About the Project
?With his spear, stone and a few other belongings, Asrad started walking away from his home. Others had ventured as far as the big water, but past that was the great unknown. He took his trusting wife, children and a few willing acquaintances. We can only guess at their motive for leaving the safety of their tribe.
While Asrad is a fictional person, he personalizes humanities walk out of eastern Africa some 150,000 years ago. He represents what scientists say were the first steps of modern man’s migration out of Ethiopia’s Omo region, to populate our entire planet.
?Innately, Asrad brought with him not only his tribal knowledge of hunting and survival but also tribal myths that answer the big questions of life and meanings to personal dreams. He had all he needed to survive in the big sky universe.
Now, 150,000 years later, with man poured over the globe, scientists tell us that we are all Asrad’s great DNA grandchildren. I want to explore what have we learned in those 1500 centuries since Asrad left the Omo region of Africa?
“Long before I heard of Christ or saw a white man…I knew God. I perceived what goodness is. I saw and loved what is really beautiful. Civilization has not taught me anything better.” Ohiyesa writing about his heritage in “The Soul of an Indian”.
This is a return trip for me to Ethiopia’s Omo region in several ways. I first went there in 2001, to interview the elders, shaman, chiefs and storytellers of six different tribes about their myths and personal dreams. Anthropologists tell me that was the first time those oral stories had ever been recorded. Those stories answered the big questions of life such as where the first person came from, is there life after death and is there a God? From those stories, I created photo illustrations to visualize the tribal myths and dreams. You can visit my web site to get a more complete picture about Africa’s Undiscovered Myths Project at www.jmiglavs.com.
On this return trip, I want to share the work I have done with the people of the Omo tribes. I also want to hear more about their perspectives. I want to talk again with the Konso elder whose advice to world leaders (althought he didn’t really clearly know about the United States) was: “We are all the same. We all have five fingers,” he said as he held up his hand. “Even if we have different religions.” I want to hear Haska Galede tell me more about the personal god that each Karo and Hamar has.
But this time, I would like the world to interactively share in those travel adventures and spiritual experiences.
This interactive E-journal is my humble way to get more people involved with different perspectives and questions. On my previous trips to the remote tribes of Africa, I traveled by myself. I wanted a total immersion into the life, culture and spiritual wisdom of these least-touched tribes. While that was very effective, there were lots of questions that didn’t get asked because I didn’t think of them until someone asked when I got home. This is an open invitation for you to share your thoughts, perspectives and questions as my son Ryan and I travel to the Omo.
So, what have we learned since Asrad left the Omo 150,000 years ago?