Dimtu () or Wolaita Dimtu () or Bilate Tena () is a town in south-central

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. It has an elevation between 1,000 and 1,600 metres above sea level. It was part of the former Damot Weyde (

Woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas ( am, ወረዳ; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''zones'' and the '' regional states''. These districts are further subdivided into a number of ...

) of

Wolayita Zone Wolayita or Wolaita is an administrative zone in Ethiopia. It is named for the Welayta people, whose homeland is in the zone. Wolayita is bordered on the south by Gamo Gofa, on the west by the Omo River which separates it from Dawro, on the n ...

, near to

Sodo Zuria Sodo Zuria ( Amharic "Greater Sodo Area") is one of the woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Wolayita Zone, Sodo Zuria is bordered on the southwest by Offa, on the west by Kindo Koysha, on t ...

woreda. It is now under the Diguna Fango woreda. Some writers mention the town as Bilate Tena in their books and journals. Among them, Getahun Garedew, former Head Officer in Education Bureau of

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; am, የደቡብ ብሔር ብሔረሰቦችና ሕዝቦች ክልል, Yädäbub Bḥer Bḥeräsäbočna Hzboč Kllə) is a regional state in southwestern ...

, and State Minister of

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

since 2020, is the anterior. In the book "Local Adaptation Practices in Response to Climate Change in the

Bilate River The Bilate is a river of south-central Ethiopia. It rises on the southwestern slopes of Mount Gurage near , flowing south along the western side of the Great Rift Valley, to empty into Lake Abaya at . It is the longest river flowing into Lake A ...

Basin, Southern Ethiopia", he used these two names, Dimtu and Bilate Tena, in a similar way.

History

David Buxton stated in his book that Dimtu was the name of a market, and it was near the

. As unwritten source reveals that the name was derived from the word "Danttuwa", which in

Wolaytta language Wolaitta or Wolayttatto Doonaa is a North Omotic language of the Ometo group spoken in the Wolayita Zone and some other parts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region of Ethiopia. It is the native language of the Welayta ...

means ''the junction''. It was named so because the market is located, where

and the "Qocuwaa" river, which is from Dimtu town, meet. Dimtu is the oldest town in the Wolaita Zone, next to

Sodo Sodo ( am, ሶዶ) or Wolaita Sodo ( am, ወላይታ ሶዶ) or ( Wolaytatto: ''Wolayta Sodo Ambbaa'') is a city in south-central Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Wolaita Zone. It has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation bet ...

, the capital of Wolaita. About 81% of town has electric coverages. The town is almost covered by

asphalt road Asphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, blacktop, or pavement in North America, and tarmac, bitumen macadam, or rolled asphalt in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface roads, parking ...

s, and is located 333 KM from

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

to the

South-West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

, and 68 KM from

Demographics

Based on the 2018 population projection by the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency (CSA; Amharic: ማዕከላዊ ስታቲስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ) is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growt ...

of Ethiopia, Dimtu has a total population of 25,294, of whom 15,855 are men and 9,439 are women. The majority of the inhabitants were Protestants (94.61%) and 4.10% practiced

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chri ...

, 0.0076% were

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, and 1.28% were Catholics.

Education

The city has schools from primary (Bilate Tena Primary School) to high school (Bilate Tena Secondary and Preparatory School). The primary school is the very oldest one when compered to the secondary and preparatory school of the town. It is one of the primary school that established in 1940's after the revolution in the period of

Haile Selassie I Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia ('' ...

for education. By this time, it's reported that about 400 primary schools established all over the country and Bilate Tena Primary school is among them.Damtew Teferra and Philip G. Altbach, eds., ''African Higher Education: An International Reference Handbook'' (Indiana University Press, 2003), pp. 316-325 Bilate Tena Secondary and Preparatory School was established in 2009 and got ready for its duty in 2010 as it was opened by Ambassador

Teshome Toga Teshome Toga Chanaka ( am, ተሾመ ቶጋ ; born 23 April 1968) is an Ethiopian politician and second Speaker of the House of Peoples' Representatives, the lower chamber of the Ethiopian Parliament, from 2005 to 2010. He was succeeded by Abad ...

, who was raised in the Dimtu area. For the schools are in the border, its compound well known by its

multicultural The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

environment and made a great relationship with the neighbors,

Sidama people The Sidama ( am, ሲዳማ) are an ethnic group traditionally inhabiting the Sidama Region, formerly part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. On 23 November 2019, the Sidama Zone became the 10th regional s ...

and Oromia people as well.

Climate

The town is located

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

, and its temperature lie between 14 to 30° C in summer, and 8 to 24°C in winter.

References

{{Cities of Ethiopia Populated places in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region Cities and towns in Wolayita Zone Cities and towns in Ethiopia Ethiopia