Sidama

The other day I stumbled across a blog of an adoptive mom, Carey, that lives in the L.A. area somewhere.  She just brought home twin toddler girls from Ethiopia in June or July that are from the same part of Ethiopia as Asegre - Sidama.  Before she picked up her girls she visited Sidama, and she included some great pictures on her blog from her trip.  Brent and I were also thinking about trying to see this region of the country, but were having a hard time finding much specific information on it so I emailed her to see what she could share and hit a gold mine!  I am going to share some info. here with you on Sidama that I learned from a blog she wrote for her adoption agency, but if you want to see some gorgeous pictures of the area check out these three posts on her adoption blog: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

The Sidama Zone is in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia (in red on the map below).  

The map below shows the SNNPR.  The Sidama Zone is the light green protruding area on the right hand side of the map.  Awasa (or Awassa or Hawassa)  is both the capital of the SNNPR and Sidama.

Asegre is from the Dale Woreda, which is a smaller area within Sidama.  If you click on the map above, you can find the Dale Woreda near the center of the Sidama Zone.  Dale is located in the Great Rift Valley and bordered by Lake Abaya, one of several lakes strung along the rift valley.  The elevation of Dale ranges from 3,600 feet to 9,600 feet above sea level.  Ethiopia in general has quite high elevations, and annual average temperatures across much of the country are actually quite similar to those found in Ventura (however they have a much more significant rainy season).  Eighty-one percent of the land in the Dale Woreda is arable or cultivable and the large majority of the residents are farmers.  Twenty-eight percent of all of Ethiopia's coffee output is from the Sidama Zone and the Dale Woreda includes 57 coffee pulpers.  Much of the coffee is sold to Starbucks, which does not provide very fair prices for the product.  The people of Sidama also raise small herds of cattle.

The estimated population of Dale is 441,263 (2005).  The Sidama people, Asegre's people, make up 91% of the population, and Sidamo (or Sidamenga) - Asegre's language - is spoken by 95% of the inhabitants.  A large portion of the people in Dale identify as Protestants (58%), while traditional animist religions are practiced by 15% of the people.  There are also Eastern Orthodox Christians and Muslims in Dale.  Twenty-two percent of the people in the Dale Woreda have access to drinkable water and only 8% of the inhabitants of  the entire Sidama Zone have access to electricity.  Sixty-eight percent of eligible children in the Sidama Zone are enrolled in elementary school and 18% in secondary schools.

So that's what I've got for a geography lesson for today.  I used to hate geography of the kind I just dumped on to this blog - facts and percentages - but now that it describes my son's first home it means so much more.  Brent and I are now even more excited to visit this part of Ethiopia and now get to go equipped with recommendations of a great driver/guide and a great lodge to stay in near Asegre's first home (check out the pictures on Carey's blog if you haven't yet - the lodge is gorgeous).

I'll leave you with this link.  It will take you to a webpage about Sidama, with an online catalog with tons of information on (and pictures of) the area.