A woman in a colourful dress and matching headscarf wears round her neck a Maria Theresa thaler _ an old silver coin minted in Austria, which was widely used as currency in northern Ethiopia and Arabia until the end of World War II. This photograph was taken at Senbete, an important weekly market close to the western scarp of the Abyssinian Rift. Afar nomads from the low-lying arid regions of Eastern Ethiopia trek long distances there to barter with Amhara and Oromo farmers living in the fertile highlands.Agriculture forms the background of the country's economy with 90 percent of its population earning a living from the land. Markets are, therefore, important commercial and social occasions for those living in scattered rural communities.