"I've been living with the Suri a few weeks now, and finally this is what it's all about for me, it's the donga, the stick fight." "My village is just..." "I'm in amongst it now, and they're coming in around me." "The other village is on the other side, and somewhere in the middle here it's just about to kick off." "I've no idea what to expect, but it's just gonna be mayhem." "Violence is a part of life for the Suri." "Men do battle in ritualised stick fights and prove their courage to their women." "But the troubles in nearby Sudan have flooded the region with guns." "A generation of young men are at war with neighbouring tribes, and sometimes with themselves." "I've come here to learn about the Suri's traditions, and what the future holds for them in such a volatile land." "My name's Bruce Parry." "I'm an explorer and expedition leader." "I've spent a year visiting some of the world's most remote people to see how their lives are changing." "I think there's only one way to really understand another culture, and that's to live as they do, to become, for a short while, one of the tribe." "Got a map of North Africa here, and you can see here this is the Horn of Africa, and this massive expanse here is Ethiopia." "And, er, we're just about here and we're looking southwest now, and that down there is Suri territory, and that's where we're going." "Now that I've finally got here and I can see where I'm heading," "I'm beginning to get a little bit scared." "To be anyone in their society, you have to prove yourself, and they're big, strong guys, and I just..." "I'm not sure that I'm gonna be able to impress them at all in any way, and for that reason I think it's gonna be quite a tough time for me." "This river here is the boundary, and now we're crossing this bridge I'm in Suri territory." "Settlers and explorers have been coming here for a hundred years, but the Suri pay little attention to visitors." "This is a strong culture, which until recently has changed very little." "About 30,000 Suri are scattered over an area the size of Dorset." "Their territory stretches as far as the Sudanese border." "But the civil war there has spread trouble far and wide, upsetting the balance in an already turbulent part of the world." "For though the soils are fertile, the rains are fickle, and the Suri rely on great herds of cattle which they can move in times of drought." "But land is scarce, and competition with the other tribes fierce." "I need someone to help me through this unpredictable terrain." "Zablon is an Ethiopian from the north who has been coming here as a guide for many years." "So, this is the police station." "The road ends at a village called Kibish." "Zablon says it's safest if we camp inside the police compound." "The next day brings something both scary and spectacular - a stick-fighting festival, or "sagine"." "Hundreds of men from nearby villages, gathered in a clearing, armed with sticks, pumped with adrenaline, ready for battle." "I had heard a lot about these contests, but nothing could prepare me for what I was about to see." "OK, Zablon, tell me, is there any etiquette before I enter in here?" "Because this is one place I don't want to get anything wrong." "I don't want to upset anyone, walking into this." "It's amazing, isn't it?" " Yeah, of course." " Because they are totally..." " Stick fights, sticks going everywhere." " Yeah." " So move in and out." " Yeah." "And if you see just behind you, that's the guy who is the winner of the previous game." " Oh, really." " They carry him like that." "Check that out." "Guy being brought in on his shoulders." "And it's OK for guns to come in as well?" "The culture here." " Shall we go a bit closer and have a look?" " Why not, yeah?" "It's fascinating." "It's amazing." "Unbelievable." "It's, er..." "So much energy and aggression." "It's fascinating." "Zablon tells me that sagines can take place at any time of the year, but I've come in peak season, just after the rains when the food is plentiful and there's enough time and energy for fighting." "Stick fighting's a bit like a martial art, part ritual, part sport, but it's serious stuff - eyes and teeth are lost, bones are broken, men die." "He's got a good couple of cracks already on his head, hasn't he?" "Believe me, there will be more." "Somehow I don't think I'd have a chance if I got stuck in here." "The size of these guys is huge." "The way I try to understand a culture is by living as they do." "I've no idea if I'll even be allowed to fight, but I reckon it's the only way I'm gonna earn respect out here." "I really have never seen anything like this." "It's beautiful yet it's really dangerous, and the mere thought of getting involved in this just sends shivers down my spine." "The authorities in Kibish have given us permission to film in the area on one condition - that we hire armed Suri men as guards." "Finally moving out of this police compound." "We're just gonna head off, find a base camp, and see if we can negotiate to move into one of the villages." "Walking into the bush is like entering another world." "There are no roads or vehicles, no corrugated iron." "Guns are the only reminders of Western society." "We send word ahead to the elders of a nearby village, asking if I can stay there, and offering to pay for the privilege." "We wait several hours for a decision." "When it finally comes, it's delivered in person." "Can we offer these guys something to drink maybe?" "This is the komoru." "My interpreter tells me he's the king, but despite a crown of baboon fur, he is not a king in our terms." "He is the most respected elder in a very democratic society." "His power is spiritual rather than political, and he is always carefully guarded." "This is my village." "This is my village, my area." "One." "We are one." " You came in peace and I'm very happy." " Wonderful." "I have heard very much about the Suri people, from my country, and my hope is that by living in the village, drinking blood, attending ceremonies, herding the cattle, everything, trying to live a little bit like a Suri I can understand them more," "and that is the aim of my visit here." "It's right what you're talking." "This is what I like and what I really want." "This is to be coming together, to be one." "We will sleep together in one house." "We will drink from one bowl." "We'll eat together." "That's what I want." "It's a huge relief to get the komoru's blessing." "The crew will stay on in the camp, but I'm gonna move into a Suri village and really begin to learn about life in this little-known part of the world." "The village is called Regiyah, a collection of 30 huts spread out over the hillside." "I'm Bruce." "Hiya." "How you doing?" "This is my first sighting of a Suri hut." "I've heard about them." "So, this is it." "I'm here." "I'm here to stay." "And, er..." "I'm itching to get in, but I think it's a bit rude." "I should sit and chew the fat first." " I'm Bruce." " Bruce." "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "Lovely to meet you, wow." " Ubala." " Ubala." "Wow." "Please, sit down, yeah." "Do you still?" "You?" " Ooh, you've had too many scars." "Oh!" " Ooh!" "I'll be staying with one of the komoru's sons called Bargulu." "This is his wife Nabala." "Like most Suri women, she wears a clay plate in her lip." "I'll be her guest for the next few weeks." "It's my first..." "I'm carrying loads of gear and I'm trying to find my way inside this completely pitch-black place." "I've come through the first outer shell." "And then..." "Ooh." "Here we are, my first view inside." "Wonderful." "This is Bargulu." "My guard, with his weapon somewhere." "There he is." "Mirrors are few and far between in Suri land, and so my camera's flip-out screen causes a lot of interest, especially to women who have taken their lip plates out." "I'd already eaten milk and porridge in the hut, but there are more exotic things on the breakfast menu." "One thing everyone said to me last night is, "You must drink blood with us,"" "and, er, so that's what we're to do..." "here to do now." "I think the little kid's just gonna pierce one with this very small bow and arrow in one of the... in the jugular vein, I think." "It seems OK." "I think they're all pretty used to it." "OK, yes, I must try." "Is there a ritual?" "You must sit down?" "You want me to sit down?" "For me first?" "Wow, that's..." "Obviously very warm." "Smells good." "Tastes like a very nutritious shake." "It's kind of a little bit salty." "It's not massively pleasant but it's definitely not... it's not disgusting." "And you can tell it's just full of goodness." "Must be." "Mmm." "You want me to drink it all?" "My God." "All of it?" "No." " A little." " Half." "Half." "OK, half is good." "I've already had quite a big breakfast of milk and porridge." "Ah." "You know when I said it wasn't disgusting?" "That's cos I'd only had a bit." "That's enough for me, I think." "That's half." "Bargulu, thank you very much." "I think that's a pretty good effort." "You can't give me a hard time for that." "The vampire." "Blood clots if you don't drink it quickly." "The stringy bits are pretty hard to swallow." "You just gulp it straight down." " Mmm." " Wonderful." "Though this looks gory, bleeding a cow is much more efficient than killing it for meat, and blood can be drawn in the dry season when cattle produce less milk." "Each animal is bled once a month, and they don't seem too bothered by it." "All of these are yours?" "Erm, can I have a look?" "They're very healthy." "The average Suri man owns between 30 and 50 cows." "Bargulu is from a wealthy family and has more than a hundred." "But though some may have few cattle, the Suri are very egalitarian, and milk and blood are shared among them." "Cattle do more than just keep the Suri alive, they are status symbols, and the exchange of cattle is central to Suri culture." "A man who wants to marry has to give as many as 60 cows to his bride's family." "No cattle means no wife." "It's very important." "Because cattle are so much more than food, they are treated with care and reverence." "Fires are lit to keep them warm, and goats are even sacrificed to them on some occasions." "Cattle are so important, the Suri will fight to the death to protect their herd, and some will risk all to steal them from other tribes." "Have you ever taken cows from other people?" "Regiyah is a few minutes' walk from a stream where people come to wash and hang out." "Some of the young boys have been stick-fighting here." "I still reckon that the only way to really get under the skin of the Suri is by having a go at fighting myself." "Everyone's talking about a big stick-fighting festival coming up in a couple of weeks' time." "I'm gonna need all the practice I can get." "But even sparring with the under-13s is no picnic." "Oh!" "Cheat." "OK, come on, then!" "Ooh!" "I give up." "You win." "We'll call it a day." "That's gonna be hard." "Jeez." "The mere thought of doing that for real..." "shivers." "In all my travels, I have never seen anything like the lip plates the Suri women wear." "There's no circumcision here, but girls above a certain age have their lower incisors knocked out, and their bottom lip pierced and stretched until it can hold a clay plate." "As a result, women speak slightly differently to men." "No one is really sure why the Suri do this." "One theory is that it was started to discourage slavers from stealing their women." "Nabala and her neighbour Dongale are making spare plates as they are fragile and often break." "Could you describe how they make it bigger and get the plate in, please?" "What age were you when you had your first plate put in?" "Though the origin of lip plates is uncertain, their function is not - the size of the plate determines a woman's value in cows when she gets married." "And so, can I ask, how many cattle this one is worth and how many cattle this one is worth?" "So, because Nabala's lip can hold a plate this big," "Bargulu had to give her family 60 cows when they got married." "Only the Suri and one other tribe in the area wear lip plates." "Some girls are beginning to realise just how unusual the custom is, and a few are now refusing to go along with it." "As the Suri become more outward-looking I wonder how long lip plates will last." "Nonetheless, many young girls in Regiyah seem eager to get theirs." "I often see them with branches in their mouths practising for when their lips will be stretched and they will be ready for marriage." "Hey!" "The kids in the village have made me one of their gang." "They're making my stay here really magical." "Come on then!" "They try and drag me out to dance every night." "I love them." "How can you not love them?" "They're such..." "They're so beautiful." "We have such fun." "Don't we?" "Yeah." " Yay!" " Yay!" "Yeah." "Can you tell her that I had a very nice day and thank you for my dinner." "It was beaut... it was very nice." "She say, "You are my family." "I always make you dinner. "" "Wow, that's very kind." "Brilliant." "But getting close to my new family can have its downside." "Ohh..." "It's just... not happening here." "Ow." "The Suri name their children after the first thing they notice when they're born." "My host Bargulu's second son, to the left here, is called Barseti" " Locusts - because there was a plague of locusts when he was born." "Bargulu itself means "big belly button", for obvious reasons." "It's a sign of the times that his eldest son is called Nandidi, or "Bullet", because men fired their guns into the air to celebrate his birth." "The big stick fight is a week away, and the young men from my village are gearing up for it." "New sticks are being carved and armour prepared." "I still want to prove myself by fighting but I know I could get seriously injured." "I ask my host, Bargulu, just how dangerous it really is." "You see many people who are dead by this." "No one is sure why the Suri took up such a dangerous pastime." "Some say it started as a way to settle arguments and such duels still go on." "But stick fights are much more than that." "The young men say it's what makes them Suri." "And is it fair to say that most of the young men who go to the donga are trying to impress girls so that they can find a good wife to marry?" "Was Nabala impressed with your stick-fighting?" "He says, "Yes, you are right"." " You need speed now." " Speed." "Yeah." "My interpreter, Chagi, is teaching me how to stick-fight." "I now know that it's as dangerous as it looks but I don't want to back out." "So it's time for a crash course in some of the basic moves." "Since I lost my first fight to a boy, I get my confidence back on a bush." "When you come in you have to attack..." "I'm getting better at the attack but having seen the damage these sticks can do" "I think I'd better pay more attention to my defence." "Uh!" " Careful." " Ah-ha!" "OK." "Whoa!" " You'll lose your eye!" " Not a very good lesson to learn, that one." "Right." "OK." "I hit like this." "When it is coming, I prefer to hit my head." "Here." "I hit his donga, then I get his..." "already, or that I want." "Then that time he fall down." "So if I do not have skill I'm very vulnerable?" "OK, I'm getting that impression." "OK." "Let's play." "Now I've learnt a few moves I need to find out the rules of stick-fighting." "That's good." "In each village how many people can fight?" " In one village?" "Maybe..." " Yeah." "I..." "I never count." "Because everyone needs to fight..." " I think up to 20 or 30." " Really?" "As many people as want." "Stick fights are contests between opposing villages so they strengthen bonds within a group." "A lot of posturing goes on, as opponents from different villages size each other up." "Most bouts, known as dongas, end in a draw after only a few blows have been exchanged." "Referees enforce the rules." "One of the most important is that you must never hit anyone on the ground." "OK, so, final question - when I have beaten you, how is it decided?" "The aim of a donga is to knock your opponent out." "Guns are fired, and the winner is carried aloft for all - especially the girls - to see." "People keep count of these champions and at the end of the day each village knows how well it has done." "It's a tough sport, and I don't have time to learn more than the basics." "The Suri's staple is geso, a thick, slightly alcoholic beer made from ground maize." "Men and women, even children, drink it from sunrise to sunset, often from the same bowl." "Bloody hell." "That is a new experience for me." "Oh." "You have to go at his pace, and he pours it in, and I'm, like..." "That's quite full-on." "Whoo!" "You know what just happened there, don't you?" "Oh." "As well as maize, the Suri grow a few other vegetables and fruits." "Protein comes from milk, blood, and occasionally goat meat." "These people definitely have times when it's pretty rough living but right now I've walked into a bountiful time." "I've been given a fresh bit of papaya straight off the tree and there's bananas and lemons around." "The food in general has been pretty good." "I've had the corn, and the blood, of course, and milk and a number of other things, and there's no shortage of it, either." "They've been very generous - it's all I can do to eat what they give me." "Though I've come at a time of plenty, the Suri don't always have it so good." "Food often runs out during the dry season and every few years or so drought brings famine." "The last one here was in the year 2000." "Understandably, the Suri worry about what lies ahead." "When a goat is slaughtered for its meat the fortune-teller is summoned." "There are no crystal balls here, all he needs to make a prediction are the goats' intestines." "Domestic animals are considered to be part of the human society as well as the natural environment." "With hooves in both worlds, the Suri believe that goats and cows have the future written inside them." "The innards represent a map of the surrounding area." "The fortune-teller looks for spots or other abnormalities which will tell him when trouble may arrive, and from where." "What is the prediction from this particular goat?" "Throughout the prediction I keep on hearing one word" " Bume, a neighbouring tribe the Suri fear above all others." " This is the area of the Bume." " This here?" " Yeah, from this end to the other end." " OK." "Where are we?" "We're right here, are we?" "Wow." "After seeing the goat map, it looks like the Suri are surrounded by hostile tribes." "Bargulu is gonna show me just how close the danger lies." " That's the big mountain." " The far, far mountain." "The Suri have fought the Bume for as long as anyone can remember." "Until recently neither side had the upper hand but the civil war in Sudan flooded the region with guns." "These reached the Bume first, who lost little time in turning them on their old enemy." "The Suri were massacred as they were chased out of their southern lands." "They quickly got hold of their own weapons, and gun battles now rage during the dry season when the Suri move their herds south and the two tribes fight for the pastures that divide them." "Around this mountain." "They came in here to take cattle?" "To take cattle, then they not take cattle but..." "Three months ago?" "Yes." "So it's still very hot." "It's very ongoing." "OK." "Since we first set up camp for the film crew the komoru and his armed entourage have stayed there day and night making sure of the crew's safety." "They are enemy." "Young girls gather at the river, getting ready for the big stick fight in a few days' time." "The Suri take a lot of care over their appearance." "Instead of putting on make-up girls beautify their bodies permanently." "The skin is lifted with a thorn then sliced with a razor blade, leaving a flap of skin which will eventually scar." "Some anthropologists say that body scarring, like lip plates and stick fights, is another form of controlled violence that gets young Suris used to feeling pain and seeing blood." "Just extraordinary." "I've never seen anything like it." "It must be so painful." "And she's not flinching, just..." "Ahh." "That's so brave." "That's so impressive." "Unreal." "God." "So describe to me how painful that must be." "You're not gonna tell me that's not painful." "You're just not." "I'm not gonna believe you." "She said, "Maybe I will die. "" ""Maybe I will die"?" "Is that what she said?" "With a smile she said that." "Nabala thinks a scar will look good on my white skin." "God, it's like mayhem." "Just a little one." "OK, look, I'm gonna draw it." "Whoa, Nabala, I'm gonna do it." "So it's like..." "like that, and like that." "Yeah?" "Look, just cos you're nails doesn't mean I am." "God!" "No, it's too big." "I'm serious, just a small one." "Look..." "Oh, no." "Can someone hold my hand?" "Jeez." "Come here, this is just horrible." "Oh, no." "Ah." "Don't look." "OK..." "I hope you're recording, John, because I'm not gonna do this twice." "Ohh..." "The thing is, right, obviously..." "I'm sure in their culture you're supposed to just have a straight face and take it but... but h-how you can do that kind of defeats me because that's really incredibly sore." "What was that all about?" "If I do one from the side, like this, you hit it down." "Yeah." "My determination to stick-fight is causing problems." "OK, sorry." "The crew reckons it's too dangerous." "While the villagers think it's ridiculous and I wouldn't stand a chance." "They're obviously right but my pride is getting in the way." "In the end the komoru takes the decision out of my hands." "He say, I don't like, er, you to go to fight." "Maybe they will... they will hit your head." "You lose also your finger." "You lose, also..." " Also, legs." " Hm." "I understand." " When we go to, er..." " Donga." "You must look only." "The komoru's word is obviously final." "In a way I'm disappointed but secretly I'm also relieved." "He has allowed me to back out with my honour intact." "The young men from Regiyah meet at the river." "There are rituals to perform before tomorrow's stick fight." "The bark from a special tree is pounded and mixed with river water." "The purifying potion, called docai, will purge their bodies of impurities." "It's the morning of the stick fight and the Regiyah boys fill their bellies with blood." "Some smear themselves with undigested grass from a goat's stomach to bring good luck." "They paint their bodies with river clay and put on colourful decorations to catch the eye of watching girls." "They are ready for battle." "This is now it, and the whole of the gang is chanting and we're really in the mood, and we're heading off now, finally, to meet the opponents and start the battle." "That's the opposition, the other village." "My village is behind me, and somewhere in the middle here, the battlefield." "There's gonna be all sorts of mayhem." "And it's just about to kick off." "There's an incredible atmosphere as the dongas start." "The aggression, the tension, the excitement - it's like nothing else on earth." "There's obviously a lot of prestige in being one of the first to fight because in the opening minutes of the two meeting there must have been 15 different pairs, all pairing off." "There wasn't enough room for them all to fight but they all wanted to be first." "A lot of skill involved." "Just those little moves that Bargulu has been teaching me." "These people have got them so naturally." "There really is a lot of testosterone, a lot of muscle, a lot of courage in that ring." "I'd have been outclassed totally." "Thank God, frankly, that I'm not fighting." "Make sure you duck at the right time." "He's doing well." "Yeah!" "Good one!" "This is kind of like Sunday league football." "The whole team is here, they have a few beers at lunch time, and... and there's the whole village behind the guys who are fighting." "And all the girls are in sort of the stands, and there's loads of people who haven't seen each other for ages." "And external to all this... violence, it's quite a lovely atmosphere." "As well as getting high on their own supply, the women make a bit of geso to the resting stick fighters." "There's plenty of sex, as well as violence, at a stick fight." "The sidelines are strictly for flirting, not fighting." "Scratch the surface and there's sex everywhere." "The tip of every stick is deliberately phallic, and the songs leave little to the imagination." "Stick fights are more than just a meeting place." "They're a training ground for young men, to get them used to the bloodshed they'll face from the Bume and other tribes." "This way, the Suri learn about violence in a controlled, structured way." "Dongas provide much of the schooling a young man needs to carry on the fight for his tribe's survival." "Regiyah are 3-0 down when the day takes a sinister turn." "Down, down." "Get down, get down." "Shots are fired, and everyone hits the deck." "Half a minute ago this place was a stick fight." "The whole place just disappeared, scattered." "People hitting the deck, running for cover." "Hopefully no one's been hurt, so... tense moments - guns and beer, not good." "It seems that one of Regiyah's stick fighters was hit when he was on the ground." "This is strictly against the rules." "His team-mates saw red and fired off a few rounds." "Apparently, this chap here had lost his fight - he's from Regiyah, he's one of ours - he hit the deck but somebody kicked him in the stomach - you can see his stomach is very distended." "And, um..." "Maybe we should go." "Er, his stomach was distended..." "I'll tell you later." "Though the Suri have guns to fight the Bume the sad fact is they are just as likely to use them on each other." "Violence has always been part of life in such a troubled land." "It's only since the arrival of the automatic weapon that it's become a problem." "AK-47s have seduced a generation of young men and given them an inflated sense of power." "Instead of listening to the elders and solving disputes in the traditional way tempers flare and shots are fired." "The smallest thing, like an argument at a stick fight, can be fatal." "Hundreds of people have been killed over the past few years." "At 30 pence a bullet, life is cheap in Suri country." "It's my last morning with the Suri." "Thank you so much, my friend." "Come here." "Bargulu." "Ashande." " Nabala, I won't hug you cos..." " Nabala." "Ahh!" "Very good!" "Thank you very much!" "See you later." "You guys, you're the ones, you made it special for me." "I love you lot." "Thank you very much." "Despite the incident at the stick fight, I'd never felt threatened myself." "In fact, I've rarely been made so welcome." "The Suri are as warm and loving as they are proud and tough." "The violence in their culture is a consequence of living in an unpredictable environment." "It's sad to see how guns can disrupt what was once a tightly controlled and stable society." "The future for the Suri is uncertain." "I just hope they can retain enough of their past to see them through." "We're minutes from leaving, and there's one person I have yet to thank and say goodbye to and that's the komoru, the king." "He's gone out of his way to make our stay as safe and as nice as possible, so he really deserves a big thumbs-up." "Can I..." "Can I say to you, thank you so very, very much for your hospitality, of yourself and all of your people, during our stay here in the Suri?" "It has been very gracious of you to honour us with your presence the whole time and to look after us, and to give us your blessing." "He say, "We are the same. "" ""When we count our fingers - five, five - the same. "" ""We have two eyes. "" ""We have two ears. "" ""We have one stomach. "" ""All we are the same. "" ""And don't forget me. ""