Introduction / History

The Shekka are indigenous to the Shekka Forest UNESCO Biosphere Resource of southern Ethiopia. Until the nineteenth century they were not a part of Ethiopia. Today they live in three administrative districts (woredas) and two towns. They are a forest people whose way of life is threatened by the expansion of commercial, often illicit, logging, coffee and tea plantations, and population. The latter threaten their traditional economy of relying on forest products such as timber, forest coffee, wild honey (a cash "crop"), and medicinal plants. NGOs help them to preserve both forest and indigenous leadership.

What Are Their Lives Like?

The clan is essential to their way of life. It regulates life. The clan leader is responsible for land management, forestry, and ceremonies. It provides de facto leadership, often at odds with Ethiopian de jure leadership. Traditionally, men are hunters and gatherers; women engage in agriculture, collect honey and medicinal plans, prepare meals and care for children.

What Are Their Beliefs?

The Shekka are religiously divided. Some are traditional religionists whose ritual leadership is important. For them, some wetlands are sacred as are other sites and trees. They invoke spirits. Land is at the heart of their faith. They constitute about four per cent of the Shekka people.

Others are Sunni Muslims, whose faith is regulated by the five pillars of Islam and the mosque. For them the Arabic Koran is scripture. Muslims constitute about fifteen per cent of the Shekkas.

Christians are not as unified as are Muslims. About forty per cent of the Shekka are Ethiopian Orthodox, the national church. And about an equal percentage are Protestants (Baptists and Compassion Christian Mission). They have portions of the Bible available in their language, in print, audio, and on line.

What Are Their Needs?

They need the national government to be serious about their cultural and economic integrity and lands. Their leaders need wisdom. They need health care, sanitation, and education in their own language. Christians need the whole Bible available in their language.

Prayer Items

Pray for a people movement to Christ among the traditional religionists. Pray for the completion of the Bible in their language. Pray for good relations between Protestants and Orthodox. Pray for holistic cooperation between all three segments of society as they mutually grapple with threats to their way of life.

Scripture Prayers for the Shekka in Ethiopia.

References

Beby, Million, The Political Eco;logy of the Shekka Forest Shakadro Community. SIEMENPOU, 2006
Yoshida, Sayrui, "The Struggle Against Discrimination," Nordic Journal of African Studies No. 18, (2013)
UNESCO, Shaka Forest, UNESCO Reports, 2012