The Warrior Inside...

In catching up on some weekend newspaper reading this week, I was delighted to discover that the Hamer name is far-reaching...in fact much further reaching than I anticipated.

In The Times Magazine from two weeks ago, I came across this picture of a warrior from the Hamer tribe, one of the more successful tribes making their home in the Omo Valley in Ethiopia:

The men wear clay buns on their heads to signify that they have made a kill and a scar etched onto their chest for every life they've taken...this one's obviously new to the warrior game!

And not to be outdone the women of the Hamer tribe "dye their hair red with ochre and wear intricately beaded clothing"...

They also wear rings around their necks when married (step up from the finger perhaps?) with the number of rings denoting their ranking as first, second, third wife to their polygamous husbands. This woman is a Wife No 2.

Hmmm I thought.  Not sure about that...polygamy and all those layers and repressive 'signature' jewellery.  I would rather just imagine 'Mrs Hamer' tripping barefoot down a theatrically dusty catwalk during London's Fashion Week or maybe she could have a little sojourn Gok's Fashion Fix to bring her out from the shadows of her warrior husband and to get her to 'stop hiding under all those layers, girlfriend'.

Great hair though...