Surema Girl

Surema (or Surma) Girl
Southern Ethiopia

Sent by Daniel, a TravBuddy friend from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

NOTE : The picture was censored by me since this blog is also viewed by children.

This is from Wikipedia : Surma is the Ethiopian government's collective name for the Suri, the Mursi and the Me'en with a total population of 186,875. All three groups speak languages of the southeast branch of the Surmic language cluster. Some have used the terms "Suri" and "Surma" interchangeably, or for contradictory purposes, so readers should note carefully what group an author is referring to.

Suri or Shuri is the name of a sedentary pastoral people and its Nilo-Saharan language in the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR) in Ethiopia, to the Sudan border, and across the border in Sudan. Some are located west of Mizan Teferi. Population: 20,622 (1998 est.).

Mursi or Murzu is the name of a closely related sedentary pastoral people whose language (Mursi) is over 80% cognate with Suri. They are located next to the Suri in the center of the SNNPR and the lowlands southwest of Jinka in the Debub Omo Zone. The Mursi do not regard themselves as Surma, despite the cultural and linguistic similarities. Population: 7,500 of whom 92.25% live in the SNNPR (2007 census).

Me'en is the name of a closely related sedentary pastoral people whose language (Me'en) is over 80% cognate with Mursi. They are located in and around Bachuma, and in lowlands to the south, near the Omo River. Population: 151,489 of whom 98.9% live in the SNNPR (2007 census).