Returning to Ethiopia's remote Omo Valley in 2019, I witnessed the profound transformation following the Gibe III dam's completion. The once-thriving Kara people, among the most severely affected of the valley's indigenous communities, struggled without the life-giving annual flood cycle of the Omo River that had sustained their agriculture for generations. Along the precipitous riverbanks of Korcho and Duss villages where bountiful crops once grew, abandoned irrigation pumps stood as silent monuments to failed intervention—victims of the challenging terrain, maintenance difficulties, and chronic fuel shortages in this isolated region.

My photographs from 2013 juxtaposed with those from 2019 document a devastating cultural erosion in southwestern Ethiopia, capturing the diminishment of centuries-old traditions. In the Omo Delta region, however, the Dassanech tribe adapted more successfully to the altered hydrology. Their territory features less extreme topography, allowing continued access to river water despite the absence of seasonal flooding. Wind-powered pumps, established through the Presbyterian Church USA's "Agricultural Evangelism" initiative long before dam construction, continue to support their subsistence farming. Daily agricultural practices and significant cultural ceremonies persist among the Dassanech, though modified by the river's dramatically altered flow patterns.