The Dorze People

Our second day we first tried to visit a national park to see some zebras, but the roads were too muddy for travel and we didn't want to risk getting stuck for days. It worked out well because we got to spend a leisurely morning with the Dorze people. I suppose I'm tempted to say that whatever I'm writing about was my favorite part of the trip, but this visit really was a favorite - beautiful scenery and very, very fun people. If I had to chose where to live if I were going back to Ethiopia, I'd move in with the Dorze. 

They live on top of a mountain and I've always had a soft spot in my heart for mountain people. We drove up, up, up on roads similar to those in the Rockies. The air became cooler and crisper and the scenery remained very lush.

We had heard from our missionary friends that the Dorze are the best weavers in the country and we knew we had made it to their village when we saw beautiful scarves and blankets hanging on both sides of the road. The village is somewhat accustomed to tourists and when we got out of the truck a young man met us (yellow shirt above) to give us a tour of part of the village. They also have huts available for tourists to sleep in and if we get to go back, it would be excellent to stay there. Above is the Dorze's hut, made very, very tall and designed to look like an elephant. It is portable by the strength of 30 men or so. They make it so tall so that it takes many, many years for termites to chew it down to a height no longer livable. All the huts have a separate kitchen and, as in the lowland, the whole family and all their animals sleep inside.

Also like the lowland in the south, the Dorze live off of the false banana tree.

They scrape the pulp with this knife.

Then they chop up the fibers and add a little water.

Then bury it to ferment it. When it is done fermenting it smells like cheese.

After fermentation they mush it into a pancake, wrap it in the leaves and bake it. They serve it with hot chili sauce and homemade gin. We sampled it and actually ate quite a bit. The boys were particularly impressed with our ability to handle the hot chili sauce. They kept looking at us, waiting for us to start sweating or to react strongly against it. When we didn't, but kept on eating, one boy took a piece and drenched it in the sauce and with a smile, tried to get me to eat it. I turned him down, but the other boys succeeded in getting him to eat it - he sweat :-)

Another reason I loved the Dorze is because they are obsessed with textiles and weaving. They buy their cotton. The women spin and dye it and the men weave it. Scarves take anywhere from 1 - 1.5 weeks to complete. I spent lots of time looking through their beautiful work and choosing which ones to bring home. 

While I was busy admiring their handiwork, the boys had a great time dressing up Joseph and our guide with a leopard skin, goat hair headdress, and spear. (The leopard had been locally grown and killed - American food movement would be proud :-) 
This picture needs no words.

This is our guide, Daniel, being a good sport and having fun. The boys also played music for us and sang. Yet another reason why I love the Dorze is that their traditional dance is not the shoulder dance that predominates Ethiopia, but a butt dance I myself have been very skilled in for years :-) They were pretty impressed by my booty shaking capabilities.

As we walked out of the village we were swarmed by children and women trying to get us to buy clay pots, candlestick holders, anything. One small boy began tugging at my jacket and pretending to write in a little workbook he had. We realized he desperately wanted a pen and we both searched our pockets for one to give him, but did not find one anywhere. Here at home, I always have 1 or 2 or 3 pens readily available in a purse, the car, on the table; yet in the Dorze village there remains a boy who is unable to do homework or practice writing for lack of a pen. It still breaks my heart to think of him and I hope we do get to visit the Dorze again. If we do, I will take boxes and boxes of pens.