goat who frightened all the other animals.

A lively traditional song, accompanied by clapping was sung for the visitors. You can hear a sample by activating the play button below. (You will need the Adobe Flash Player installed, see http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ )

It was again clear that the LCS methods could increase the impact of the cultural revival work around storytelling in the school. For example, the school korkoro could be a place for multimedia story exhibitions or explanations and stories relating to the objects and traditional practices. Leaving the school, we went to meet 20 Aerbore male community elders in the shade under a special meeting tree.

The gathering and the visitors were blessed in the traditional way to open the meeting by Orgi Galcha, the “Qawot” (traditional leader of the community) before the discussion. The Qawot had a “simirte”, a long ceremonial staff with the upper end tapering to a point. (No other community member is allowed to hold the simirte.)

The elders were briefed about the mission and activities of LCS and asked for their opinions. They expressed that they were very happy to hear of the LCS aims and activities. They commented that the introduction of the LCS approach in their area will be very useful as the young generation is losing their culture. The youth are following the tourists and begging for plastic water containers ('highland') and money. Some tourists have also been committing 'adultery' with girls from the community. So, the community is planning to establish a lodge where tourists could rest and be entertained, but also be contained and constrained from causing interference. Currently the community is looking for financial assistance to establish this lodge.

The elders also stated that with the help of CASE and their local association, they are now aware of the importance of wildlife. Thus, the community have started protecting the local environment and have observed some wild animals returning to the bush .

This community also shares the same animal health problems that the Tsamako and Birrale communities are experiencing. The Aerbore community elders presented their problems as follows: 'Previously we didn’t wait for the modern medicine from the government. We would make our traditional medicines for various types of animal disease from a kind of soil locally called Haya. This soil is found in our territory bordering the Borena Oromo. But now, there is a conflict between our neighbors (the Hammar and the Borena Oromo). Because of this conflict, it isn’t easy to carry out any activity in the area where one can find Haya. Now our inability to make traditional animal medicine, coupled with the serious shortage of animal health technicians in the area is creating serious problems for us.'

The elders were proud to have their photos taken after our meeting to mark our respectful exchange, and we also had the chance to watch the animated playing of a traditional stones game before returning to Woito for the night.

Sept 21st: Konso visits to Goatcha & Faassha villages

2008-09-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

Following the plan made on Thursday 18 September 2008 to visit some Konso villages which are more remote and less affected by tourism than Gamole, the team visited the upland Goatcha and mid-highlands Faassha villages in Konso area.

At Goacha, 20 elders and youngsters gathered in the moara (traditional public square) for a dialogue with the visiting LCS team. As are the local customs, only male representatives were present and spoke in strict order of seniority, eldest first. The community members expressed their appreciation of the LCS mission, and gave explanations for some of their culture- such as the “olahetta” (the generation tree), the “dhina” (traditional sacred forest of towering euphorbia trees(holaita), which are usually used for fire extinguishing and are esculent(edible), the “waka” (a traditional memorial standing stone for the deceased), and the names of successive generations. The dhinas are also used as communal toilets according to the elders.
Gahama Dakaita said, "The culture is not going to disappear at once because we are here to protect it, but sometimes the children dom't participate because of their religion". (He was referring to an ambivalence towards the changes in view brought by Christianity, which we also heard from elders elsewhere. By tradition, the unmarried youth place their stick in a small thatched place in the moara to 'register' that they belong to the community.) They referred to Parka's work encouraging wall rebuilding and on re-forestation, as once the sacred forest was all round the village. This forest is protected by cultural taboos, for example only elders who have no other support are allowed to collect firewood in the sacred forest, the respect for the forest being passed from father to son in the culture. The elders emphasized the role of story telling in inter-generational cultural transmission(c.f. LCS) although added "But sometimes the kids don't listen". Another elder took up the importance of the men's house, where storytelling goes on through the night. (The LCS team noted that this night stay house would be a natural hub for LCS digital story-exchange work). On a question about education, the community felt it was not in conflict, because the school is nearby, so at least early schooling is embedded in the culture.

In Goatcha village, the alternating names given to generational peer groups bearing the community's responsibility are Hirba and Kalkusa , in line with the arrangement that the Konso communities from Karat area have two alternating names, thus making the generation period 18 years (compared with 9 years in Gamole).
This area's unique stone-walled hill terraces which have been handed down from generation to generation are another strong example of the close link between culture and sustainability of the environment and agriculture. The elders explained that not a single stone can be removed. There is a heavy obligation on each family head to build and maintain the terrace walls. If this is not done, there are traditional punishments via the village court, because not only does the family loose its livelihood, but the whole community and the legacy they leave to the next generation can suffer through soil erosion of the hillside.

We were taken to visit the dhina of the Goatcha village, the moara forest, the stone wakas, the generation tree, and had a chance to talk with some Knoso weavers in the village and record a sample story a young man told. Finally, we shared a traditionally-blessed drink from a gourd before leaving this friendly village where we had learnt much from the elders.

Following this, we traveled on to the Faassha village which is a large Knoso community of about 8000 in the Kera area. There we met 39 male community elders in this village’s youth night stay house. We were given skins to sit on in the stone walls which form a circle of the sunken lower room, each participant having a place based on their community position, the elders bearing staves marking their status and speaking in order of seniority. (As the elder LCS visitor, Paul was expected to speak before Nico.) During our quite formal meeting, we were briefed that this village as a Kera area Konso community has 3 alternating names for generational groups bearing the community's responsibilities. The names are Hirba, Kalkusa and Melkusa. Each name would be given to the generation designated to be responsible for 9 years. Thus, the generation period in this community is 9 years. The planting and harvesting seasons are marked by a sacrice of a goat or sheep. Every annual major harvest, the head of a sorghum plant would be cut off and kept in a special place in order to count passing of the generation-period years. When the number of the sorghum head reaches 9, a whole new generation groupo is assigned all the community responsibilities, with the next of the 3 alternating names. The generation group leader always comes from one of three families locally known as Ermale, Taytemo and Mussha.
Once again a tension between old unchanging traditions and new 'religion' was voiced. These male elders have a very clear pride in their cultural identity.

The community elders spoke led by Tarefe Korano, saying they have a strong culture now, despite its oppression by the Derg Regime which burnt the village and the old youth-stay house. The new house was built 2 years earlier with TCF and Parka support, but they still ask for further outside assistance. Again, the importance of story-telling came up. "There is no paper to write, but everyone should be a child to hear the story and stay by me to hear stories at night." The two places for learning were said as learning in the family and learning in the men's house. One elder, speaking of his peer group said "We are the future resources for the others... I don't know when I die, but you'll have to take over the responsibility then." The second and third elders to speak both said "Thank you TCF, we are lucky to be a part of the Parka programme".

The Parka organisation has been embraced by these communities and played a strong role in preserving the unique cultures and thus the landscape and agriculture of this region of terraced farming and stone-walled hill villages.Our Parka guide showed us some of the replantation work and a series of three photos taken at the same place, showing the landscape regeneration they have achieved with the community.

Before we left Faassha, the Parka Traditional Music Unit enthusiastically presented colourful Konso traditional music and dance for the visitors. They also sang explicitly of Parka’s efforts and their gratitude. The strong communal feeling, hospitality and friendliness of Faassha was very obvious. You can sample two of their dance songs by activating the play buttons below.

Sept 22nd: Chen'cha visits to Zozo & Boye nursery, LCS Talk at Arba Minch University

2008-09-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

Climbing the steep mountain North of our Arba Minch lodge to the chilly and rainy upland country, there are fine views back down towards the lakeside town and one passes signs of the 20,000 tourists that visit Arba each year - stalls selling colourful traditional weavings and hats- as well as slow trudging women bent double under heavy loads.

Arriving in Che'ncha, the team met the elder Mazge Gazato in the Zozo village. Mazge led the team via deteriorating roads to Gadhosa, a traditional public forum on sacred ground locally called “dubbusha” where 25 male community elders were dealing with their community issues. The visiting team was permitted to explain its mission to the elders. We did as allowed talking of our work in Mali and Peru. We explained the LCS techniques for bridging the generational gap, thanked them for the chance to meet them and appealed for their reflections.

The elders, the most senior Kosha Kodo speaking first, responded by expressing their support for the LCS mission and said that they would be very happy to work with LCS. They were grateful to the visiting team for coming to see them, and thanked the program organizers, Dr. Tadesse Wolde (TCF) especially, and Mazge and Darout for their facilitation. He explained the dubbusha ground: "This is the place where we bless and curse and resolve conflicts. It's a sacred place." Nicolas drew comparisons with the Peruvian culture with which he works for LCS, where people worship the sun and Mother Earth and mountains are sacred. Parallels were noted: "The mountain is very important for our animals' health, we respect the sun also".

Standing in turn to speak to the seated audience, planting their ceremonial spear before them in the ground, the elders said: "We have many stories, we can produce many of them for you, we hope we work with you. We can tell you about the bamboo we use for many things, or about this big old 'borto' tree. The trees help heep the ecology in balance, bring us rain and preserve the moisture. We have stories but also traditional ways of expressing bravery."

The second speaker said "The young people are not willing to participate or even watch us performing animal sacrifices. The young say 'Why do you kill an ox and waste your money on a sacrifice? You should give up these old ways and join the modern world'. They say this, but we feel it's because we had these ways from our fathers and grandfathers and should continue. Even during the prohibition time (the Derg regime), we secretly continued the sacrifices. Look at this stick, it's a symbol of our titles. After Tadesse's many efforts we are now enjoying our traditional ways again. We have our mountains which are sacred and our places for practicising our belief. Here we pray for health, property and peace."

The last speaker, Sahanka Salamo said: "If you have come to help this traditional way of life again, we would be very happy to help you in any way we can and work together." Ditcha Dilbe added: "We would like to go deep in our tradition, but our children are a source of fear for us". Closing, Paul and Nicolas formally thanked the congregation for their greetings, the mutual respect and for this dialogue. In closing, the whole assembly was blessed by the most senior speaker, wishing peace for all and including two marginalized men who had had to sit on the edge of the group.

Then Mazge led the team to the Boye Cultural and Environmental Protection Association’s nursery site. The team was briefed by the gardeners about their 3 year old program for cultivating seedlings of indigenous trees which had been on the verge of extinction, which has been supported by TCF matching funds from the indigenous association, IDRE.
The Boye association is nursing indigenous tree seedlings like those of Soadho, local Tseeda, Anka, Borto, Mudha and the leguminous plant Motchi Ba-ela, which is known for its power to restore fertility to agricultural lands (by nitrogen fixation). The seedlings are distributed to community members in five surrounding villages. The efforts of this association are 'bearing fruit' in that the threatened indigenous trees are now growing in the plots and land of many families, according to the gardeners' report.

Thereafter, the visiting team were invited by their hosts to a traditional meal for the first time, in a traditional hut at the nursery. We enjoyed the shaassha (roasted barley), the gurddo (roughly ground barley boiled with milk and butter), and the parsso (local ale made of brown wheat with boiled water). The team had the feeling of being ‘at home’ with the community members and left for Terenke’s house. Much amusement was caused by the local tradition where the women themselves force very large balls of mealie which are difficult to swallow into the mouths of the visitors.

The landscapes and the peoples of this region at an altitude of about are very reminiscent of the Northern hilltribe region of Thailand. This lush mountainous country is cut by deep riverbeds that we had to cross on foot for our next visit to an old woman.

Terenke, the 'visionary' soothsayer living in the Basso Valley, served us with hospitality that also included the shaassha, the parsso, traditional bread and milk. We could only help with some of the shaassha but not with any of the other food as we were full from the 'forcible feeding' at the nursery!
We listened to Terenke’s stories about her clairvoyance and prophesies. Her life has not been easy, and the responsibility of being able to see something of the future seemed to weigh in her. On certain days of the week she accepts visitors who request an audience for her advice and bring gifts in return. After a while, we had to bid her farewell for the time being. reassuring her that we would return soon to see her again, and hurried down the mountains to our scheduled Arba Munch University LCS presentation .

In the University Lecture Theatre, the meeting began at 3:30 P.M with 22 attendants. LCS financial provision was made for the two Parka representives whom we had met earlier to make the journey to Arba Minch to participate. One hour after the start of the presentation, the power unfortunately went off, so Paul and Nico had to continue without amplification or projection.
The following questions were raised by the attendees after the presentation.
1. Could there be any possibility to use video with, or produce movies of the traditional cultures?
2. How would it be possible for you to introduce the LCS technology in Ethiopia in the face of inhibiting government policies?
3. South Ethiopia has more than 56 tribes, so how would it be feasible to accomplish LCS aims in all these cultures?

The team replied to these questions as follows:

LCS is dealing primarily with stories in cultures with a long heritage of oral storytelling, where the craft of spoken storytelling is widespread. Of course, it is possible to produce videos or movies to tell stories, but one must consider the social inclusivity of film or video production. The latter requires an understanding of the craft of cinematography, so only a few in a community may take on board the skills of its creation and editing. LCS focuses first on starting simply with spoken stories plus still images, their exchange and on triggering cultural dialogue around stories, at the same time developing a capacity with digital technologies. Perhaps later including community empowerment in participatory video or film production, as is done by other NGO's such as the Digital Storytelling Centre and Insight, see http://www.insightshare.org/ might be a good complementation.
LCS is assessing ways to implement its goal in Ethiopia taking into account many factors. When considering traditions, we talk about 'nations' (cultures) and these nations have been encouraged to develop and promote their cultures and histories under the current Ethiopian constitution. Thus, there seems a good policy ground to take up this opportunity and get government cooperation with LCS on its mission.
LCS is thinking of starting a pilot project with one ethnic group first in Ethiopia. Then it might expand, via well-established partners such as Parka for fast duplication and this way might be able to satisfy more cultural needs and interests.

Sept 23rd: Visits to Ezzo and Dorbo, Masqala festival preparations

2008-09-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

The team traveled up to Ezzo in the morning, and met Mallebo Mancha, the leader of Ezzo Cultural Association. The team walked across Dorbo, a wide sacred pastoral field, feeling the special untouched fresh nature of the open rolling green hillside. We sat in the middle of Dorbo, soaking up the peace of the scene, after a while being surrounded by the Kalo boys. These are a group of specially-selected young boys who are assigned the responsibility for managing the Kalo. The latter is the communal pasture that is traditionally protected for about two months before Masqala.

(In the Gammo tradition, the protection of communal pastures is actually so that the animals of the area can also participate in the festivities of Masqala like their owners). We were lucky enough to also meet with Ato Mallebo Mancha. The Kalo boys and other people surrounded us sitting on the field. We exchanged with them explanations about our LCS mission, their Kalo boy tradition, the sacredness of Dorbo and about the Ezzo Association. A sample of Mallebo Mancha's pronouncements on the sacred ground and the role of the Kalo boys, translated by Darout can be heard using the play button below.

Standing as an impressive figure against the sky, Mallebo Mancha welcomed and encouraged the LCS activities. He specially invited the team to come back on the next day to observe the Kalo boys' day of celebration with parading riders showing off their horsemanship on the sacred Dorbo ground.
Following the meeting, we were invited to share a local meal with Ato Mallebo and the Secretary of the Association. After the meal, led by the two association representatives we went up to Naggasa, a sacred forest with age-old trees of various species. We recorded Ato Mallebo Mancha's explanation on the background to the forest and its history. Custom law again protects this hill-top forest against logging or use for firewood and against hunting the animals that live in it.

Naggasa was established in prehistoric times, the people trying to build it up higher with stones (more sacred) than two similar sacred forests, Damo in Woliefa and Sarara in Kumbata, but the stones tumbled. Only people with a special status are allowed to enter Naggasa.

Respectful meetings with senior figures or group representatives cannot be rushed, so by this time we were running late. Next, we traveled on to Lisha, to the sanctuary of Prophet Kawo Essa’s grandson. Unfortunately on arrival, we were told that the man, after having waited a long time for us, had gone out to look for us in the surrounding area. The team waited for a while at his 'sanctuary' house, had purcha (a traditional food), but eventually had to leave, fixing an appointment with his son for the next day.

Closing another full day, the LCS team traveled back down to Terenke’s house at dusk, gave her our greetings again and forwarded a present to her for meeting us.

Sept 24th: Meetings with Dorze & Doko elders, Masqala horse parade at Ezzo

2008-09-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

In the morning in Dorze, the team met the Qeso (priest) Zuma Zula of Amara clan, the guardian of the sacred forest Ato Olqe Odiro, Chairman Ato Asrat Zeleke and other members the Dorze Cultural and Environmental Protection Association . (This association is assisted by CASE/CIQ organizations as in Woito.) After opening the meeting with an Orthodox Christian blessing, the Qeso emphasized that the young generation do not respect the elders and the old ways of life, the traditional practices were lost more than 34 years ago (The Derg regime time), as a consequence of which the whole community has suffered troubles and famine.

The Dorze association members stated that in the past, every kind of creature in the area, such as hyena, lion or locust traditionally had its own corresponding human chief (spiritual mediator). These chiefs gave annual sacrifices and kept their creatures at peace with the people. Now as a result of the cultural degradation, the young have become materialistic these beliefs and practices have been abandoned. They did not blame these changes on education. On response to an LCS question as to whether the elders take any actions against the changing values of the young. they responded that they attempt this within the community, they have their traditional village squares for annual gatherings where they communicate the old ways. Some respect the traditional life and are safe from troubles, others suffer the consequences of disrespect. Protestant influences were also cited as a source of problems.

After a question about storytelling and value transmission, the Dorze association members said that often now,the young consider themselves highly educated and don't listen to the elders at all. It's very rare now for the young to listen to the old stories. The elders thought that the LCS way of attracting the young through technology which carries the old stories was very good. In the old days, storytelling was used for everything, such as in debate, moral education and conflict resolution. They illustrated this point by telling the team two moral tales about fidelity, good heart and watching your tongue. Closing, the Qeso blessed the team and said "Help us teach the younger generation and get them to listen to us".

Three young men were also in the little cafe where we were talking. We asked them about their own feelings on cultural values and traditional practices. The young men responded that they respect their cultural values and traditional practices as long as they are not harmful (restrictive). "With the traditional weaving, people don't wear it (now), they sell it. The young need to know their culture so they can tell outsiders and tourists as guides. People come from all over the world to Dorze."

After the meeting at Dorze, the team traveled on muddy tracks, very difficult even for our 4x4, up to the small village of Doko where they met Halaqa Shagire Shano, Adde Indal, Maakko Shotte, Huduga Meresho and Halaqa Motche Morzha. Here the team repeated our explanation of the LCS mission and our activities to this new group of male community elders, the cultural importance we believe of re-telling old stories and the attraction of new technology for the young, asking what they thought. The group of Doko elders at Halaqa Shagire’s house expressed their support for the LCS goals and reinforced the view that their culture is in danger of degradation from cultural 'imperialism', especially because of newly-introduced religions.

Halaqa Motche told us: "Thank you and God bless you. This concern of yours has inspired great happiness in us. In former times we had sacred meeting squares where people used to gather about their issues. The elders were superior, the whole community would follow what they said. The young used to join in the practices, but not any more, the practices have fallen in the ground. The young despise the elders and are disrespectful of their knowledge, considering them ignorant. In our time we have seen many problems. We have been trying to accommodate the new events, but they brought our practices into danger. Now Dr. Tadesse has declared that the former sacred squares, places and forests should be respected and a significant population has followed him. It was painful to us before his happened. We established an association, and try to get our traditions respected through that, but still encounter many problems. It is better than before, but it is not like the way of life was in ancient times, when 2 or 3 elders would resolve disputes. We thank you for your concern for our traditions, everything had disappeared, so our condition now is rather like a baby starting to crawl. But we all speak with the same voice and pray to our God to re-establish the old ways." (Again in this meeting, the LCS team noted the elders raising the lack of dialogue between the generations.)

We subsequently recorded a long fable which Halaqa Shagire Shano told for us about a widower who remarried a wicked wife, of her persecution and castration of his son who eventually miraculously regained his abilities and married a princess. The message was one of truthfulness and honesty conquering even unbelievably bad events. Nicolas and Paul responded in turn by telling traditional stories- one from Peru and an amusing one from Mali about the time of the first arrival of the French colonials which we had heard. This cross-cultural story-exchange was most enjoyed by all. Traditional food and drink (Shaassha, Gurddo and Parsso) were hospitably offered us before we departed with thanks.

For our next stop, we traveled back to the place of appointment with the Prophet Kawo Essa’s grandson. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the man there and so went on to Dorbo sacred hill to attend the Kalo boys’ day celebration to which we had been specially invited. We were very pleased to meet Mallebo Mancha again there, other community elders and the Dorbo traditional chief himself.

The team had to wait sitting with the elders, some distance from the increasingly exuberant crowd until people and horses had gathered and the ceremonies had started.

Eventually, we enjoyed watching the sacred Kalo boys wearing lion skins keeping the crowd back from the central arena with long bamboo branches, the Ezzo horsemens' parade, their horse race and horse dances.

Our presence was causing some interest amoung the crowd of children, so to avoid disturbance we left after a while.

Sept 25th: Masqala festival ox slaughter at Dorze

2008-09-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

The first day of the important Ethiopian Mesqala festival week in the highlands near Che'enka is celebrated on market day, with the killing of oxen. People gather, many wearing the traditional red, yellow and black Ethiopian festival cloth. Families and and communities all bring their sacrificial animals to the same open-air market place in Dorze.

The team visited this famous Masqala slaughter ceremony, in which hundreds oxen are killed and butchered in the midst of a festival atmosphere in the market place. The meat is either supplied right away for sale or taken home. Some enjoy eating the fresh raw meat.

We also attended the traditional music concert in Dorze Weavers’ Association Hall, organized to celebrate Mesqala by the Dorze Cultural Association and Chencha Woreda Administration.

While the enthusiastic audience grew increasingly merry, traditional song, music and dance groups performed in costume, including mock contests with spears and shields wearing lion skins, against a noisy amplification system.

Sept 26th: Bonke journey, Meeting with female community group

2008-09-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Paul Rankin had to leave the team and depart for Addis to be in time for his flight back home. Nicolas Villaume and Darout Gum’a drove to Bonke to watch the bridal beauty contest at the Soafe ceremony. However, we had a bad car that couldn’t get through on the terrible roads of Gaatse after the rains, and thus, were obliged to return to Arba Minch.

On the way back, we arranged for a meeting with female community members at Ganta Meche. We had decided that an extra meeting to hear women's views was needed to balance the rest of our itinerary, which had mainly been listening to male representatives in rural societies where men are the community decision makers, in contrast to female emancipation in Ethiopian cities.

Subsequently, we met 10 female elders and younger community members. We explained the LCS mission and way of working, asking for their reactions and comments. Both the elder and the young women said they supported the LCS mission. However, they disclosed that the young generation considers old cultural ways as outdated phenomena. Woizero Taddelech Bottola added that though the young generation disobey cultural practices, all they do should not be considered as bad: there are some progressive values in the behaviour of the youth.

Finally, Woizero Dunkane Douqa told the group two stories, which have the moral values of unfair competition and mischief as their themes. These stories were recorded by Nicolas and replayed to the gathered people.

Sept 27th: Local visits around Arba Minch

2008-09-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

Nicolas and Darout made a program change as the Balta Soafe and horsemen parade were to be celebrated the following days. They visited the Arba Minch springs, which are traditionally said to be 40 in number, and the Arba Minch forest in the morning. We left the pristine natural forest feeling alive and refreshed in spirit.

In the afternoon, we visited the groups of hippos and the crocodile market on Lake Chamo. We enjoyed a motor boat ride on the rather fishy smelling waters of the lake and had a sense of final relaxation after all the trip's busy days of visits, meetings and travelling.

Sept 28th: Addis Ababa return and Mesqala festival bonfires

2008-09-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Darout saw off Nicolas at Arba Minch for his long journey back North to Addis Ababa.

Meanwhile Paul was already back in the capital, where the Mesqala holiday was starting in earnest. Along the road, women were selling bunches of the yellow flowers used to decorate everyone's homes during the festival.

Large bonfires, topped with crosses had been built in numerous town squares and in the city centre, now packed with crowds.

On his last night, he was able to participate in one rally in the park near his hotel, listening to modern live music bands and watching the people who had brought their own bundles of branches as prayer offerings to throw on the bonfire.

Before catching his plane, he also made a short trip up the Entoto mountains near the city to see the Maryam church which hosted Emperor Menelijk's coronation in 1882 and the nearby museum on that period of Ethiopia's fascinating history.

Summary and Prospects for LCS Impact

2008-09-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

Altogether, it was a very successful journey packed with rich, informative set of meetings in a variety of communities of different cultural contexts. It was not only a 'fact-finding' visit, but definitely also a 'feeling-finding' visit - we had strong unique experinces and returned with new friends and special memories. We were priviliged to have had the facilitation of the Christensen Fund and the representatives of projects which they sponsor in Ethiopia to be quickly in a meaningful dialogue with community elders, representatives and local cultural associations.

Darout (representing ILCA) and the LCS team discussed some of several possibilities for further cooperation, laying solid common ground. In discussion with Darout, LCS proposed various project ideas, eg establishing story centers at schools and villages where the Mali and Peru experiences of LCS could be replicated, combined with ILCA’s data-gathering methods; Combinations with local community radio; implementing digital 'hooks' to attach narratives and media to craftwork such as weaving (LCS is already developing these concepts); establishing village story networks e.g. between the weavers’ original villages and their places of residence, say in Addis; and a cultural export scheme in which stories and other folklore items are published in print or via digital distribution routes and exposed via translation for other cultures.

Concluding, the team agreed to investigate each idea in more detail and also assess the many other possible ways of community empowerment and cultural revitalization that had become apparent during the visit.

Postscript... 2010
This year LCS is grateful once again to The Christensen Fund for sponsoring pilot community work which we have now started in the Konso region, after the exploratory visit described in this blog.

Acknowledgements

2008-09-29T00:05:00.000-07:00

Nicolas and Paul, on behalf of the Living Cultural Storybases organization, are indebted to The Christensen Fund, not only for this first chance to experience the varied cultures and landscapes of this beautiful country, but also to be able to get quickly into in-depth meetings of minds. Dr. Wolde Tadesse is much admired by the peoples of the Southern Nations. We were fortunate to get his advice on a packed and productive itinerary and his personal introductions to both community and association leaders. Darout who accompanied us throughout worked hard through long days as guide, interpreter and local expert, as well as Wondimu we are proud to call friends. Most of all, thoughout this tour, we were thankful for the hospitality, openness and trust that the all communities bestowed on us. If we can find sponsors, we hope we have a chance to repay their generosity through adding our LCS techniques to their own cultural re-vitalization work.