Nowadays “Edirs” are formally established to help members of the community get financial and in-kind help in the burial process of close relatives. These “Edirs” collect small monthly payments from members and relatively larger payments annually. In Dosha kebele, “Edirs” are named after saints like St. Gabriel and St. Marry. This is because most of the residents are Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Christians. Beyond “Edir” based formal self-help in the society, there are informal local self helps that our story is considering unique.
In the various neighborhoods of the kebele, people use cattle as a source of labor and dairy products. When cattle, mainly oxen and cows, die from non-communicable diseases and accidents, people in the same neighborhood help the owner financially by taking meat for consumption. The money provided as help is based on the amount of meat taken. The owner collects the money in the future during the crop harvesting season. This division of cattle meat for members of the community is called “Kircha” (ቅርጫ).