Tsamay (ethnicity)
The Tsamay , also Tsemai, Tsamai, Tsemay; are an ethnic group in southwest Ethiopia . They speak the Tsamay language , which belongs to the Dullay subgroup of the East Kushitic language family and is related to Bussa and Gawwada .
According to the 1998 census of Ethiopia, 9,702 Tsamay live in Ethiopia. Their language is spoken by 8,621 people, 5,298 as the only language. Many Tsamay use the Konso language for trade .
Most of the Tsamay live in the woreda Hamer-Banna in the Debub Omo zone of the administrative region of the southern nations, nationalities and peoples as well as in the lower Omo valley and in the west of the woreda Konso. Many Tsamay live in the city of Weyto , which is approximately 50 kilometers from the city of Jinka .
Their livelihoods are the cultivation of grain and livestock. Many Tsamay women wear leather clothing, and most Tsamay men always carry a small stool with them in case they have to sit down. Few Tsamay can read and write: less than one percent in their mother tongue and 2.8 percent in their first foreign language. As the Tsamay area is often visited by adventurers, they are often photographed.
Web links
- Tsamai. A language of Ethiopia. Ethnologue.com
- Photo of a young Tsamay by Dave Stamboulis
- Photo of a Tsamay