(5/10/2011, Boardhost )--Tourists should not treat the members of African tribes as if they were objects. This was the call of Bishop Rodrigo Mejía Saldarriaga, from Soddo (Southern Ethiopia), in a meeting with the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
Moreover, the tribe members expected to be paid for each and every photo. On the face of it, this may seem like a “good thing”, but it destroys the people’s work ethic because they learn that “money can be earned without work”.
It was understandable that the tourists might want to take home photos with exotic motifs. But they should “not regard the people as strange objects”.
Moreover, the tribe members expected to be paid for each and every photo. On the face of it, this may seem like a “good thing”, but it destroys the people’s work ethic because they learn that “money can be earned without work”.
The territory of the Apostolic Vicariate in Southern Ethiopia is inhabited by 16 different tribes, some of which are among the most primitive ethnic groups in the world.
The best-known is the Mursi tribe, in which it is the custom for married women to be decorated with lip plates. For a long time the tribes refused all contact with civilisation, the Bishop explained.
But now they can no longer avoid contact with the outside world because of the construction of the Pan-African Highway, which will connect Cape Town with Cairo and which passes through their territory. Therefore they asked the Catholic Church to help them prepare for this event. Read more from Boardhost »
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