A photo showing members of Kwale Pen People, Kwale Arts, SHIFOGA and Wazee wa Kaya preparing the field for tree planting.
DEMYSTIFYING THE TERM KAYA.
(Episode 1 of the story telling sessions)
Adigo Similani!
We’re approaching Kaya Nimwache in the Ziani ((Ziwani) area of Matuga sub-county and our stupid conversations cut short by the field in front of us, popularly known as Bingo. A lot of local soccer matches happen here I’m told, this is my first time and I honestly feel attacked because whoever is leading the way wasn’t born neither did he spend the first 19 years of his life around this area. Anyway, we walk our way through past the “soccer field” into a swampy field to the other side (I really wish I was good at directions) where the rest of the participants in this program are.
Talking about the program, BRIDGING THE GAP, is a program with the aim of narrowing the gap between the youth and the elderly in the society. The first phase being tree planting to rehabilitate Kaya Nimwache that is managed by the Kaya Elders (Atumia A Kaya).
The concept was founded by Kwale Arts CBO, a troupe of artists that focuses on community empowerment through awareness campaigns, community theatre and training. The chance came through at a time when a project called NARIGP was at its beginning too. NARIGP deals with Agri-business and Kwale arts was among the selected CBOs trained on the same. The Kaya Nimwache land was then donated by the Kaya elders for both the project and rehabilitation.
In addition are the intense killings of the elderly along the coast in the past few years. What if the youth and the elders worked together and got to know each other well without the stereotyping that the elders are all witches?
We Bridge the Gap
I cannot deny I feel like an outcast as we interact with the rest. I am not well versed to Digo language as the others are. Mzee Chikombe - the former chair of the Kaya. Elders acknowledges that there are many reasons as to why the Digo language is diminishing in its use calling out to those who look down upon the Digo communicators and think that Kiswahili, English and other foreign languages are superior.
“Rikoni is from the Digo word ’Riko’ which mean a place where people cross. However, with the coming of foreigners, the place has been renamed to ‘Likoni’, thereby losing its original meaning.” Mzee Chikombe explains to us. He goes on to give more examples of such modernized words like include the below:
Chinondo- modernized to Kinondo
Chitsanze- modernized oi Kitsanze
Likunda- modernized to Ukunda
Ziani- modernized to Ziwani
As he goes on, we all realize how off it is to change names from a language to another, acknowledging that they do have a specific meaning that changes once we change the language.
I take note of an old rusty signboard some meters away and I can’t clearly see the writings but I am informed of a similar project that occurred here some years back but faded out just after a few months.
On our shoulders lies the question of how we are going to make this work. Or to reclaim this Kaya Heritage from the vast spreading “modernity” and several other factors such as deforestation. The journey begins and there is hope in the eyes of Mzee Chikombe. He hopes we will not let them down again and make them think that it was a waste of time for them to donate what was their paddy rice farm to this project.
But with the youthful minds of Kwale Arts troupe, Kwale Pen People – A network of writers that will be documenting the whole process, Jamii Action Center and Shimba Hills Forest Guides Association, we hope to make this a success.
We leave with Mzee Chikombe apologizing for not revealing much about the Kaya forest as he has to ask for permission from the rest of the elders to do it.
Written by Hamisi Mwatondo
IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE
This is a project that generally aims at bringing together the old and the young in our society. Many are times when the old amongest us are branded for witchcraft and in most communities the most elderly end up being murderd because of some misfortunes that befall them. This is totally wrong because killing and despising the elderly amongest us is equivalent to killing our cultures and regecting it. In simpler terms, our culture should be our pride and we should always strive to hold it in high regards.
It is high time we as youth get to deeply understand our cultures, because in the near future, when those who have a deep understanding of it will be no more, we will have nothing to be proud of. This is the time to embrace it and act as intermediaries to the future generations.
Sitting with the eders in our community and listening to all those interesting tales about how life was before in comparison to the life we live currently, is all amazing because there is so much to learn from them.
Some of the importance of this project, just to mention afew are.
We will get to deeply understand our culture, our origin and how gradually the world changes with time. We get to appreciate everything as it is and have something worth sharing to the next generation.
This will eliminate the misconception that a big population of the elders practice witchcraft. This misconception comes as a result of the modes of dressing and the worship practices by the elders. If we deeply understand how life was back then, we will realize that whatever they are doing in terms of dressing and their conduct, is what could have been the case if modernization did not come to existance. We will stop tagging them as evil because we will understand that, that was their way of life long before we were born and they were so much okay with it.
We get to know the difference between culture and religion. Knowing this difference will make us embrace our culture without having to think that we are associating the worship of our creator with any other. Take an example of the kayas. To be sincere, all through I had been thinking that the kayas were associated with evil spirits and those that visit the kayas did not believe in God. It was until I came to understand that the kayas were devine places, just like the mosques and churches today. They were used to worship God, and that anyone who visited the shrines would do it with the intention of worshiping at the same time praying on behalf of the whole community.
When the age gap is narrowed, life becomes easier and more peaceful. We will be eager to sit with our elders and get to know so much that happened so many decades ago. We will hold so much respect to them and consider them as the most significant segment in our community.
We will acquire all the wisdom that they have because to live upto these days, they must have experienced so much that could help us tuckle our day to day challenges in life, like one common swahili proverb states, that Jungu kuu halikosi ukoko, which relates to an english saying that, what an old man sees while sitted, a young man cannot see while standing. This simply implies that, the old are more wise and are the most important amongest us, if only we embrace, appreciate, respect and obey them, then n our societies live in peace.
This should not just refer to the digo culture, but to the African culture in general. Let us not get carried away by westernization to the point of forgeting our cultures. It is something worth keeping, worth sharing with our future generations and worth living for if only we would want to better our societies. Our culture is our origin and our identity and should therefore be our pride. Let us embrace it.
By Fatuma Nantaa.
KAYA
Courtesy of Wikipedia
What comes to my mind when I type this word is “Home”, as it means in my native Digo language. However, there is so much more to its meaning you may have learned in folktales, social studies, GHC, or History. It is a cause of curiosity to get to know my culture deeper than what would have normally been taught at school.
Along with the odds, Mtumia Chikombe (Mtumia refers to Mzee) goes ahead to give us a deeper meaning of the latter.
Kaya is simply where people or family lives. These Kayas are located near each other. They came together and communally formed a larger homestead called KAYA.
They are fortified villages of the various groups of the Mijikenda (Digo in this case) and most of them had lowland tropical forests in their surroundings. The trees and Forest flora were solely for the collection of medicinal herbs (to be talked about in the coming articles) and the practices of livestock grazing, tree cutting, and farming within these sacred forests are (were) not allowed.
Talking about sacred forests may have some of you triggered about magic and yes, our host goes ahead to tell us more about it, just not in the way you thought of it probably.
Now, just as we may be the faithful of other religions having talisman with them for spiritual protection is the same way the Digo (Not excluding the other Mijikenda tribes) had.
Fingo – A protective talisman is prayed for and buried in these Kayas, taken care of by Atumia A Kaya (kaya elders).
These Fingo were made from different materials including special trees, or a bottle (with undisclosed
material inside) and Mtumia Chikombe tells us that probably one day when we are worth it, we may
know how they are created and prayed for.
In the present day, many Fingo are lost or stolen, considered to be Object d’art (works of art)most of the forest covers of the Kayas diminished due to intensive deforestation for agricultural use and logging necessitated declaring 38 kaya forests, among them Kaya Nimwache as National monuments with the local's managing them.
Written by Hamisi Mwatondo.
DRESSING CODE FOR THE MEN OF THE DIGO COMMUNITY.
Photo showing mijikenda traditional wear for the men
We’re back again for the second session, we take our shoes off, lift our garments so that we can go through the swampy path that leads to the tree planting field. We are excited because after the tree planting session Mzee Chikombe will let us seat down for the story telling session. We have no idea what he will take us through today. In the end we had learned so much about the dressing code of the digo community .
Dressing code is one of the ways we distinguish one community from another. It is a great part of the culture. Each dressing code has its timing, impact, gender, and reveals the social status of a person.
Maradufu.
Mtumia Chikombe, an old man who lived in ancient times shared this information.
Maradufu was adorned by digo men. It was a white piece of clothing with a length of two meters (yadi mbiri). Maradufu was tied slightly above the waistline. One would wear a shirt to cover the upper part of their body or Maradufu would suffice.
Old men would also have a piece of cloth hanging on their shoulders. Any piece of clothing would serve meaning. Specifically, this piece of clothing signified traveling. A man who would sleep away from home would carry this clothing so that he could use it as a blanket at night.
The clothing on the shoulder also served as a peacemaker. When an old man saw people fighting, he'd place the clothing on the ground to warn those fighting to stop. Not quitting the fight is a great curse.
MGUFU.
The walking stick. It served as a way of gaining stability while walking and as a peacemaker. When used by a sick person it earned the name, mkongojo.
FOOTWEAR.
Different materials served as footwear, from trees to animal skin. Bamba Kofi (lucky bean) is one of the trees whose coating served as footwear. Footwear made from the skin was adorned within the home especially after taking a shower.
Men who kept long hair would place feathers on their heads after shaving a tiny path on their heads.
During weddings, the groom would be identified by the scarf tied on their head(he aunty of the groom would do that).
Male children didn't dress up until puberty unless one's parents could afford their clothing. On the other hand girls would dress up even before puberty , showing how much respect was given to women.
We don't have to dress as our four fathers did, but it is important for us to know where we came from. It is paramount for us to erase the misconceptions we have about our culture. Over the years the digo community has been labeled as a community denominated by black magic. We only knew the bad side of the story. Labeling our old men and women as sorcerers. Don't you think it's time to reunite with the Wazee wa Kaya to save our culture from extinction?
Written by Mwanamisi Kasirani.
WOMEN'S DRESS CODE IN THE DIGO COMMUNITY
Just like how the dress code of men differs from that of women in the modern times so did it differ in the digo culture. Women adorned different dresses on different occasions. And yes the social status of a woman would be known through their dressing too.
CHITUKIS
This is a skirt like dress that was made of worn-out pieces of clothes assembled together on a rope made of sisal or clothe. It was then tied along the waist. The Chitukis was smeared with mafua ga nyono castor oil.
GUSHE
It is a black piece of clothing that was tied around the bossom. Women of class and status would buy a blue gushe.
It was a bit expensive than the black one. It was called gushe ra mlungu.
BOGI
Just like any descent woman, the digo women would put on a petty coat inside the gushe. The gushe was transparent. This clothing is called bogi.
It is vivid that digo women didn't cover their breasts. It wasn't mandatory as for those who had enough clothes they would cover their breasts with a clothing like what they do in Nigerian traditional movies.
Tattooing was optional because it was a very painful exercise just like today. They used thorns from wild plants to strike lines on cheeks or any other part of their body. It should be known that digo women plaited their hair so well, they call it kutirinywa.
They also dyed their hair.
Well, brides dressed differently on their big day. Two to four pieces of khanga. One of the khanga would cover the face of the bride to signify modesty and shyness .
Mzee Chikombe didn't say much afterwards. It was time for us to go and dine. On a well spread mat we sat down and took our late lunch. Ndizi za nazi na katashingo was the meal of the day. The eating session was enticed by the humorous actors from Kwale Arts that unapologetically broke our ribs.It was a very interactive session. Until the next session!
Written by Saumu Marera.
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