Karo

Posted on | December 4, 2009 | No Comments

At the beginning of this year I was able to take a trip to Ethiopia for a photography based missions trip. I spent a lot of time in the capital, Addis Ababa, but also had the opportunity to go further south into the Omo Valley. It was a three day journey by car, traveling along bumpy African roads, through rivers and desert.

As a multicultural nation, Ethiopia’s Omo Delt is one of the last remaining great tribal regions left in the world, the Omo river begins flowing from Mount Amhara, located near the city of Addis Ababa. To envision the Omo river springing from near Addia Ababa is really amazing, the drive through Ethiopia is hot and dry, to think of a river making it all that way is incredible.

Now the Karo tribe is a people that survives along the shore of the Omo, living through rainy and dry seasons. They along with many other indigenous peoples have many superstitious beliefs, the tribe lives in fear of evil spirits who they believe bring ill fortune to their villages. They use the word “Mingi” to describe persons they consider cursed or otherwise imperfect. It is a 700 year old belief that they still practice today, this is a belief that some children born into the tribe are cursed. When a child is conceived outside of wedlock it is Mingi, if a child’s top teeth come in before it’s bottom it is Mingi, or a married couple conceives a child before announcing to the tribal elders that they are try to conceive is Mingi. Those deemed Mingi face severe consequences, as the Karo believe the presence of these children on their land curses the tribe. Their solution to this perceived threat is to drown Mingi children in the river. Last year, 7 percent of Karo children were associated with Mingi, resulting in the deaths of 77 children. If the two other nearby tribes practice the Mingi tradition at the same rate as the Karo tribe, then the Hamer, Mursi and Karo populations may have a combined 3,000 children whose lives are at risk.

When I was in Ethiopia staying in with the Karo tribe, the team I was with and myself learned of this practice and decided that we just couldn’t sit by and continue to watch children be killed. We saw a need and acted, we started an orphanage for these children that is run by Lale, who is Karo himself, and currently Levi Benkert, from the USA. The intent of beginning this escapade began as a reaction, but we saw the bigger picture. That each of these children are special and precious, not cursed. That this orphanage would be a temporary solution, but that one day these babies would be reunited with their families. To see Mingi end. And life become the new belief.

If you would like to read more or keep up with what is happening in Ethiopia, please check out Drawn From Water.

“It Began with Bale” from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.

Resources: Omo Valley/ Omo River People/ Omo River/ Vanishing Cultures of Ethiopia/ Drawn From Water/

Category: Photography
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