Dassnech Tribe

Unlike the lush green lands of the Suri and Hamar people, the land of the roughly 20,000 Dassnech is arid to semi-arid, with an average temperature of 35 º C and riddled with malaria mosquitos.The Dassnech or Daasanach originally inhabited parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan, but after having lost much of their traditional Kenyan and South Sudan territories over the last 50 years, they have moved closer to the Omo River Delta and settled in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. The Dassnech survive in this rather hostile environment by cultivating crops when the rains arrive and the Omo River and Delta flood and during the dry season they rely for milks, meat and hides on their goats and cattle. Dassnech means “People of the Delta”. When Dassnech people lose their cattle to desease or drought and are unable to sustain their usual way of life they migrate to the shores of Lake Turkana where they fish, hunt crocodile and occasionally hippopotamus. People who have lost their cattle are called “Dies”, poor people. Within the village, the women are the ones who build and take down the huts during migrations. They are semi-circular constructions, with a single entrance and no interior divisions, made of sticks and branches and sometimes covered with hides and carton boxes. Dessnech men and women practice circumcision. Dassnech girls are circumcised at around the age of 10 to 12 by removing the clitoris.