Konso is the capital of the Konso region and the gateway to exploring South Omo. Home to a variety of tribes including the Mursi, who are famous for their lip plates, this area has a fascinating appeal. We were drawn not only by the region itself but also by Strawberry Fields where we had organised to volunteer. We had hoped to learn about permaculture farming and also work with the local museum. Neither of these ideas however ended up going to plan!
As it turns out Strawberry Fields is an eco lodge rather than the farm we were expecting and although you can help out in the garden it was not really what we had in mind. The owner does offer courses and an insight into permaculture but unfortunately he wasn’t there when we stayed so we were unable to discover much beyond raised beds and cutting dry grass!
The lodge is a really lovely place to stay though. All accommodation from the dorm to private rooms are in traditional grass roof round houses and are very comfortable and airy. You also have the added bonus of feeling like an African Hobbit every time you arrive back at your room! Solar energy powers the lights and compost heats the showers (surprisingly effective – boiling in fact!). The toilets are self composting and made entirely out of local materials. When the pit is full it is left to decompose before becoming home to a banana tree. After we were told this we did definitely think differently about the bananas we had eaten the day before! Although having said this they were delicious – better to just not to think about where they came from!
The permaculture garden is located handily near the kitchen and is a maze of greenery which teems with insect and bird life. For such a small space there is a lot of variety and everything grows among and over each other in organised chaos. We worked here for a couple of days and one of our tasks was planting a thousand mulberry trees. To our surprise to propagate them all you do is cut a portion of branch off and then plant it. This meant we spent a morning cutting a thousand branches into 10cm sticks and the afternoon planting them – definitely makes up for the almond tree we once accidentally killed!
After working in the garden we attempted to set up some volunteering with the local museum. We had been told by the lodge that this would be possible however at the moment there are no opportunities for volunteers and unfortunately the archaeological team who were working in the area have left. The tourist office did help us set up a visit to a local village which in itself was worth coming down to Konso for.
When trying to volunteer we got the opportunity to get to know the town. It is small and sleepy, centred around a roundabout that has four roads leading from it, one to the market, one to the bus station, one south to Jinka and the last north to Arba Minch. A lot of traffic passes through and there are plenty of people going backwards and forwards from their villages, the women decked out in traditional ruffed skirts.
The children of Karat-Konso are a bit of a nightmare! They will follow you, incessantly asking for money and sweets, one tactic to put them off is to hold out your hand and ask for a birr back. If this fails sharply turn round when they least expect it and chase them yelling like a monster for hilarious results! A number of ping-pong tables are set up in the centre of town and are the hub of social life for all Karat’s young men. A great way to get involved with the locals is to challenge the guys hanging around to a match. This will gather quite a crowd but beware team Ethiopia is hard to beat!
Mondays and Thursdays are market days and people come from all around to buy and sell. Everybody’s goods are set out on mats on the floor from spices and grains, to wicker chicken houses, to kitchen ware and cheap Chinese jewellery. The main attraction however seems to be the locally brewed alcohol that women sell out of jerry cans. Either thick lumpy millet and sorghum beer ‘chuga’ or distilled spirits that smell like blindness which we heard the older generation are particularly fond of to ease their aches and pains!
Up the hill on the road to Jinka the Konso Museum can be found, housing an excellent exhibition about local customs. The museum is also home to a collection of Waka, carved wooden figures traditionally erected on the graves of chiefs and heroes. The hero status is achieved when a man (never a woman!) kills an enemy or a large wild animal. In life he is granted the honour of wearing a metal penis on his forehead and in death a Waka on his grave. As well as a carved figure of himself his grave may also feature a carved figure of his wife as well as the people and animals he was famed for killing.
Waka removed from gravesides can never be returned and after these ones were stolen the museum was created in their honour. In each Waka you can see the personality of the dead and sometimes even the relationship they had with their wife! An interesting fact we found out at the museum is that Konso Chiefs are mummified and kept for 9 years, 9 months, 9 weeks, 9 days and 9 hours before burial. During this time the communities are told that the chief is merely ill! This time can be shortened however if their is pressing need for a living leader!
Finding a good local tea lady is essential in Ethiopia and after a couple of disastrous tries we finally found ours. Set up on the side of the road and attached to a second hand shoe shop she serves up shai and buna (coffee) made on a small portable stove. The shai comes in a small glass half full of sugar and for only 1 birr you can enjoy a sweet cup whilst sitting in a plastic chair watching the inhabitants of Konso go by.
The south of Ethiopia is very different to the rest of the country and whilst most people only get a chance to see the historical monuments of the north, rural life and tribal traditions down here are definitely worth a look. Although volunteering did not work out we are really glad it led us to the gateway of this incredible region.
