5.7

Photo Essay

AWRA AMBA: A MODEL “UTOPIAN” COMMUNITY IN ETHIOPIA

Salem Mekuria

Abstract: Salem Mekuria provides a photo essay on her most recent documentary film project—an examination of Awra Amba, a community in Ethiopia that has created a new model for development and built a truly equal society. Its experiences hold lessons for small rural communities as well as for all who are trying to imagine a world in which we can eliminate differences in treatment based on gender, class, and age.

Keywords: utopia, Ethiopia, division of labor, elder care, schooling, development

AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCER, WRITER, AND DIRECTOR, Salem Mekuria was born in Ethiopia but is currently based in the Boston area, where she is a Professor Emerita of Art at Wellesley College. Mekuria worked for many years with the PBS science documentary series NOVA, and with numerous international film productions focusing on issues of African women and development. Her prize-winning films include Ye Wonz Maibel: Deluge (1996), which tells the story of Ethiopia’s tumultuous history following the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974; Our Place in the Sun (1988), about the black community on Martha’s Vineyard; Sidet: Forced Exile (1991), the story of three Ethiopian-Eritrean women refugees in Sudan; As I Remember It: A Portrait of Dorothy West (1991); and Square Stories (2010) and Square Stories Too (2014), the first and second parts of a film trilogy about life on Meskel Square in Addis Ababa.

For Salem Mekuria, “filmmaking is a way of being curious about the world I live in. It is motivated by the need to find effective ways of communicating the stories and themes of exile, difference, and the struggle for justice and equal rights. I am keenly interested in processing these narratives through the stories and experiences of women in Africa and the African Diaspora and am committed to representing these stories as challenges and journeys that are specific but also as universal experiences that can speak to all viewers.”

• • •

In a remote area of northern Ethiopia a genuine “utopia” is thriving in a little village called Awra Amba. It is located in the Amhara region of northwestern Ethiopia, about five hundred kilometers or a day’s journey from the capital city of Addis Ababa. Forty years ago a small group of people led by a charismatic young man, Zumra Nuru, came together to establish this community—to be based on true equality in all aspects of life, where there would be no difference in treatment based on gender, class, or age, where no organized religion would have a place, and where all people would work to support each other and care for the weak among them.

Division of labor is not based on gender but rather on capability and skill, validating gender equality in a country where women are generally subordinated to men. Everyone works according to her/his ability and contributes to the welfare of the entire community. It is very well organized, unique not only for its advanced outlook toward gender and religion, but also for its commitment to education, its program for the care of the elderly, its work ethic, and its responsiveness to the needs of the entire community.

Through its forty years, Awra Amba has endured hostility and violent confrontations from its neighbors and the government, but has persisted in the pursuit of the dream to sustain a viable “utopian” society. The community manages to survive in one of the most conservative regions in Ethiopia. What is most remarkable about it is that its members are not people who discovered this ideal from books or through exposure to philosophical treatises. Zumra, the leading founder and current cochair, is a man who had no formal education, who doesn’t read or write. The members’ aspiration to pursue these ideals emanated from direct experience of the consequences of inequality in their own families and communities. Their present community evolved out of the struggle to find meaningful and true equality and self-sufficiency over these forty years. Its members are completely unique in achieving such a revolutionary lifestyle. There is no other community remotely like it, large or small, in the rest of the country, or even in the world.

FIG. 5.7.1. Awra Amba, a tiny community of 180 families. Photo by Salem Mekuria.

FIG. 5.7.2. Zumra Nuru, the founder and charismatic leader of Awra Amba, together with his wife, Enani Kibret; and her mother, Enanu Eshete. Photo by Salem Mekuria.

FIG. 5.7.3. Elderly House, Awra Amba. In a country not known for providing care for senior citizens, Awra Amba leads in its innovation for designing living quarters and full-time care for the elderly. Photo by Salem Mekuria.

FIG. 5.7.4. Enani Kibret with residents in Elderly House. Photo by Salem Mekuria.

FIG. 5.7.5. A classroom in a preschool center. The preschool was locally designed and built with local materials. Through Awra Amba’s effort, the government built an elementary school for the surrounding communities. Awra Amba in turn built ninth and tenth grades using its own resources, thus eliminating the need for the children to travel several kilometers to the nearest town. This in turn has encouraged students to continue their education while at the same time fulfilling their obligations at home. The community now looks forward to building for grades eleven and twelve. Several of Awra Amba’s children have gone on to college, and many have already graduated. This is no mean achievement for this community. Photo by Salem Mekuria.

FIG. 5.7.6. Library reading room. The library offers resources unlike that of any in the region, let alone in a rural setting such as this one. Photo by Salem Mekuria.

FIG. 5.7.7. The museum documents the community’s journey over the last forty years. Photo by Salem Mekuria.

FIG. 5.7.8. Loom in the Weaving Center. Zumra Nura, Awra Amba’s founder and co-chair, built the community’s looms using parts assembled from discarded metal and ropes. The major sources of livelihood of this unique Ethiopian community are farming, weaving, and spinning. Everyone rotates to do most tasks. In this way they provide for their food and clothing needs. Surplus is sold in nearby markets to buy necessities they can’t produce. Photo by Salem Mekuria.

FIG. 5.7.9. The community members are highly creative, innovative, and motivated. One of the most interesting examples of their innovative spirit is this energy-saving stove, designed and developed by the community’s cochair, Zumra Nuru. The mitad (grill) bakes injera (sourdough-risen flatbread), the side stove cooks the wat (stew), and the smoke outlet heats a tea or coffee pot—all at the same time. The smoke is channeled outside through a chimney, avoiding the serious smoke-related health hazards to the operators. Its cost effectiveness and flexibility are qualities that have the potential to be duplicated in similar locations throughout the country. Photo by Salem Mekuria.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Awra Amba’s (E)Utopia. Short film. https://vimeo.com/145472923.

Zewde, Bahru. A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855–1991. 2nd ed. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2002.