SOUTH ETHIOPIA

THE KARO >>THE KARO SETTLEMENTS-DUS ,KORCHO AND LABUK

There are three settlements in Karo -Dus,Korcho and Labuk. Although there is more than two hours walking distance between the two settlements,Dus and Korcho are considered by the people to belong to the same united settlement for many reasons.

Korcho is a latter development that came about as a result of some inconveniences associated with the farming ,crop protection, harvesting, and transporting of agricultural products from their main agricultural fields situated on the shores of lake Diba.All Karo come to Dus to attend wedding ceremonies and rituals of pilla (leaping accross cattle).

Dus is further sub-divided in to two sections(Nyiwariya and Nyiwaya) and the residents of Korcho belong to one of these divisions in accordance with their former residence prior their movement to Korcho.In the middle of each section there are open public meeting grounds known as pallo.Shifting of residence from one section of the setlement to the other is done only under the permission and supervision of elders.Each Dus sub-division has its own dancing place .More over ,people living in each of these sections have there own shelters called shuppa where they pass most of the hours of the day until the heat of the sun becomes less in the afternoon and where they play a Karo board game called Warre.

Still another place (actually a tree) called Mero is found in the outskirt of the settlement where people discuss issues related to drought,epidemic,and their relations with neighbouring groups.