Between Two Worlds

Somewhere in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley, a Karo warrior stood alone between two acacia trees beneath an immense African sky. A donga rested in his hand, not as a weapon, but as a familiar extension of the life he had always known. He stood quietly, completely at ease in the vast openness around him.

There was no suspicion in his gaze, nor any urgency. He simply looked back at me for a long moment, studying the stranger who had wandered into his world. In that silent exchange, I became aware of how much separated our lives, our experiences, and our understanding of the world.

April 2012,

Omo Valley,

Ethiopia.