Ethiopia

Zenebu Tulu,
Family & Friends

 

Early on a chilly morning, Zenebu rises, picks up the night's deposit of cow dung, lays it out to dry, fetches water from the spring, and makes the day's injera -- flat, spongy Ethiopian bread (above). As the fresh scent permeates the household, Zenebu's daughter Mulu, 5, comes to watch. Zenebu spends much of her day around the fire, cooking meals and roasting grain and coffee. Like most Ethiopians, the family prefers injera made from teff, the poppyseed-sized grain unique to the country. But teff can be expensive, and so Zenebu often adds barley to the menu, roasting it (right, with son Teshome, 12) in the afternoon over the fire.

 

Zenebu's husband, Getu, watches her chop wood for the cooking fire (left). The roles of husband and wife are strictly delineated: Zenebu does all the household chores, assisted by the children. Getu's primary responsibility is to plow the fields (below) to ready them for planting. Zenebu picks through the dirt clods for weeds.

 

To go to Holeta, the nearest town with a sizable market, Zenebu must wait by the roadside for a ride from one of the trucks that lumber by (above left). She pays 2 birr [US $o.32] for the 45-minute ride. For other trips, though, Zenebu must walk -- as she does every time she washes the family clothing (above right, with her daughter Mulu, 5, and her best friend Dirribe) at the drainage pipe a quarter-mile from her home.

 

 Zenebu washes her son, Mamoosh, 8, in a nearby spring (left) with icy water that is believed to have curative powers. The boy has an as-yet-undiagnosed mental disability that resembles autism. Zenebu believes that regular sessions in the spring are helping the boy, who otherwise is largely left to the care of his 93-year-old grandmother, Birri. He is ignored by the rest of the family.