Original subtitles

Failure is never an option when doing a rite of passage into manhood.

I'm Ed Stafford. As an explorer and survivalist, I've made a career out of

mucking about in the wild.

If I'm honest, I've never really grown up.

So now, I've set myself a mission

to see how cultures across the world navigate the messy business of

becoming an adult.

I believe many of us in the modern world have lost our sense of identity.

But I'm hoping by immersing myself in the often extreme trials that young

face, I can figure out how these rituals make us better members of our

communities.

I've never experienced anything even comparable in terms of pain.

By joining them on their journey, I hope I'll learn to become a better man.

Maybe even grow up. Okay,

he wants me to jump it. I'm going to jump now. And successfully pass my own.

Right of passage.

I'm deep in the heart of Ethiopia's Omo Valley, heading to live with the Hama

people.

It's taken me three days of travel just to get here, but I'm now only an hour

away from my home for the next week.

In one of the most remote areas of Ethiopia, Shafala village is a community

surviving on the margins of existence.

While I'm here, I'll be living exactly as the Hama do.

but I also want to take part in a very special ritual.

Their cattle represent everything that they own in life and are at the centre

their unique rite of passage.

It involves jumping up onto the backs of a group of bulls that have been lined

up and running along them at least four times without falling off.

Only then can they marry.

It will be an incredible challenge as I'll have just seven days to discover an

athleticism that I've never really had.

But for which most of these hammer boys have been building their entire lives.

Right, I'll jump out.

We're way off the beaten track.

There's no power.

No running water.

We're hours away from the nearest hospital.

And, as this is Africa, the likelihood of venomous snakes...

scorpions and other wild animal encounters is high this really is the

nowhere the

hammer way of life hasn't changed much in hundreds of years everything

is based around their livestock but before i can make friends with the bulls

okay i need to meet the people and so far That's proving tricky.

My translator, Killer, is meant

to be meeting me inside Chief Sembele's hut. So until I find that, it seems I'm

on my own.

I'm Ed.

Nagaya. Nagaya.

Can I come in?

Simbali, the chief, is inside the house and I've run out of local dialect, I'm

afraid, so I'm just going to take my bag off and go in.

Nagaya. My name is Ed.

And, yes, an honour to be here.

I'm so not used to sitting on the floor.

Simbali, can I just start by saying thank you so much for having me to stay

here. I hugely appreciate it. I've heard a lot about...

Your people and your culture and your rite of passage ceremony, and it's an

absolute honor to be here.

I would love to stay here for a week, and I would love to take part in the

of passage ceremony that you guys do with jumping over the balls.

Do you think that might be possible?

Thank you.

How

do

I say thank you?

Since I wasn't born hammer, being adopted is the only way that I'm going

able to take part in the bull jumping.

It's a crucial first step.

Dancing?

Dancing.

I'm not a dancer.

For the Hammer, dancing helps keep community bonds strong.

A lot of these boys are working towards their own ball jumping ceremony.

And I can't help but notice that jumping seems to be a theme here.

But the chief's son, Maggie, makes it clear participation is not optional.

Here we go.

My worst nightmare.

Maggie's the boy I'll be doing the ball jumping ceremony with in a

week's time.

For him... It's deadly serious.

I need to learn as much as I can if I'm going to have any chance of succeeding.

It's a lot of jumping. It's a lot of display of manliness.

And the women are coming in and kicking dust on their feet.

Similar to giving an invite to a school prom.

The girls kick the boys' shins as a kind of flirting method to try and secure a

dance partner during the celebrations on the day of the ball jumping ceremony.

It feels very inclusive, and I do feel very accepted now amongst the boys,

certainly. I feel like I'm part of the gang.

I reckon I got off pretty lightly by not really having to do too much dancing.

And with my two left feet, I'm glad I don't have to make a fool of myself

straight off the bat.

It's dancing over, and it's down to business.

Maggie introduces me to his uncle, Shardo, who is the local ball jumping

specialist and will mentor me in the hammer way of life.

To the hammer, the ball jumping ceremony is extremely important, so they take me

to a dry riverbed.

Well, they will need to test my skill level.

Right, there's more coming.

Do you know what? I can do this.

No problem.

I'm going to do this.

Just jump up, run along the cows, jump down.

Across town.

I'm going to just do this.

All right. I'm over.

I'm over.

I think it's just good having me around for the entertainment value, basically.

I should hang out here, charge for my services, and everyone will be a lot

happier.

However,

the laughs soon fade, and I'm putting on a brave face.

But my first ball jumping test is nothing short of an embarrassment.

There's something else that's crucial to the ceremony besides balls.

Ball jumping without sorghum beer would be like a wedding without cake.

Providing a lot demonstrates the family's social standing while fostering

between villages and marking celebrations.

Maggie takes me to one of the fields where they grow this gluten -free grain

that's a vital source of food as well as a drink.

Maggie's job is to keep it safe, and I'm going to see if this is somewhere where

I can actually help.

It's a very beautiful place.

It's a very

beautiful place.

Let's hope my slingshotting is better than my cattle jumping.

This kind of slingshot is one of the hardest methods of hunting that I've

actually done, and incredibly difficult to get accurate, and incredibly

difficult to get fast.

Clearly, these guys have been doing it all their lives since they were, you

know, probably knee -high.

How do you get the snap, like that?

F*** me.

That went over there somewhere.

That

was

exactly the same as what I did.

That is next level slingshotting.

All right, last go, then I'm going to have to call it a day.

Oh,

that almost did a little snap thing.

Almost.

Don't laugh at me.

At the moment, I feel like a total joke to the hammer.

At least the slingshotting wasn't as bad as the ball jumping.

Back at the village, my ball jumping coach, Shado, has very kindly sorted me

with a roof over my head during my stay here.

In here?

Okay. For me?

Thank you.

Crumbs.

Although fairly inconvenient for me, the small doorways in traditional hammer

huts are supposed to help keep the elements out, which is pretty critical

harsh environment like this.

Cool, OK, so this is my home for the next week. It's, um... Yeah, it's, um,

amazing that I've got somewhere to stay.

Cool. And this mattress, I think it's new, actually. Oh, naturally.

Food's gone.

This is definitely one of my more unique sleeping arrangements.

All right, cool.

See you tomorrow morning.

I didn't realise how little impact there has been from the outside world.

There's no power at all.

I've seen two or three mobile phones, but they're the old sort of Nokia mobile

phones. At night time, there's no light at all. There's no light pollution.

I've lived with a lot of indigenous tribes, never one that was quite as

authentic as this one.

And therefore it's all the more of a privilege to experience a culture which

so, so different to my own.

I'm keen to immerse myself and then pick up as many of the skills that they're

using as possible.

To get a better handle on exactly what I've got myself into, I asked Jupe

Sembele if he can tell me more about Maggie's and my upcoming ball jumping

ceremony.

So we're days from Maggie's rite of passage ceremony.

Is it such a big event that it's causing you some stress?

Obviously, Maggie is the chief's son. He's your son.

If the pressure of the event gets too much and he doesn't succeed, does he

another ceremony? Does he get a chance to do the whole thing again?

I can understand why you're stressed now.

That's good advice. Do it like you, because you succeeded.

How big is this event? How many people will come?

What can we expect?

Can you tell me a bit more about it?

I can let you into a little secret. I'm not very good at the moment.

I'm really not very good.

And if I was to fail, would that be a shame for me and my family as well?

Or on you?

In a way, I don't think I'd fully realize just how serious this ritual is.

have now.

Okay. I will try and not humiliate you.

I'm worried that if I don't improve a

lot, I'm going to embarrass Mbele.

and ruin the most important day in Maggie's young life.

With preparations for the bull jumping ceremony now going into overdrive,

and Belle's sister -in -law is hard at work making one of the ceremony's

indispensable staples using sorghum.

What are your names?

Inwaku. Inwaku.

Inwaku. Waku. Waku. Waku.

Can you explain what you're doing now?

Can I get involved in this?

How many of these do we need to do to make the beer?

A lot?

A lot?

OK, there's all that over there.

And is the rite of passage, does it change the men in your eyes, or are they

more attractive, are they more eligible as husbands?

Yeah?

So are you two married?

You're married, yeah.

And how many children do you have?

Six children.

I've got four.

Do either of your husbands have other wives? Because I heard in this community

the men can have more than one wife.

No, just you.

And same with you?

Are there two?

Okay, and do you mind me asking, how do you feel about the other wife?

And does she become like your best friend?

Yeah, that's cool. I like that.

That's amazing.

Although it's unlikely in this village, and most places around the world for

that matter, for the women to be allowed to have two husbands.

It's funny how polygamy tends to work more in favour of the man.

And when you're not making beer, in an average day, what would you guys be

in the village?

Half day, half day.

Long way. Long way to get water.

That's an underground oven.

The sticks within the water and the balls are going on top of the

sticks above the water and being steamed.

They're kind of half boiled, half steamed.

This is the...

Most bizarre beer making ceremony or process I've ever come across.

Where are we taking this? Back inside?

Okay.

Good morning.

It's quite firm, this matches.

The voice of a goat is very, very similar to the voice of a screaming

or human being.

These

chaps

here, who are keeping me...

Awake for the majority of the night.

Not terribly respectful of a good night's sleep, they're not.

Head or foot.

I think the idea from my mentor,

Shado, is that let's get a small ball.

Let's up the ante a little bit.

Clear the ball.

Clear the ball.

Sail through the air. Clear the ball. Down.

Down.

Land on feet.

Turn around. Wink.

I guess you

could say the stakes are high.

It's small. Brilliant.

Okay.

And any last -minute tips?

Tips the next day.

Good, thanks.

Okay, let's jump a cow.

Jump higher.

My advice, jump higher.

Go on, Maggie.

So, I mean, Maggie clipped it with his foot.

I mean, he's an athletic beast.

OK, he wants me to jump it. I'm going to jump now.

Yeah, that went pretty well.

Maybe I clipped it a little bit harder because the reaction of the bull was

slightly more dramatic.

I've jumped a cow.

I've jumped a cow.

That's a big step forward.

I'm actually quite pleased that I've done that.

Also pleased that I haven't broken the back of the little bull.

So what do you think of my cow jumping?

Yeah? Really?

So, Maggie, you actually hit the ball. Does that worry you a little bit that

didn't clear it cleanly?

Yeah, yeah.

I believe you. I believe you.

In the Omo Valley, the hammer people must make the most of what little

are available to them.

Shade's got an arrow and he's sharpening it up.

So there's a rope going on like a kind of tourniquet.

Exactly like a tourniquet.

So the blood is actually going into a jug that has already been used to

milk. So it's a mixture of blood and milk in there now.

That won't affect the cow.

It'll be fine.

Why are you stirring it as much as you are?

Is it for everyone or is it more for the children?

The gentleman here is sick and

therefore the cow has been bled in order to give him the nutrients that he needs

to get better.

No, never.

Although hard to eat raw, blood is high in protein, iron and other vitamins and

minerals that may be hard to find anywhere else out here.

Thank you.

It's not meat.

It's all come out of the cow.

This is coagulated blood.

But interestingly, he's referred to it as meat.

I'm quite...

capable of eating many things, but this coagulated blood is worse than drinking

blood. That is... It's chewy.

Across the world, blood is used in various dishes to avoid any waste.

Back home in England, it's called black pudding.

Wow, look at that.

It's like Ribena in milk.

Obviously, when there's less food, there's less water around.

You've got both nutrients and hydration.

And this one does not taste too bad. That is good.

For a tribe that is literally occupying an area where it is only just possible

to live, they are using absolutely everything at their availability to

Incredible.

Glad to join you.

The day before the ceremony,

Oh my goodness, that's beautiful.

Doesn't blood look amazing when it's being poured?

We're making a mixture. I love making mixtures. We're making a mixture out of

milk and blood that's been drained from the neck of a cow.

And it's part of the celebration drinks for tomorrow.

And it's very much part of the ceremony, is eating and feasting, but also

drinking this amazing concoction.

That looks amazing.

It looks like sort of strawberry and chocolate milkshake.

Maccy D's.

It literally does look like you've put a strawberry milkshake and a chocolate

milkshake in one big bowl.

It would be so much better, wouldn't it? It would be so much better if we spoke

the same language.

I'm sorry, Maggie. I will try and learn Hammer next time.

Nice one. Thank you, mate. That's really sweet of you.

That's my last night in this Hammer village.

What an experience. I mean, living with the hammer has been unlike any

experience I've ever had in my life before.

It's been humbling time and time again. I've been laughed at more

in the past ten days than I've probably been laughed at ever in my life before.

But I feel like I've come on a huge amount.

The only way through was to accept that, you know, I am.

Compared to hammer people, I am almost a laughing stock. If there's no

surprises, I feel like I'll be all right.

If there are surprises, I might struggle.

I think it's time to hit my sack.

So that's it for me.

It's the day of the ball jumping ceremony.

And all the women of the village are blowing horns to signal to their

that a boys' rite of passage is about to begin.

But the ceremony can only properly start once a group of men called Maza join to

lead the proceedings.

The Maza are a group of young men who have themselves only recently done a

-jumping ceremony.

and must then help the boys from nearby villages do theirs, both practically and

symbolically.

We're heading down to the dry riverbed where the women have gone down to now

because the Mazar have arrived.

And Maggie's presence there will initiate the beginning of the whipping.

And this is definitely the most contentious part of the ceremony.

So I definitely want to go into this with an open mind.

and not a judgmental one, but it will be somewhat challenging to witness.

One of the most controversial duties of the Mather is the whipping of the

village's women and girls.

OK, so from what I understand, the whipping is about to start, and this is

something I've never seen before, but can you tell me what the whipping

represents in Hamar culture?

And does it take a long time for the scars to heal?

So you actually bring the sticks yourself.

Is part of the process that you invite the mother to whip you?

They're whipping you with your own stick?

Okay,

so...

It's something that you would definitely want to keep in Hamakocha. You wouldn't

want it to be part of the Hamakocha that died out.

OK,

and the whipping is started.

It's very difficult to address this whole subject without looking through

Western lens.

But the women are lining up to be whipped.

There's no crying out in pain.

And there is an obvious readiness to be whipped. And they really want to

demonstrate their loyalty, support, love for Maggie.

And this is the way of doing that.

there's a hard one to compute it really is obviously deliberately putting myself

in that space where i'm trying not to judge trying not to have um a

on it that isn't appropriate to their culture

they're

being whipped and their backs are bleeding and they're um very accepting

fact, wanting the suffering attached to demonstrating their love to Maggie.

It's such a juxtaposition. It's quite difficult, especially when you're

into the faces of the girls who an hour ago I was just laughing with.

I obviously can't condone anything like this.

And through a Western lens, it could be seen as degrading to women.

But this is not my place to judge or change these traditions embedded in

culture.

We're heading towards the cow jumping.

I have to admit, the old butterflies are starting to stare in my stomach.

Hammer boys do the ball jump totally naked.

symbolically bringing nothing with them as they transition into adulthood but

luckily i've been given a pass on that i don't think anyone wants to see a near

50 year old bloke jumping the balls naked anyway clearly it's not really

me it's about maggie but um i don't want to um i don't want to fail this one i

want to i want to give it my best so one two three four five six seven eight

nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen 17 cows?

This is just ridiculous.

There's another seven coming behind.

That makes 24.

Never even heard of 24 cows being used for this ceremony.

Aye, aye, aye, this is getting real now.

Look at the size of the horns on that one.

I feel like it's my first rodeo.

These cars are bigger than the ones in the village, aren't they?

They're bigger.

I'm scared.

Hi Maggie.

He looks nervous.

He looks nervous.

My thoughts are starting to get scrambled, if I'm honest.

There's so many things. There's the physical danger of doing it. There's all

the attention.

There's the kind of ridicule.

There's the size of the cow. There's so much going on.

just visualizing clearing the first cow skipping lightly across them all and

coming down the other side and then doing that eight times

the

smaller cows are being removed from the herd and only the big ones are going to

remain

Looks like they've picked six of the biggest balls for this.

But thank God they've left a small ball in front to help us through the jump up.

One of the bulls was a bit spooked and moved out, but the rest of them are

in line.

I'm about to be called out.

The small cow on this side has been taken away.

Yeah, because that's the medical cow, I told you already.

Okay, but that makes it easier to get up. Yeah, but you can stop from here, no

problem.

is to let Maggie, Chief Sembele and myself down by humiliating us all.

The cow that Maggie used to get over has been taken away. That's his cow.

It's not graceful, but I'm over and that's all that matters.

Well done, mate.

I just want to say thank you so much for letting me share your ceremony, because

I know this is a really special day for you, so thank you so much.

Mate, it was a pleasure. Come here, honey.

I think

one thing I have learned from the Hamma people is that failure just isn't an

option.

I didn't come here to show off. I didn't come here to beat my chest. I came here

to learn, and I've learned so much. It was a big success for Maggie.

He's now on his way to becoming a man. He's passed his right of passage.

But for me, it's just about the lessons that I've learned. And above everything,

it's the resilience that the Hammer people have shown throughout the entire

week. It feels like I've been accepted amongst the Hammer people. It feels like

I could carve myself a life out here if I wanted to, but I'm not 100 % sure.

that i would want to because to live out here you need to be ridiculously tough

is that gonna work you

like laughing at me don't you

Used to play football for England, though.

Didn't you?