Who are the Suri People?

The Suri are a semi-nomadic, agricultural society numbering about 30,000.  They live in a mountainous region in southwestern Ethiopia, near the Sudan border.  The Suri are cattle herders who move every 2-3 years. They practice traditional animist religion, meaning they worship (and fear) the spirits of their departed ancestors.

The Suri around Tulegit have begun to farm and grow corn.  Unfortunately, some of them use the corn to make beer.  It is one of the few things they can sell to obtain cash.  They also drink the beer and violence erupts.  Because they live near the Sudan border, many of them have AK-47’s, so the violence can be deadly.  Theirs is a revenge culture and they live in constant fear of other Suri (as well as of the evil spirits).

Since the  Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus started an outreach to the Suri, spearheaded by John Haspels, between 50-100 people have become Christian believers.  The Suri Project has built schools and clinics for the Suri and miles of roads to bring in workers and food.

Wycliffe Bible translators, Mike and Andrea Bryant have now translated the Gospel of Luke into Suri.  They have also put the Jesus film into Suri. The following are some of the unusual features of the Suri culture.

Stick Fighting

The Suris’ main spectator sport is stick fighting.  Every Suri man carries a stick (donga) with him as he tends his cattle or walks through the brush.  The Suri men see themselves as warriors and stick fighting fits in with their warrior role.
The men used to fight to see who could knock down his opponent and the loser was only wounded and not killed.  The combatants would wear protective pads.  Now it is usual for the combatants to fight with no protection.  There is often a lot of drinking at the stick fights and violence often erupts and there are shootings.