Dhadim: out of addis and into the land of Abraham

Dhadim: out of addis and into the land of Abraham

My first introduction to Borana land and Borana culture came by way of a book launch fir the aadaa boraanaa cultural dictionary, written by Fr. Ton Leus, a Spiritan priest form Holland. The book launching took place on Tuesday night. Joining us at the book launching as special guests of honor were six elders from the Borana community down in Dhaddim and Yabello. They were there in their full cultural dress. The wife of one of the male elders present was wearing a full leather dress made out of goat. They began the ceremony with the lighting of the new fire. This requires 7 first born males who are elders. After returning to the Spiritan community house and enjoying a few glasses of whisky, I was invited to join Ide, another spiritan priest from Borana, to head down south.

On the way down to Borana land we had to spend two days in Awasa awaiting news on Ide’s broken car. The oil had not been changed in the car, and on his way up to Addis Ababa, the engine seized. We spent a two relaxing days there, enjoying the local scenery and talking about the church in Ethiopia.


After a 3 day journey south, I finally made my way to Dhaddim, a small mission town about 32 kilometers away from the main town of Yabello, and about 7 kms away from possible cell network. I had stepped out of the modern city life and into the ancient world of the bible. I felt as if I suddenly had entered into the tribe of Abraham with all of the intricacies of ancient life there.

I do not mean to say that there did not exist some of the regular modern amenities of life. The cultural landscape, however, changed suddenly from the modern urban life of the city, to the life of the pastoralist. The Borana are a pastoral people living in the southern part of Ethiopia and the northern part of Kenya. The Borana have

The Borana language is a southern dialect of the larger oromotic language group. The Borana people are considered to be, however, part of the original ethnic group from which all other Oromo derive. They still today maintain many of their own traditional customs and are considered, somewhat, to be a “pure” culture. That of course is a debatable term, but the truth behind the perception that the Borana are a people who have strongly held to their traditional culture remains true. As Fr. Ton Leus put at the book launching, globalization is not a word that has entered into their vocabulary.

The Borana are a pastoral society. Walking away from the town of Dhaddim, one can see in the distance large herds of cattle. Since the famine in 1985, the Borana have also started farming. All the same, this pastoral aspect of their society has broadly shaped their culture and customs. Anaani is their general word for milk. They have, however, over 20 different words for all the different varieties of milk. Milk serves as the main diet for the Borana people.

The spiritans were some of the first missionaries to leave the towns and enter Borana land. It was refreshing to enter an area that did not have the “missionary baggage” that many of the other countries I have visited exhibit. It was really an opportunity to see what a Vatican II era mission might look like. Hearing Ide’s tales of his early days among the Borana were quite interesting. He had spent the previous 10 years in Tanzania among the Catholics in the moshi area. Moving to the Borana area, he encountered a people with whom he shared no frame of reference.

The Borana, while believing in God, God is the blue sky and remains far from their daily life. In addition to that, death means death for the Borana, and there is no consideration for anything beyond it. The only afterlife there might be is the continual existence within the lives of your children and their children, for your name lives on in them. This is one of the reasons for the practical polygamy of the Borana. If a girl is born, it is immediately known that one day she will leave and no longer be a part of the family. This is strictly held, with attached customs, and when visiting the village for sharing in the coffee ceremony (see below) I witnessed one such way this strict separation between the wife’s family and the husband are held. The son in law is not allowed to see the mother in law. Now this might be practical in avoiding conflict, but it is certainly mystifying to see in person. We were in a small two-room hut with about 15 people within it, waiting for the Morning Prayer and coffee ceremony to begin. The mother in law was about to enter the room, so the other Borana grabbed a sarong and covered over the son while she passed into the second room. She spent the entire morning on the other side of the doorway, just around the corner from her son in law, but out of site. This happened once more with another Borana man and his mother in law. Were they to meet on the road, they would turn in opposite directions, one going one way, the other going the other. Never shall their paths cross.

The woman goes to join the husband's family, so it is only through sons that a man can live on. I don’t know what this would mean with regards to women. Because bearing children is so important, a woman is valued or judged based on how many children she has. If a woman is unable to bear children or to bear sons (which in traditional Borana culture is the same thing), he will marry a second woman. You are not allowed to divorce within Borana culture. When a man and woman marry it is for both their whole lives. If a man dies, a woman is not allowed to remarry. This does not mean, however, she will stop bearing children. She is in fact encouraged to do so, as each child, even though not biologically from the dead husband, will still bear his name. Thus a dead husbands brother might inherit a wife. This woman, however is never to marry again. Thus, there is also a strong “lovers system” present among the Borana. This can be evidenced by the fact that they have a specific name for the person who is the biological father, but not the contractual father. This lovers system is also encouraged by the fact that Borana do not view it possible for a man to live without a wife. Thus a man of 80 might take on another wife after his first had died. Often it is preferred that she is of the same family as the first wife, and, by circumstance and perhaps by custom, she is also younger (15). I say by circumstance, because it is not common to find an older woman who has not been married.

The missionaries here have had to deal with all these various issues of culture like polygamy, the lover system and the strict notions of gender roles. They have also found ways to include various cultural religious practices like everyday blessings, rites of forgiveness, rites of peace and many other rituals into the catholic life. I had a chance to partake in two such rituals: the Eucharist and the Morning Prayer led by the catechist.

The Eucharist church service was similar to the western church service in all ways but one. At one point during the mass, the community came forward and passed their hands over the Eucharist. This is a sign of participation and a prayer for internal cleansing. The same gesture is done over a goat that might be sacrificed.

The other ceremony was the Morning Prayer. This was my last morning in Dhaddim and I was invited by the catechist to join him in one of the local villages to partake in this. We gathered at the house of one of the members of the Small Christian Community, and soon all the adults of the village (Christian and non-Christian alike were there. The catechist at one point left the hut and with the bible raised over his head, he re-entered the hut proclaiming that this was the good news. Then, following a reading from the scriptures and a song, he led everyone in a morning prayer. After this action the traditional coffee ceremony began. Each person was passed a handful of coffee beans and we cracked the ends of them in our mouths. Then the coffee beans were roasted in oil. Normally this is done in butter, but as it is the dry season, there is not an abundance of milk to make such butter. After the beans had been roasted, the coffee beans were added to milk and the oil was distributed for self-anointing. This is the ultimate sign of participation within the prayer and I happily applied this oil, to the joy of my companions, to my face and feet. Following this gesture, the eldest of the community took the bowl of “coffee” (buna) and blessed it, praying for peace among the family, the village, the larger community, all the Borana and the world. Then the cups were distributed amongst the males from eldest to youngest (me) and then to the women. This was crunchy coffee, as the beans were never ground. You instead were encouraged to take a few of these beans (still in their cracked shell) and to chew them in your mouth. At that point it did indeed taste like I was eating coffee grounds. This coffee ceremony signifies a sharing of peace amongst the Borana. I remember Abba Ide telling me that if Christ had been born among the Borana their coffee would likely have been the species by which the Eucharist was shared.

My week in Borana can hardly do the culture and society justice, but I am so grateful for my experience there.