The Gurage People
The Gurage are a hardworking and humble people who mainly rely on agriculture for their living and mostly live on small farms in rural areas. Driving into the Gurage Zone from Addis Ababa, one not only notices the change from plains to mountainous terrain, but also an increase in greenery and vegetation as well as different crops being planted. One of the most ubiquitous and traditional crops of the Gurage people is Ensete, made from the smashed roots of the false banana (Ensete) tree. Other, more typically Ethiopian crops such as coffee, khat (pronounced chat), wheat, and tef (from which traditional bread, injera, is made) are also common. The Gurage people usually reserve cows for milk production, whereas oxen and donkeys are used for work, plowing fields and transporting goods to the market for trade.
Many Gurage people are devoutly religious, and the majority of Gurage people are either Muslims (51 percent) or Christians, who are split between Ethiopian Orthodox (42 percent), Protestants (6 percent), and Catholics (1 percent). Despite the diversity of religious beliefs, the Gurage people are very peaceful and typically value unity in their shared Gurage identity or identity as Ethiopians to dividing themselves on religious lines.
The Gurage people still retain many of their unique cultural practices and customs, though compared to other peoples in the SNNPR, they are more modern, especially in their dress. While they may appear less exotic than some of the other peoples of the SNNPR to foreign tourists, the Gurage people are equally or more welcoming to visitors and share a distinct and interesting cultural heritage.
Many Gurage people live in traditional houses, which are built in a perfect circle around a central pillar, constructed with wood, mud, and sometimes rocks. Some of them have two stories and can be quite cavernous inside! It is also common for people to sleep with livestock in the house with them at night. Compared to some other poorer and more arid parts of the country, the Gurage region generally has richer soil and more annual rainfall due to the rain shadow effect of Mt. Gurage. Many people in the Gurage region are notorious for taking lots of pride in their dwellings and will paint them or landscape them with flowering plants and bushes.
For up-close photography of Gurage people, you can visit:
http://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2014/02/gurage-people-ethiopias-afro-asiatic.html
http://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2014/02/gurage-people-ethiopias-afro-asiatic.html
Students of the Gurage Zone
If you are looking for investment opportunities, consider an investment in the best and brightest of students in the Gurage Zone. Students take national exams in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades, which can determine whether or not they will get to pass on the the next grade, and eventually, teacher school, technical school, or university. A very small percentage of students even make it to 12th grade under current circumstances, but investments in education are needed in the region to bolster this number. Many 12th grade students are inspiring people who have fought hard through a gauntlet of systematic and cultural barriers (especially for female students, who make up a very small percentage of this cohort as they are traditionally discouraged by their families or peers from pursuing education seriously) to get where they are now. An proper investment in the lives of some of the best students here could mean an investment in the whole society, if you feel called to making a difference in this way.
Project Mercy:
If you are interested in investing in the lives of Gurage students by giving of your time and knowledge, consider applying to Project Mercy as a teacher or tutor. Project Mercy is a Christian organization founded by an Ethiopian couple, Marta and Deme (Marta was the first woman senator in Ethiopia and Deme a successful businessman) in the land of Marta's ancestors. The couple and their organization are a living legacy and have done great things for the people of the Gurage Zone. There is especially a need for individuals committed to education of students in grades 1-4. For more information and a long-term volunteer application, visit Project Mercy's website. https://www.projectmercy.org/
If you are interested in investing in the lives of Gurage students by giving of your time and knowledge, consider applying to Project Mercy as a teacher or tutor. Project Mercy is a Christian organization founded by an Ethiopian couple, Marta and Deme (Marta was the first woman senator in Ethiopia and Deme a successful businessman) in the land of Marta's ancestors. The couple and their organization are a living legacy and have done great things for the people of the Gurage Zone. There is especially a need for individuals committed to education of students in grades 1-4. For more information and a long-term volunteer application, visit Project Mercy's website. https://www.projectmercy.org/