It was beautiful and felt very
“African,” with acacia trees scattered amongst tall
grasslands in rolling hills. We forded the Borta River (a small
river that drains from Borta Lake near BESS) a number of times
using the four-wheel drive. Teferi told me that he once saw a
large python on the bank next to the road crossing. I hope to
someday see one also—from safely inside the car!
The Synod is helping the Majengir people, at their request, make
the transition to an agricultural, sedentary lifestyle. The project
has been funded through a Presbyterian Hunger Program grant, active
through 2007. The Majengir are hunter-gatherers, and no longer
can continue this lifestyle because of the limited land nearby
that remains true bush and corresponding loss of wild game. The
synod provides them with seeds and seedlings, assists them with
learning agricultural skills, animal husbandry and honey cultivation,
and helps them to turn their handicraft knowledge (pottery and
basket-weaving) into products for local markets. It has apparently
been a difficult and slow transition, as they still prefer hunting,
and are not accustomed to the type of long-term planning that
is required for agricultural practices. (Hunter-gatherers can,
for the most part, go out and get their food whenever it is needed
rather than having to till the soil and plant now for next season’s
food. Imagine how this might shape ways of thinking in other aspects
of life.) They are currently working on developing goat husbandry
for milk and meat, and if the goats prove successful, they will
also try pigs. Raising cattle is not an option due to the abundance
of tsetse flies in the area.
The Majengir are very jovial, pleasant people, and they joked
and laughed continuously as we met with them. They warmly greeted
me and smiled often as we communicated through translators. The
community meeting we participated in was attended only by men.
I thought at first that this was because of a male-dominated social
structure, but they soon explained that most of the women of the
village were out on a hunting trip together! Teferi says that
the Majengir are an egalitarian people group compared with many
others in Ethiopia, and women and men both hunt and share leadership
roles together. The men were excited to tell us that they heard
a lion roaring outside of the village the night before, a rare
experience in the shrinking bush land. |
