Surma, or Suri Tribe

The Suri are a traditionally pastoral tribe on the west bank of the Omo River, with a culture centred around cattle. However, in recent times the Suri are relatively settled and also carry out agriculture and cultivation of grains. Cattle bring status to Suri people, and are a direct measure of a person’s wealth. Their tribe’s population is roughly 7,500 in total, with individual villages ranging from 40 to 2,500 people.

Each Suri household is run by a woman, who owns her own field and makes money from selling grains and beer. The Suri men are divided into different age-sets (children, young men, junior elders and senior elders) with each set having specific roles within the community.

Like the Mursi, the Suri people are known for stick fighting whereby unmarried men paint their bodies with chalk and fight with long, heavy poles, each man trying to knock the other down. Another similarity between these two tribes is the tradition of women stretching their lips and wearing large clay disks in the holes. Scarification is also practiced by both men and women.

Guns, particularly AK-47s smuggled across the border with Sudan, have found their way into the lives of the Suri people. Now it is considered the norm that all men must have a gun to be able to protect their family from enemies raiding their cattle or attacks from dangerous animals.