Mursi: The Land is Bad

Synopsis

A further visit to the Mursi of Southern Ethiopia with whom contact was established 17 years ago, for an important coming of age ceremony which has had to be postponed many times. An elder of the Mursi faces his last and most important challenge — to arrange this ceremony. The date has been finally set but life has been very difficult for the Mursi over the past few years owing to attacks by hostile tribes, drought, famine, disease and cattle raiders and even now the ceremony may not take palace. There was a meningitis epidemic from which many people died until a vaccination and treatment programme ended it. This time we visit the South, the heartland of the Mursi, but everyone is fearful for the future.