Into the “Mouth of the Devil”： A Borana Rite of Passage ｜ SLICE ｜ FULL DOCUMENTARY

Elema is a Burana woman from the village of Gubaluse in the famous Great Rift Valley. The Burana are semi-nomadic pastoralists who live in southern Ethiopia along the Kenyan border. Among the Burana, the women and children take care of the livestock. During the dry season, the children fetch water from the clan's well, a dozen kilometers from the village. Elema has three children, two boys and a girl. Galgalo is 16 years old. Her parents are going to marry her soon. Wario, the youngest, is 11. He has never attended school. There aren't any in Gubaluse and the family needs everyone. Duba has to buy a second camel for the long salt journey. The camel is a crucial animal among the Burana. During migrations, it carries all of the family's property. The females produce a nourishing milk that fortifies the elderly and the ailing. Duba's ambition is to one day own a large herd of camels. Learning to travel is essential in the Burana culture. When a drought starts to kill the livestock, they must move on quickly, sometimes traveling very far. Wario has to learn how to travel long distances. The salt journey will take Duba and his sons to the western borders of the Burana country, 200 kilometers away. They will cross a rugged region, a virtual desert, where water is extremely The first leg will take them to El Soda. The crater where salt is extracted is some 50 kilometers from Gubaluse. The land is practically flat. It will only take them a day and a half to reach the The Burana have extracted salt from this enormous deposit formed by the volcano as long as anyone can remember. It lies at the bottom of the El Soda crater lake. The men use poles with pointed tips to break up the lake bed. The mud forms a hard, compact and thick crust. They have to work hard and hit it as hard as they can to crack it. When a man detaches a large enough block of mud, he sinks into the unbelievably salty water. He crouches on the bottom and, using his bare hands, hauls up a heavy black chunk he then brings to shore. The El Soda salt lake is both a salvation and a hell for the men who extract the salt. Extracting salt is backbreaking work. These men have to descend to the bottom of the crater their entire lives without any hope of doing anything else. It's a question of survival. The water contains so much salt it is as corrosive as acid. It eats into cuts which never heal. The men coat the smallest scratch with a layer of Vaseline which keeps the water from directly contacting raw skin. They then attach pieces of simple plastic like patches. The rags the salt workers wrap around their ankles and wrists don't offer much protection. They're part of a ritual of preparation which puts off for a few extra minutes the difficult moment when they have to enter the water. The men prevent salt water from going up their noses where it attacks the mucus by plugging their nostrils with small bags filled with animal fat. They seal their ear canals with Vaseline. The men are in and out of the water all morning long. The salt extraction is highly regulated. The salt workers are all Borana. They belong to a tight-knit brotherhood that selects its members. This brotherhood has from three to four hundred members. The salt workers go down to the base of the crater one after another and share the profits calculated on the number of times they go into the crater. Those suffering from rheumatism or who are too old to go into the water pack the salt in bags. It's still early and the lake water is freezing. Exhausted or hungry men shiver and sometimes one of them feels faint and has to be brought to the shore by his companions. The mud is quickly washed to remove the largest rocks. The bags weigh about 50 kilos. They're loaded on donkeys which then climb to the upper edge of the crater. The volcano is 250 meters deep. It takes Nura Kalisha a good half hour to climb the path winding up the side of the crater. Momin can't keep up the same speed. It takes him nearly an hour to reach the top. Nura Kalisha almost always waits for the old man who reminds him of his own father. Nura Kalisha and old Momin unload their salt in the storehouses lined up at the rim of the volcano. Several merchants buy salt from the salt worker cooperative. Several months ago two businessmen from Addis Ababa tried to get their hands on the salt business but the salt workers rebelled. The two men were beaten severely. The salt is stored in structures open to the prevailing winds. It is kept there until it's dry and is ready to be sold. It loses its original black color as it dries turning light gray. Depending on its purity it is sold either for animal or for human consumption. Hello. Do you sell salt? Yes, we do. Where do you buy the salt? We buy it from the salt factory. And where is the salt factory? We buy it from the salt factory. You can't sell it like this. Yes, we can't. Why are you so stubborn? We don't sell it like this. The real salt journey starts after El Soda. Wario will now have to prove himself, show his father and older brother that he too is a real Barana, a nomad who loves long, adventurous trips over desert lands. Dooba and his two sons are facing a full five-day non-stop road trip. They will eat rice and flour, and when they need to eat some meat, they will sacrifice the goat. The Barana believe there are good and bad termite mounds. Dooba is convinced that a benevolent spirit lives in the one he has chosen. The Barana believe there are good and bad termite mounds. At one time, the Madacho crater was filled with water. But the drought in the region was so severe the lake disappeared underground. The Barana who raise cattle around the crater had to dig deeper and deeper wells. The Barana wells, nicknamed the Singing Wells, are famous throughout the Horn of Africa. Digging at the Madacho wells started over 60 years ago. The structures are constantly changing. It's nearly 50 meters from the mounds of dirt surrounding the well to the water deep below in the ground. Six men pass buckets from hand to hand, bringing the water up to an intermediate reservoir. From there, three men fill the water troughs. The repetitive chants that resonate in the well are work songs. They create a rhythm that keeps everyone working at the same pace. The wells are cleaned out at the start of the dry season, and during the first few weeks, the water is still muddy. Water is so scarce and so valuable here that people drink it as it comes, muddy or not. The camels can now walk for a full week without drinking any more water, while cows, sheep and donkeys have to come to the well every two days. Each well belongs to a clan and is run collectively. The herds come to the well according to an organized schedule. The clan's young men draw up the water, and they also make sure it remains operating correctly, which requires a great deal of work. People who are not members of the owner clan, like Duba and his sons, can bring their animals to drink, but they must first ask permission from the owners and give something in exchange. Duba and his sons are now embarking on the most dangerous part of the trip. The dry lake of Chubahir, which the Borana call Chalbi, is no-man's land where cattle thieves lurk. Here the Borana and Hamer fight over pasture lands and water with guns. There are frequent clashes between the two enemies. Wario has walked the entire day alongside the camels, he's exhausted and sore all over. The young Borana spend several years working for their people, defending the territory against rival groups. Trained by experienced warriors, they are, in effect, performing their military service. After a night of fatigue, Duba and his sons set off again. They will cross the Chalbi farther down. Duba and his boys have reached one of the many shelters under the rocks scattered all around the lake. All that remains are a few mosquito-infested puddles. The banks of the Chubahir have been inhabited from time immemorial. The walls of the shelter are covered with prehistoric engravings of antelopes, giraffes and elephants. The rock fortresses around the lake have always provided shelter to hunters. Duba and his sons were in need of meat to boost their energy. Yalamdida has sacrificed the goat. Wario understands and doesn't say anything. The Chalbi is one of the hottest places on the planet. The Borana have great respect for the sun. They're looking for shelter before their shadows get too small. It's eleven in the morning and it's fifty degrees in the shade. Duba and his sons take a break. They have to drink a little, but regularly, to keep from getting dehydrated. Loading a camel is both very simple and very complicated. If the pack saddle moves, it can injure the animal. The camel always complains that the ropes are too tight. Wario has performed the exercise reasonably well. He knows how to balance the load on the camel's back. After an exhausting five days of walking, the three have finally crossed the fearsome Chubahir. Arbore is on the other side of the hill. Wario has managed very well. The village of Arbore is named for the people who live there, the Arbore, who live in harmony with all their neighbours. The village is a haven of peace in this region of conflicts. All the people who live around Chubahir can walk around without fear and lifelong enemies mingle here. The market is held every Monday morning under the trees at the southern edge of the village. No one has seen a camel at the market for a long time and the arrival of Duba's animals arouses great interest. The Hamer women who live on the river's west bank sell tomatoes here. The Arbore offer coffee pulp. The Samai buy firewood. The Konso, who are traditional enemies of the Barana, sell corn and sorghum. Even though the weapons have been temporarily set aside, no one forgets who is who. No. Duba doesn't have anything to worry about at the market, but he's a cautious man by nature and so refuses to admit his ethnic background. The Arcee are not at war at the moment. No one has seen any salt on the Arbore market for a long time. Lots of people are surprised. We are slow, we are slow. What will we do? The news has travelled through the market, and customers are lining up. Duba's gamble has paid off. His salt is a huge success. With the money he has made, he can give his young daughter a beautiful wedding. My name is Wari, and I am from the village of Duba. I am from the village of Amama. I am from the village of Minaga. I am from the village of Arborelo. I live in Arborelo. I am from the village of Argolejo. This is my village. Are you from the village of Argolejo? I am from the village of Argolejo. Duba is a Russian. We were unindependent and we came here. I don't want to live here. I will leave the village. I don't want to live here any longer. Duba and his sons return to their village. This journey, which took Wario to the far corners of the Burana territory, was an initiatory trip. He has discovered the secrets of salt, and met people he had never known of before.