Fernweh

The Omo Valley is a remote section of southwestern Ethiopia, a couple days’ journey via domestic flight and bus ride from Addis Ababa. The journey is arduous but beautiful, with little infrastructure and ability to support outside visitors.

This striking young woman, a member of the Suri (Surma) tribe, lives in an arid plains region near a wide river, in a small settlement of a few hundred people. They have not, yet, been much disturbed or changed by contact with outside visitors. Young women of the tribe beautify themselves for marriage with paints, plants, and piercings, including lip plates.

Another common technique is to decorate the hair with local plants and flowers; this intense young woman had spent the morning picking flowers to create her head decorations.

The School

In this settlement is a school that is used for classes when peaceful times prevail. At the time of our visit, the local teacher had left due to threat. The young people were happy to show us the building and let us make images of them.

The Suri live near the South Sudan border and are often in violent conflict with other tribes who raid each others’ livestock. This young man wanted to show us his more serious and tough side, although when the camera was not pointed at him, he was happy to smile.

The students like and respect their teachers; one young woman wanted to show us how the teacher runs the class.

Serious Business

Boys in this culture grow up to be men who are ready to protect their villages and families from neighboring tribes who may want to take their livestock. From a young age, they learn to look serious and intimidating.

The teenage boys split their time between laughing and playing with friends and putting on their stone faces – mostly they seemed a bit amused by us.

A couple of the Suri men were willing to sit for us for portraits – they did not want to be seen taking part, so we used one of the tents as a studio.

Overall, this was an amazing opportunity to spend a few days interacting with people who live almost as they have for hundreds of years and do not want to change.