Pen People Mar 2018

The guest bedroom has handmade Mexican tiles and an alcove built especially
for the candelabra over the tub.
The newly renovated master bathroom with open shelving, has Sonoma Forge
bath fixtures throughout and built-in alcoves to house folk and tribal art from
Doran’s travels.
Artifacts throughout the home were collected by Doran during her travels.
Doran’s private patio offers beach and ocean views.
1980s people's elbows and knees started hurting and tennis players joined
the golf craze.
“I took the practical art of sewing and combined it with my art degree to
create something different in the sports world,” she said. During the boom
years she invested in real estate to cushion the inevitable apparel industry
downturns.
The 2013 trip that resulted in her book began with a flight to Addis
Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and then a biplane flight to the Omo River
Valley. The trip was organized by Steve Turner, a white, second generation
Kenyan and safari guide. During the two-week trip, she found the tribes
to be happy and with a strong sense of community. The villagers subsist
on crops and cow blood.
“Their joy is in decorating everything, including themselves” Doran said.
Tribes are distinguishable by their body paint, piercings and facial manipulations,
including lip plates. The tribes also make distinctive beads.
Doran fears that with the Omo River being redirected, the tribes will
move to the slums on the outskirts of cities and their culture will disappear.
“Extraordinary tribes and vanishing cultures pulled me to the Omo Valley
in the Great Rift Valley of Southwest Ethiopia – one of the world’s last
extensive tribal lands,” she writes in her book. Doran hopes the book will
motivate people to help preserve the tribes and their culture.
Visit pvhomestour.org to buy tickets to the 32nd Annual Palos Verdes Homes
Tour – Legends by the Sea: A Tale of Three Homes. Visit lynndoran.com to
learn more about the Omo Tribes. OMO is also available on Amazon. PEN
Doran on location in Tulgit, Ethiopia.
(Photo by Andy Curry)
There’s levity and emotional power in
the art found throughout this
Portuguese Bend cottage.
50 Peninsula People • March 2018