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| LOCAL THEMES agriculture communications culture and customs development economics education environment family life food security gender health history identity justice and crime land livestock migration population resettlement social institutions social relationships spiritual beliefs traditional skills BACKGROUND OTHER LOCATIONS |
introducing the area
the themes
Most people look to education, new development activities and training in new skills as the best means of improving their families' and community's prospects; some also emphasise the importance of birth control to curb population growth. Positive changes mentioned by many narrators are the improved status of women, better relations between Christians and Muslims and other groups, better health facilities and improved communications since the building of "the Chinese road". However, many are also concerned that greater mobility has increased the threat of AIDS. the partnersPanos worked in partnership with SOS Sahel Ethiopia, which has been working in Meket since 1992/93. The area is at high risk of irreversible environmental degradation, and of seasonal food shortages and famine. By linking farmers and research institutions, SOS Sahel aims to assist the testing of technical options and strategies, build up local institutional capacities, and integrate relief and development work. The testimonies were collected by field workers from SOS Sahel's Wollo Agricultural Support Programme between December 1996 and October 1998. The aim was to strengthen the ability of fieldworkers to carry out participatory research through oral testimony methodology. It was also to create an opportunity for staff to gather, consider and disseminate the views and experiences of local communities on specific themes, including those relating to environmental degradation, seasonal food shortages and famine. SOS Sahel Ethiopia produced and disseminated an Amharic booklet based on the testimonies for local and national audiences. Through the earlier Sahel Oral History Project, over 500 interviews were carried out in 8 countries across the Sahel, including Ethiopia. Edited versions of some of these interviews are presented in the Panos publication At the Desert's Edge: Oral histories from the Sahel. publications
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the
themes
The
oral testimonies in the Ethiopia collection were collected in the
mountainous territory of Meket Woreda, an administrative district
of North Wollo in the northern highlands of Ethiopia, which is between
2,000 and 3,400 metres above sea level. Meket consists of a high
altitude plateau and the gorge of the Tekeze river to its north.
A good all-weather road, referred to as "the Chinese road", links
Woldiya, the capital of North Wollo, with Woreta, following the
line of the watershed on the plateau. There are several villages
and market centres along the road, otherwise the population is scattered
in small villages on the plateau, and on cultivated shelves within
the gorge.
Like
the Mount Elgon region in Kenya, Wollo is relatively densely populated
and sustainability of agriculture is the key concern. The people
are almost entirely dependent on agriculture and herding, but over
the past two decades the land has become increasingly degraded and
food production is no longer secure - even in years of "good rainfall".
Although development agencies have been working with the people
to halt environmental decline and provide other developmental inputs,
most people remain extremely impoverished. Not surprisingly, the
tone of the testimonies is often anxious and concerned for the future,
if also proud of their heritage and identity.
top
The
overriding preoccupation of the narrators of these testimonies is
the diminished productivity of the land. This is variously attributed
to poor rainfall, the small size of plots of land resulting from
redistribution under the Derg, and population growth. The testimonies
highlight the problem of people being unable to leave their fields
fallow to recover their fertility. In addition to creating fuel
problems, deforestation has meant that the numbers of wild animals
and livestock have been severely depleted. The great majority of
narrators talk of the hardship they experience, the sharp rise in
the cost of living and the need to sell livestock to pay for essential
goods. An allied theme is the near-disappearance of time-honoured
traditions of generous hospitality and of care of the old and disabled.
Summary
