The book Mystery of the Nile narrates how one of the authors, Pasquale Scaturro, had been detained at the administrative center of Sirba Abay by the woreda administrator, Faisa Ayana, while travelling down the Abay in 2004.
The majority of the inhabitants said they were Protestant, with 48.62% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 29.7% of the population were Moslem, 14.51% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, 5.54% practiced traditional beliefs, and 1.27% were Catholic.
[2] Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 12,230, of whom 6,341 are men and 5,889 are women.
Most of the inhabitants were Protestant, with 43.6% of the population reporting they professed that religion, while 31.7% were Muslim, and 25.4% observed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity.
Concerning sanitary conditions, 0.6% of all houses had access to safe drinking water, and 0.8% had toilet facilities at the time of the census.