08/27/2026
Children of the River
The duality of nature
On a recent trip to Ethiopia, I encountered people talking about
“children of the river,” a concept expressed as yewenz lejoch in Amharic, the second most widely spoken language in the country. Ethiopians use this phrase to characterize themselves as people living near and relying upon the water of a river for travel and nourishment, for their own critical needs and for the crops and livestock upon which they depend. The complexity as well as the strength and originality of the cultural legacy, threading through ancient and contemporary societies along the Nile, challenges the imagination. This notion of children of the river resonates with me. It expresses what I have recognized and have been photographing for decades along the Blue Nile in Ethiopia as well as along its continuance as the River Nile through Sudan and Egypt.
-Sacred Nile by Chester Higgins Music by Eryka Badu & Alchemist
