Edging close to a two-lane road that
hosts at least as many free-ranging
goats, cattle and donkeys as it does
motorized vehicles, coffee trees
grow beneath the shade of the
ubiquitous enset (false banana).
With its distinctive burgundy central
stem and banana-tree like leaves,
this crop is a staple for the area
residents.

Dotting the landscape are round,
cone-roofed homes with traditional
construction of local wood or
bamboo coated with cement or mud
and roofed by natural fibers. Often
several fill a family’s small courtyard
alongside the more angular homes
made of the same materials, but
with square corners and roofs of
molded tin tiles in bright red, green
or blue. Small children under the
watchful eye of siblings and adults
hover near the open gate or chase
goats nearly as big as they are.