The Hamer Tribe

Yes, we were up early again. Today is going to be really exciting. We're heading to Dimeka, where the Hamer people live. There's a market today, and we’ll get to see bull jumping. The Hamer people look a bit like the Banna in appearance. They wear similar goat skin skirts decorated with beads. However, Hamer women have many scars on their backs from whip marks. They also dye their hair red with a mixture of butter and clay. When we arrived at the market, we quickly learned that the bull jumping would take place later in the afternoon. It’s a ceremony where a boy has to prove he’s man enough to get married. He does this by jumping over a line of 10 cows three times without falling. He has three attempts. If he fails, he can try again next year. If he still can’t jump over the cows, he won’t get any more chances and can't marry. It costs 50 cows for each woman he wants to marry. He can marry as many women as he likes. The women don’t get jealous; they just take a lover. It’s all understood by their husbands. Sex is a normal thing here—even outside of marriage. A bull jumping ceremony starts with young unmarried girls allowing themselves to be whipped. The more deep scars they have, the more respect they earn in the village. Young girls sing and dance around while pleading with the men to whip them. They bleed quite a bit from their backs—what a tradition. We were set to spend the night in Turmi. What an expensive hotel we stayed at—497 birr! We still had limited time with electricity, but at least we could take a shower. For dinner, we bought a chicken for 30 birr. However, it was way too tough because it had run around too much. We borrowed the American group's cook, who prepared the chicken for us. The American group consists of three ladies and one girl who are traveling around to see the country before one of the ladies heads back to Addis to bring her newly adopted daughter home to the USA. Earlier in the day, we met a couple from Australia, where the man is a doctor. He was kind enough to tell me what pills I should take for my stomach based on the symptoms I described.