Emdibir is a town south-west of
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 ...
, in the central part of
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 ...
. Located in the
Gurage Zone
Gurage is a zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. The region is home to the Gurage people. Gurage is bordered on the southeast by Hadiya and Yem special woreda, on the west, north and east by the Oromia Re ...
of the
, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation between 2130 and 2164 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of
Cheha Cheha is one of the woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. This woreda is named after one of the sub-groups of the Sebat Bet Gurage, the Cheha. Part of the Gurage Zone, Cheha is bordered on the south by En ...
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 ...
.
According to the Gurage Zone local government, Emdibir is one of 12 towns with electrical power, one of 11 with telephone service and one of nine that have postal service. An all-weather road was built in 1963 by the
Gurage Road Association, which connected Emdibir to
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 ...
through
Welkite
Welkite (also transliterated Wolkite) () is a town and separate woreda in south-western Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR), this town has a latitude and longi ...
and
Hosaena
Hosaena (also spelled Hossana) is a town and separate woreda in southern Ethiopia, and the administrative center of the Hadiya Zone. Located in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR), Hosaena has a latitude and longitu ...
.
["Ethiopian Village Studies: Imbdibir"]
, Centre for the Study of African Economies (accessed 5 July 2009)
The seat of the
Ethiopian Catholic Eparchy of Emdeber
The Ethiopian Catholic Eparchy of Emdeber ( la, Emdeberen(sis)) is an eparchy (Eastern Catholic diocese) of the Ethiopian Catholic Church, a metropolitan Eastern Catholic Church. It is a suffragan of the Ethiopian Catholic Archeparchy of Addis ...
is located in this town.
History
In the early 1930s there was a Catholic mission of the
Capuchins
Capuchin can refer to:
*Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from t ...
, usually with a Père and a Frère; they did some medical work and had a school. During the
Italian occupation the mission was renamed "Missione della Consolata". The Emdibir market was held every Friday.
In
1984 drought affected almost every household in Emdibir: there was no rain, and the
enset
''Ensete ventricosum'', commonly known as enset or ensete, Ethiopian banana, Abyssinian banana, pseudo-banana, false banana and wild banana,
is an herbaceous species of flowering plant in the banana family Musaceae. The domesticated form of ...
in many households was affected by a plant disease known as ''chire''. Although it was insufficient, the community received aid in the form of clothes, maize, milk, butter and oil from the
Catholic Relief Service
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the Bishops of the United States, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 ...
, as well as some of the richer farmers in the area.
[
]
Demographics
Based on figures from 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 growth ...
in 2005, Emdibir has an estimated total population of 4,057 of whom 1,992 are men and 2,065 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 2,239 of whom 1,103 were men and 1,136 were women.
References
{{reflist
Populated places in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region