Kachipo / Kichepo

 

The Kachipo people live in the mountainous area to the eastern part of Boma town in the south eastern South Sudan and they extend of the Upper Nile Province that borders Ethiopia, where their tribal headquarters is at Koma..

Kachipo can be considered as a South Sudan part of Suri people.
Population & Ecosystem

Their population is around 30,000 people and their area is situated between latitiude 6' — 7.8' N and longitude 34.5' — 35' E, an area of approximately 3,000 sq km. with a little extension towards the east inside the Ethiopian border, which means that there are Ethiopian Kachipo but under a different name.

Administratively, they occupy Meoun Payam of Pibor County. The Suri relate linguistically, culturally and in appearance to the Tirma (Ethiopia). They however acknowledge no blood affinity with any other tribe in the area.

The Kachipo live in a mountainous area in three major hills on the eastern side of the Boma city and mountain.

Aesthetics
Its aesthetic is very similar to that of its Suri neighbors in Ethiopia.

Men. They have their ears pierced, resulting in a big hole that extends the ear downwards. Some leave them open as they are and others block the opening with a light round-shaped wood.

Women. Currently only old women have labial perforations for the placement of dishes. The plate is accepted by the Kachipo though with or without it. A Kachipo girl has her lower lip pierced to make a space that can get the small finger of the hand in. A thin wood or cane or grass is put in it to deny it the chance to close. When it heals and softens, another wood a little bigger than the first is replaced and so on and so forth until at the end the lip is so wide that it takes a bigger light wooden plate in the size that simply cover the face.

The plate is a sign of maturity in the beginning and that the girl can now have a husband or be approached. It is there then all the time thereafter.

📷 Omar Salem | Angels Ferrer | Johan Gerrits #africa #angola #mozambique #ethiopia #namibia #southafrica #kenya #india #malekula #nigeria #benin