Hawecha

Two hundred years ago a girl was born into the Oromo tribe which occupies land in southern Ethiopia as well as in the far north of Kenya. At a time when men ruled the world and young women had no authority whatsoever Hawecha gradually rose to a position of unprecedented leadership and power. She became the most famous Prophetess of the Oromo people saving them from famine pestilence war and death. Eventually she became a part of their oral history. In 1986 a Catholic Mission near the Kenya/Ethiopia border founded the first school for Oromo girls in Kenya using the story of Hawecha as their inspiration. Rhodia Mann was born in Kenya and studied Oromo culture under a highly-respected oral historian and mystic. She attended major Oromo ceremonies in northern Kenya and also visited the Oromo in southern Ethiopia. Presented as a historical novel the legend of Hawecha is used as a means to bring a fascinating and little-known culture to the wider world.