Les Mbororos

About one month ago I made a trip to one of our field bases in Ango. It is the base I wrote my last blog post from. It was really great to be there and get reconnected with why I do what I do. One of the days we made a field trip to visit a group called “Mbororo.” They are an Arabic nomadic tribe that has migrated either from Chad or Central African Republic. The main reason they migrate is grazing pastures for their cows, which are HUGE and more the size of a horse.

Aside from the interesting group of people we were going to go visit, the actual trip itself is an adventure in and of itself. I haven’t had the opportunity to see much of Congo outside the walls of my office, so I was really excited to go. Congo is such a beautiful country with so much diversity. We traveled through forest, rivers, savannah, and rain forest all in the space of 2 hours. If the roads were better, two hours probably would have been only one but c’est la vie! Our driver told us that there were elephants and lions in the region but unfortunately we didn’t see anything. You know they are around as their meat can be found in the local market.

We anticipated needing to travel about two hours by car, 30mins by motorbike, and 30 mins walking to reach a camp of Mbororo. We completed the two hour by car bit and were greeted by a small group of Mbororo who were staying near the road side. We were informed that there was no camp but there were a few families living in the bush about 30mins walk. They suggested we come back in 2 weeks but we convinced them that we had already come all of this way and would really like to do it today. They graciously complied. We strapped on our backpacks, jackets, and boots in the blazing African humid sun forgetting the sunscreen and started off all the while praying I didn’t step on a poisonous snake in the 7ft grasses.

We hiked for about 30mins and were first greeted by the sight and smell of the Mbororo’s cows. They aren’t the friendly, cute kind of cows. These are cows with attitude, which I probably would have too if I had been forced to walk thousands of kilometers.

After the cows, we were greeted by the father of the family. We sat under the men’s hut while we caught our breath and drank water with floaty things in it. They had never seen white people before but were nonetheless very hospitable and welcoming. In order to communicate we needed a local Conoglese to translate from French to the local language of Lingala. And then one of the Mbororo spoke Lingala and translated to the others in Arabic. They explained that the main reason for our visit was to learn about their life, culture, and inform them they had access to our medical services.

We finished our brief introduction to the men and were then escorted to meet the women and children. They are so beautiful! Their skin color is a milky light brown, crazy hair, and obvious love of color. The women and children of course were much more timid having not seen white people before but also due to Arabic culture where men are the main point of contact. We tried to warm the situation up with taking some pictures and showing them their faces. Seeing their own reflection was a first since they don’t have mirrors and definitely not cameras. There were varied reactions from amazement and shock to giggles and even a few tears.

We were able to spend about an hour with them learning about where they have come from, their life, what they do on a day-to-day basis, and some of their biggest struggles such as being persecuted for the age-old struggle between pastoralism and agriculturalists, forced to travel south from their home due to climate change, no access to medicines or health care, and having to fetch water from long distances and from the same source their cows drink from. We only scratched the surface of their life and stories. When a nomadic group travels thousands of miles you can’t even begin to fathom the things they have seen or experienced along the way.

We prepared to leave but a sudden thunder storm forced us all to find refuge in their house. Despite the obvious language barriers, such a confined space allowed a closer interaction with the women and children. They began to laugh and share through smiles, gestures, and unspoken languages. Due to the lateness of the day, we were forced to commence our hike back to the vehicle through the drizzle. We said our good-byes leaving more as honored guests than white strangers.

Looking back on this trip weeks later it still lays fresh in my mind. Interfacing with people with such a different culture, background, language, and way of living does nothing but leave you in awe. I have so much respect for such people as the Mbororo who have obviously lived through so much. It is a reminder that we as humans are very adaptable and resilient – more so than we give ourselves credit for. There is also happiness and joy in the simple. It doesn’t mean simple is easy but rather quite challenging however we often put so much value on the things that aren’t simple. It would be very easy to look at the Mbororo and say we have nothing in common but even despite our obvious differences we as humans are all connected and desire the same things: to be taken care of, valued, respected, and the right of access to the basic necessities of life.