Awassa Catholic Secretariat
History and Background:
The Amaro Catholic Mission was established in September 1999 in a remote region in southern Ethiopia. The local ethnic group is the Kore people with a population of
approximately 150,000. The mission is currently staffed and managed by two African Missionary priests of the Apostles of Jesus, an exclusively African Missionary Congregation. The mission serves the rural area through 21 outstations spread out over large distances from each other where pastoral, social and development activities are provided through small grass-roots community groups. The Amaro people are mainly traditionalists with a polytheistic religion and the Catholic Church is small with 1,122 baptized faithful. The social and development activities of the mission, including education through the primary school, are provided freely to peoples of all religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
Geography:
The Amaro Mission is located 10 km from the town of Amaro Kelle, the capital of the subdistrict. From Awassa, Amaro Kelle is accessible by driving 142 km along the Awassa-Genet asphalt road and then 67 km along a gravel road (about 5 hours one way). The altitude of the Amaro region varies greatly (from 1200 – 3600 m) and the mission site is perched at the foot of a mountain chain overlooking the valley. The extreme elevation characterizes the diversity of agro-climatic distribution and vegetation cover of the area. Rainfall data from 10-year data estimates the mean annual rainfall amount of the area to be 645 mm. The rainfall pattern is bi-modal (typical rainy season mid-March to mid-July, and mid-September to mid-November) but inconsistent. Increasingly, the rainfalls have
become more erratic causing crop failure in recent years. Transportation options are improving in recent years, but the area has remained relatively isolated due to the geography with only one inlet/outlet road. This has meant that historically, the Amaro region was mostly cut off from development activities. Termites are heavily present in the local area with large termite mounds speckled across the land.
Amaro-Gujji Conflict:
Longstanding ethnic tensions have existed between the minority Amaro people (150,000) and majority Gujji people (3 million) over land boundaries, access to water and other resources. The tensions erupt intermittently – for example in 2007 over 30 people were killed in the immediate area of the mission in fighting triggered by the theft of cattle. Therefore, the strategic
location of the mission is one of intention to work towards peace in the region. The presence of the mission and investment towards human development in the area is seen as a key to transforming the
existing conflict into greater community stability. The Awassa Catholic Church has been a leader in conflict resolution and prevention initiatives including; co-forming a joint conflict intervention team that acts as a link between community leaders, authorities, local religious leaders, etc. The operation of the school supports conflict prevention and peace building particularly through two actions:
- Offering education to all people irrespective of ethnic background, culture or religion
- Forming a Justice and Peace group at the school - teaching and forming the younger generation to
work towards peaceful co-existence between the Amaro and Gujji peoples
Socio-Economic Condition of the People:
The local economy is one of subsidence agriculture. Main income sources are: inset (false banana), coffee and cereal crops. Kocho, which is extracted and
processed from the inset tree, is the main staple food. In addition to farming, according to community surveys 50% of families supplement by participating in daily wage work, petty trade and fuel wood sales. Wealth categorization would be mainly based on level of ownership of livestock, coffee and inset trees. The average family income lies below $1USD per day, with poverty being the state of life for most Amaro people. Illiteracy is very high, especially among women. Prior to the establishment of the Amaro mission school, the majority of local children did not attend school.
