The Karo tribe, living in the area southeast of the River Omo in Ethiopia, are a group of just over 1,000 tribespeople. They survive on agriculture and natural annual flooding of the Omo river. They have had the same culture and traditions for 500 years, like traditional dancing and painting their bodies with a mix of ash and fat or water
It averagely rains 49 days a year in Ethiopia and therefore their climate is humid and hot, but only occasionally wet. This is partly why the Karo rely instead on the river Omo for their water for themselves and crops, instead of the weather
The Ethiopian government are trying to quickly boost Ethiopia’s economy as it is one of the poorest countries in the world. It needs money and electricity and the Gibe III dam being built on the Omo river would solve this. Unfortunately the dam then also causes many issues, like threatening 8 different tribes and ecosystem of the river, river banks and Lake Turkana(the lake which the Omo river feeds). Hundreds of thousands of tribes people rely on the annual flooding of the river to feed their crops, but the dam disrupts this creating food and water shortages for the all the Omo river tribes, including the Karo
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The Omo tribes are getting harassed in several ways, homes, food and water supplies destroyed, physically abused and just thrown in jail for disagreeing with the Ethiopian police
The tribes prized possessions and show of wealth are cows, animals essential for wellbeing, are nearly all being taken away by the government as the cows need land. Land which the tribes are getting stripped of.
By supporting the build of Gibe III, the Ethiopian government are destroying all life along the Omo river, plus lake Turkana. The government are also destroying and burning tents and even whole villages to make land for international companies to grow crops. Many banks are needed to fund Gibe III for Ethiopia, including the European Investment Bank and the World Bank, as it would cost 1.55 billion Euros to finish. An Italian company called Salini were in charge of building the dam. Surrounding groups and charities convinced some banks that the poorer community, and tribes like the Karo, wouldn’t survive if this was built. In the end, neither the EBI or the African Development Bank decided not to fund this project.
The Karo is a small African tribe of 1-3,000 people who live on the banks of the Omo River. They are aesthetic people and for tribal ceremonies they dye their hair red ochre and decorate their skin with white chalk to boost s*x appeal. Men display wounds as a symbol of enemies and animals killed, and women scar their chests with intricate patterns to appear beautiful. The scars are cut with a knife or razor blade and ash is rubbed in to produce a raised effect.
