{"id":291527,"date":"2019-07-16T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?guid=211b8ec1a97dcb4398af6f5dfae9db65"},"modified":"2026-10-11T13:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T17:58:08","slug":"awra-amba-the-amhara-village-where-men-and-women-share-all-work-and-religion-is-a-private","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/291527","title":{"rendered":"Awra Amba, the Amhara village where men and women share all work and religion is a private matter"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Awra Amba, a small community in Ethiopia\u2019s Amhara region, men and women share the same work, religion is treated as a private matter, and religious holidays are working days.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/figure>\n

A view of the Awra Amba community in the Amhara region, April 2010 (Robert Joumard, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) [file photo]<\/em><\/p>\n

The village was founded in 1972 by Zumra Nuru, a former wandering preacher who was 68 when the German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk profiled the village in July 2019. He told its reporters, Sven Weniger and Michael Marek, that about 500 people live in Awra Amba and that others come in from the district to work.<\/p>\n

Zumra said he herded cattle in neighbouring South Gondar until he was 13. Even as a child, he said, people told him he was not right in the head because he believed every person was of equal worth.<\/p>\n

\u201cReligion is a private matter. It belongs to you or to me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter whether you are Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox. Everyone has the same God, so we are all equal.\u201d He said there is no discrimination between men and women: where both can do the same physical work, both do it.<\/p>\n

The community bans polygamy and child marriage. A man and a woman marry only if both want to, and no one under 18 may marry. \u201cPolygamy undermines the relationship between a man and a woman,\u201d Zumra said. \u201cWhen two people choose each other, their relationship lasts longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neighbouring communities were hostile at first, and it was Awra Amba\u2019s economic success that softened them, according to the report. The village runs a dairy, a grain mill, a tea house and a hostel, and earns money from tourists. Its school also takes children from other villages, and its library holds more than a thousand books.<\/p>\n

Awra Amba has 144 families, and committees elected by residents run its affairs. Ayalsew Zumra, the founder\u2019s son, said joining costs a one-time fee of 500 birr, then about 15 euros. Members who work in the cooperative share its income equally at the end of the year. Newcomers must first accept the community\u2019s rules. \u201cSaying \u2018I am a good person\u2019 is not enough,\u201d he said. \u201cWe check that ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The village also keeps a home for ten elderly residents, where members cook, clean and wash for those who can no longer do so. \u201cWe know nothing about a life in heaven after death,\u201d said Worksew Yeshanew, a teacher and Zumra\u2019s assistant. \u201cWe want to take care of the happiness of these people here on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the future, Zumra said he had no clear picture of what Awra Amba would become. \u201cBut I wish that the people who come here see in us, as in a mirror, what is possible, namely peace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong> Deutschlandfunk \u2013 \u00c4thiopien: Gelebte Utopie in Awra Amba<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Awra Amba, a small community in Ethiopia\u2019s Amhara region, men and women share the same work, religion is treated as a private matter, and religious holidays are working days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":837601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/awra-amba-community-2010.jpg?fit=1280%2C960&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1dQ3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291527"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837649,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291527\/revisions\/837649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}