Rural

Ethiopia – 2014. On our trips to Debre Birhan to visit a major Habitat for Humanity Project and on our R&R trip to Wenchi Crater Lake and Weliso we passed through hundreds of kilometers of country side and saw many villages and farms. More than 80% of Ethiopia’s populations in considered rural and most poor families (75%) share their sleeping quarters with livestock, and 40% of children sleep on the floor. The average family size is six or seven, living in a 30-square-meter mud and thatch hut, with less than two hectares of land to cultivate. These photos show some of that country side and the people.

The extended family that lived on the farm. The average family size is six or seven, living in a mud and thatch hut, with less than two hectares of land to…

A typical farm house near Weliso

We visited a family farm which consisted of three houses and an extended family. This is inside one of the houses.

Each house was divided into three parts. One for the cattle to stay overnight, one for sleeping and a third for living, cooking and eating. This is the cattle…

Woven baskets on the wall inside the house

The cooking area

The sleeping area (one room for the family)

The living area

This is a young couple that lived in the second house we visited. The sleeping and cooking area was combined.

A rural village near Debre Birhan. Mud and thatch huts

This photo shows the size of the individual farm plots that a family would have to use to make a living – most plots less than two hectares of land to cultivate