Severed Connection with God

A common Suri story reveals that ancient man and woman had a direct rope to heaven and God. (Some Suri claim the connection was a road, not rope.) They could climb it at any time. God’s only requirement was that people do not carry anything with them up the rope. One day the woman decided to bring her grinding stone with her. As soon as she started to climb, the rope broke. The direct connection between man and God was severed.

What happened when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit?

Somewhere between Jiga and Dembeche on Highway 3, our driver, Ermias, told of his talk with a Mursi man on another Omo trip. “The Mursi man said ‘We were closer to God before you came.’ The ‘you’ refers both to non-Omo Ethiopians and faranji.”

Ato Daniel Bambu, the official Ethiopian government Suri cultural recorder, told me in his crumbling concrete office cubicle: “The old chiefs were different. They talked directly to God. God was much nearer to the older ones.” Reflective pause. “Today the elders need money or local beer.”
During two days of intensive interviews, Bologedung, the old Suri chief, told us that God spoke to him through dreams.