Lea Jetahun

Father's name: Zanabe Jetahun

Mother's name: Lemlam Gidon

Year of birth: 1955

Place of birth: Ebraya Mariam, Telmet, Welkait

Region in Ethiopia: Simien

Main occupation in Ethiopia: Artist, embroiderer and potter

The language of the interview: Amharic

Lea Jetahun, nature, agriculture, herding sheep and cattle, artist, embroiderer, blacksmithing, bartering, housework, coffee ceremony, builder, customs and traditions, hospitality, cooking, injera, beehives, honey, wedding, embroidery, dress, city, village, reed baskets, traditional vessels, jewelry, tattoos, Christians, Ebraya Mariam, Telmet, Sudan, Tereraba, Abra Mariam in Adarka, Semien.

Summary of the testimony:

Lea describes her family tree, her village, and its local history. When she was five, her family moved to a village named Tereraba. When she was nine, they moved to the village of Abra Mariam in Adarka. Lea talks about her family’s strong connection to Judaism. As a child, her parents would tell her stories about Israel. Her father prayed every day to reach Jerusalem. When he built their house, he conducted a cornerstone- laying ceremony.

As a child, she helped her father work in the fields. She talks about her father’s work as a blacksmith. He made farming tools, knives, axes, and hunting traps, which he traded for agricultural land. Lea’s mother taught her how to make pottery. She notes that they acquired all their merchandise through bartering, apart from the frying pans in which they cooked their food, which were purchased with money.

Lea also helped with the housework. She describes the coffee ceremony and explains the customs of hospitality. She relates how she made injera for the first time when she was eight, and the compliments she received from her relatives. There were bamboo beehives in her backyard, from which her family made honey. Lea describes the process.

Lea got married when she was 12 and moved to her mother-in-law’s house. Her mother-in-law taught her how to embroider, and Lea helped her finish the embroidery work people ordered. When she moved to her own home, Lea received orders herself and made a living from embroidery work. She demonstrates the work method, and describes the decorations, types of threads, and prices of embroideries. She used the money she earned to buy goods at the market in the city that were not available in the village.

Lea demonstrates how to make wicker baskets. She describes different types of straw and where they were brought from. She describes how the straw was woven and how the decorations were formed. Another important part of her livelihood was selling clay vessels. She talks at length about the types of clay vessels and how they were made. She shows examples of traditional jewelry. She relates how her friend made the tattoo on her hand with a thorn and charcoal.

Lea relates that most of her customers were Christians and that she had a good relationship was them. When she set out with her family to Sudan to immigrate to Israel, her Christian friends and neighbors helped them and prepared food for their journey.