Anna
2009-05-18 03:31:27 UTC
This is from a blog
http://lindaikeji.blogspot.com/2009/03/another-naked-tribe-found-in-nigeria=
.html
http://tinyurl.com/r7z7rq
Another Naked Tribe found in Nigeria
By Stephen Osu
They live, literally, in the stone age. Poverty and diseases ravage
their land, like locusts. A good number of them still dress in the
manner of...the Biblical Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden -- stark
naked -- with fresh leaves for a little covering.
You are welcome to the top of the Gerinjina mountain in Gashaka Local
Government area of Taraba State.
It was like a story from Mars when a casual talk to the hearing of
this reporter indicated that there was a community up the mountain
that lived worse than those of the Koma people who were discovered in
the mid-1980s by a group of National youth corps members in the then
Gongola State, now split into Adamawa and Taraba states. While the
Koma community resides in Adamawa State, the new Stone Age people are
in Taraba State.
They are called, the Jibu people and they are descendants of the
Kwarafa Kingdom who lived for centuries in nine communities scattered
around on the mountains in Gashaka.
Historical accounts have it that the people lived together with their
fellow brothers in the kingdom until about 1807 when Fulani Jihadists
invaded the kingdom. They were said to have run to the mountain top
where they now live and are completely cut off from other tribes, and
by extension the whole world. Not even the activities of the colonial
masters reached them, largely because of the difficult terrain of
their new abode. The mountain top is characterised by rivers, deep
gullies and huge rocks.
Just like any other group of human beings, the Jibu people have their
ways of life. These include collective circumcision of boys born
within the same age group, a ceremony performed with the use sharp
objects.
It is considered a test of strength and character for their boys not
to cry during the ceremony. The circumcised are kept on bamboo beds
and covered with fresh leaves that are gathered and burnt after the
wound has healed.
For a young Jibu man to get a wife, he must serve the family of his
bride for five years. Nonetheless, the marriage is determined by the
capacity of the woman to conceive. This is measured by a dried long
firewood that is set on fire for at least three months, within which
if the woman does not become pregnant, the simple communication is the
gods do not want the marriage.
Pregnant women work on the farms to the day of their delivery.They
have a communal life and are ruled by the Waziri Garinjina, Tann
Shidin Zunbi, who confirmed in an interview with the Nigerian Compass
on Saturday that maternal and child mortality rates are high among
them.
The Jibu people are neither Christians nor Muslims. Rather, they
believe in their own gods and the ancestors. In an event of violation
of their natural laws by any individual, animals are slaughtered to
appease the land. It is also a similar story during every cropping
season.
The harvests are brought before the Waziri for sacrifice to the gods,
after which their brand of liquor is prepared for everybody to drink
in merriment. Incidentally too, the Jibu people believe that some gods
are not friendly with women.
Thus, throughout the period of ritual preparations, women remain
indoors to avoid being exposed to the gods who could be harmful to
them.When our correspondent visited Gerinjina, their condition of
living was worse than that of the much-talked about Koma people. There
is no access road.
They drink water with animals from the same rivers. In their scattered
settlement system, there is no school around except for some
missionaries who have a thatched space for that purpose but is yet to
have any student. After a day's job on the farm, their women still
have the task of grinding raw corn with heavy stones before food is
ready for their male counterparts.
We went naked to gain their confidence =96 Cleric
Pastor Miracle Ishaya is the director of Mission Light House,Wukari,
Taraba State, the first missionary that came in contact with the Jibu
community. In this interview with STEPHEN OSU, he explained how his
team had to go naked to get the people to listen to them, how he got
to know about the community and their problems.
How true is it that you were the first to come in contact with the
Jibu people?
It is true by the grace of God that we were the first missionaries to
come across the people called Jibu. They are in a place called
Galumjina. Their tribe is Jibu. These people were before now cut off
from the rest of the world. In fact, nobody knew about them till we
got there.
How did you know of their existence?
A woman named Mrs. Joseph is a trader who lived in a place called Abba
Dogo. After some time of staying in the village, she started seeing
some strange faces in the place with leaves as their clothing and when
she asked, the learnt that they live on top of the mountains. So, she
came to inform us and when we got there, it was difficult to believe
but it was true. And as they sighted us, some ran away, some became
very violent and came out with there arrows but for the woman=92s
ability to speak Jibu language. We were accepted.
How did she understand the language?
Yes, it is not as if the people are completely different from every
other tribe in the place, but they are a section of the Jibu that
settled on top of the mountain. There are some other sections of the
same tribe that are developed. So, through them, the woman was able to
understand little things in the language except that they speak the
old version of the language.
In what condition did you meet them?
They were totally naked, both women and men, covering some parts of
their bodies with leaves. As a strategy for us to be accepted by them,
we also had to strip off some of our clothes and told them that we
were their tribes men, only that we were born in the town.
How did you get them accept clothes?
It was difficult at the beginning but they accepted at last to wear it
on top of their leaves. The women value the leaves. They believe that
if a leaf falls from their waist and a man crosses it, he will
automatically be impotent. We also talked to them about the God who
created everything, whom they also believe as a God for the children.
So they at last accepted everything.
Now that you have got there, what is the main problem?
It was difficult to get them accept our ways of life as you can see.
When we introduced palm oil, they said it was human blood. At first,
we were sleeping under the trees. Their food was Burukutu. Diseases
kill them in large numbers.
Discovering Jibu:
A journalist's nine-hour mountain climb
Stephen Osu
When, sometime last month, I visited the Koma hills in Jada Local
Government area of Adamawa State on the instruction of my editor, I
thought I had seen the worst in the living conditions of human beings
that could ever be. I was wrong. Dead wrong.
Unknown to me, the encounter that would shock me to the very marrows,
would be in my state of residence, Taraba.
On learning of another community of human beings who were probably
worse than the Koma people and had just been in contact with the rest
of the world, I quickly put a call through to my editor, again,
informing him of the development.=93Are you ready with the story?,=94 he
asked. My answer was in the negative. =93Why then are you wasting time?
Steve, go get the story. Go, go, go,=94 he ordered.
Off I went same evening, on Wednesday,March 11, with just the ATM of
my bank in my bag and a little cash that could serve for transport
fare and feeding for the day, believing that there must be a bank in
Serti Barewa, headquarters of Gashaka, with the Automatic Teller
Machine (Or Any Time Money) facility.
But my assumption was, again, wide off the mark as the single bank
(UBA) that had a branch in the town had no ATM.With some part of the
report ready while the most important was still missing, I instantly
started regretting my decision to get myself involved in the
assignment. Meanwhile, calls kept pouring in from my Editor who wanted
to assess the level of completion. At a point, I contemplated putting
off my phone but remembered it would be suicidal considering where I
was.
But thanks to one Mallam Hamidu Hassan who volunteered his UBA account
number so that my office could effect a transfer, I became buoyant
enough to hire two guides for the nine-hour mountain climbing.Each of
the mountains took at least one hour of the tortuous journey. My two
guides, Mallam Balla and Mr. Titus Tanko Usman, took me to the top and
to the house of the Waziri Garinjina, Tann Shidin Zunbi.
Already tired, there was no option but to lay my head on any facility
available for accommodation which my host magnanimously offered -- a
bamboo mat in a structure, much of which was covered with grass.
That prepared the grounds for the actual battle with mosquitoes and
other insects that came out from the dusty ground.After three days of
the sojourn, both water and the little quantity of food got finished.
Then came the time for dry fasting. That also took another one day and
five hours, although locally brewed liquor was available for
entertainment.
The Jibu women on the other hand, were so entertaining with there
grinding stones. Yes! The complete story arrived at last, but it was
with tea.
Incredible!
Thoughts?
http://lindaikeji.blogspot.com/2009/03/another-naked-tribe-found-in-nigeria=
.html
http://tinyurl.com/r7z7rq
Another Naked Tribe found in Nigeria
By Stephen Osu
They live, literally, in the stone age. Poverty and diseases ravage
their land, like locusts. A good number of them still dress in the
manner of...the Biblical Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden -- stark
naked -- with fresh leaves for a little covering.
You are welcome to the top of the Gerinjina mountain in Gashaka Local
Government area of Taraba State.
It was like a story from Mars when a casual talk to the hearing of
this reporter indicated that there was a community up the mountain
that lived worse than those of the Koma people who were discovered in
the mid-1980s by a group of National youth corps members in the then
Gongola State, now split into Adamawa and Taraba states. While the
Koma community resides in Adamawa State, the new Stone Age people are
in Taraba State.
They are called, the Jibu people and they are descendants of the
Kwarafa Kingdom who lived for centuries in nine communities scattered
around on the mountains in Gashaka.
Historical accounts have it that the people lived together with their
fellow brothers in the kingdom until about 1807 when Fulani Jihadists
invaded the kingdom. They were said to have run to the mountain top
where they now live and are completely cut off from other tribes, and
by extension the whole world. Not even the activities of the colonial
masters reached them, largely because of the difficult terrain of
their new abode. The mountain top is characterised by rivers, deep
gullies and huge rocks.
Just like any other group of human beings, the Jibu people have their
ways of life. These include collective circumcision of boys born
within the same age group, a ceremony performed with the use sharp
objects.
It is considered a test of strength and character for their boys not
to cry during the ceremony. The circumcised are kept on bamboo beds
and covered with fresh leaves that are gathered and burnt after the
wound has healed.
For a young Jibu man to get a wife, he must serve the family of his
bride for five years. Nonetheless, the marriage is determined by the
capacity of the woman to conceive. This is measured by a dried long
firewood that is set on fire for at least three months, within which
if the woman does not become pregnant, the simple communication is the
gods do not want the marriage.
Pregnant women work on the farms to the day of their delivery.They
have a communal life and are ruled by the Waziri Garinjina, Tann
Shidin Zunbi, who confirmed in an interview with the Nigerian Compass
on Saturday that maternal and child mortality rates are high among
them.
The Jibu people are neither Christians nor Muslims. Rather, they
believe in their own gods and the ancestors. In an event of violation
of their natural laws by any individual, animals are slaughtered to
appease the land. It is also a similar story during every cropping
season.
The harvests are brought before the Waziri for sacrifice to the gods,
after which their brand of liquor is prepared for everybody to drink
in merriment. Incidentally too, the Jibu people believe that some gods
are not friendly with women.
Thus, throughout the period of ritual preparations, women remain
indoors to avoid being exposed to the gods who could be harmful to
them.When our correspondent visited Gerinjina, their condition of
living was worse than that of the much-talked about Koma people. There
is no access road.
They drink water with animals from the same rivers. In their scattered
settlement system, there is no school around except for some
missionaries who have a thatched space for that purpose but is yet to
have any student. After a day's job on the farm, their women still
have the task of grinding raw corn with heavy stones before food is
ready for their male counterparts.
We went naked to gain their confidence =96 Cleric
Pastor Miracle Ishaya is the director of Mission Light House,Wukari,
Taraba State, the first missionary that came in contact with the Jibu
community. In this interview with STEPHEN OSU, he explained how his
team had to go naked to get the people to listen to them, how he got
to know about the community and their problems.
How true is it that you were the first to come in contact with the
Jibu people?
It is true by the grace of God that we were the first missionaries to
come across the people called Jibu. They are in a place called
Galumjina. Their tribe is Jibu. These people were before now cut off
from the rest of the world. In fact, nobody knew about them till we
got there.
How did you know of their existence?
A woman named Mrs. Joseph is a trader who lived in a place called Abba
Dogo. After some time of staying in the village, she started seeing
some strange faces in the place with leaves as their clothing and when
she asked, the learnt that they live on top of the mountains. So, she
came to inform us and when we got there, it was difficult to believe
but it was true. And as they sighted us, some ran away, some became
very violent and came out with there arrows but for the woman=92s
ability to speak Jibu language. We were accepted.
How did she understand the language?
Yes, it is not as if the people are completely different from every
other tribe in the place, but they are a section of the Jibu that
settled on top of the mountain. There are some other sections of the
same tribe that are developed. So, through them, the woman was able to
understand little things in the language except that they speak the
old version of the language.
In what condition did you meet them?
They were totally naked, both women and men, covering some parts of
their bodies with leaves. As a strategy for us to be accepted by them,
we also had to strip off some of our clothes and told them that we
were their tribes men, only that we were born in the town.
How did you get them accept clothes?
It was difficult at the beginning but they accepted at last to wear it
on top of their leaves. The women value the leaves. They believe that
if a leaf falls from their waist and a man crosses it, he will
automatically be impotent. We also talked to them about the God who
created everything, whom they also believe as a God for the children.
So they at last accepted everything.
Now that you have got there, what is the main problem?
It was difficult to get them accept our ways of life as you can see.
When we introduced palm oil, they said it was human blood. At first,
we were sleeping under the trees. Their food was Burukutu. Diseases
kill them in large numbers.
Discovering Jibu:
A journalist's nine-hour mountain climb
Stephen Osu
When, sometime last month, I visited the Koma hills in Jada Local
Government area of Adamawa State on the instruction of my editor, I
thought I had seen the worst in the living conditions of human beings
that could ever be. I was wrong. Dead wrong.
Unknown to me, the encounter that would shock me to the very marrows,
would be in my state of residence, Taraba.
On learning of another community of human beings who were probably
worse than the Koma people and had just been in contact with the rest
of the world, I quickly put a call through to my editor, again,
informing him of the development.=93Are you ready with the story?,=94 he
asked. My answer was in the negative. =93Why then are you wasting time?
Steve, go get the story. Go, go, go,=94 he ordered.
Off I went same evening, on Wednesday,March 11, with just the ATM of
my bank in my bag and a little cash that could serve for transport
fare and feeding for the day, believing that there must be a bank in
Serti Barewa, headquarters of Gashaka, with the Automatic Teller
Machine (Or Any Time Money) facility.
But my assumption was, again, wide off the mark as the single bank
(UBA) that had a branch in the town had no ATM.With some part of the
report ready while the most important was still missing, I instantly
started regretting my decision to get myself involved in the
assignment. Meanwhile, calls kept pouring in from my Editor who wanted
to assess the level of completion. At a point, I contemplated putting
off my phone but remembered it would be suicidal considering where I
was.
But thanks to one Mallam Hamidu Hassan who volunteered his UBA account
number so that my office could effect a transfer, I became buoyant
enough to hire two guides for the nine-hour mountain climbing.Each of
the mountains took at least one hour of the tortuous journey. My two
guides, Mallam Balla and Mr. Titus Tanko Usman, took me to the top and
to the house of the Waziri Garinjina, Tann Shidin Zunbi.
Already tired, there was no option but to lay my head on any facility
available for accommodation which my host magnanimously offered -- a
bamboo mat in a structure, much of which was covered with grass.
That prepared the grounds for the actual battle with mosquitoes and
other insects that came out from the dusty ground.After three days of
the sojourn, both water and the little quantity of food got finished.
Then came the time for dry fasting. That also took another one day and
five hours, although locally brewed liquor was available for
entertainment.
The Jibu women on the other hand, were so entertaining with there
grinding stones. Yes! The complete story arrived at last, but it was
with tea.
Incredible!
Thoughts?