Bacground on CHES and the Barbaig people

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Some Background on
CHES

Back in 1991, as CUSO cooperants, we were assigned to work
in Hanang District, Tanzania, as an attempt on the Canadian government’s part
to help rectify some of the economic and human rights abuses perpetrated by
workers of the Tanzanian Canadian Wheat Farm Project (TCWP) upon the nomadic
cattle herders of the area-the Barbaig.
A British anthropologist, Charles Lane, had made public through Human
rights organizations and Indigenous Survival groups the lost Barbaig economy
and the alienation of their land. Ethnic tensions and conflict with the state were
particularly horrendous during the late 1960s and late 1980s. Barbaig households in many areas
lost thousands of cattle to raids, houses were burned, crops were destroyed,
women raped and people killed. Barbaig
children were forced to attend schools with limited resources far from their
homes. Land was seized and taken over by agricultural tribes.

Our assignment with the Community Development Department of
Hanang District was to work in three villages who requested development
help. For CUSO we were to assess the
breadth of the problems caused by the TCWP and make recommendations. Bringing
in Canadian Harambee education Society (CHES), A Canadian NGO operating in
Kenya, was an initiative we took on privately as CUSO would not support
educational projects. This year marks the 20^th anniversary of CHES
in Hanang, now a Tanzanian NGO, Charitable Harambee Education Society. Over 1040 girls who have been sponsored to
attend secondary school, some of whom are Barbaig.

Much of our two year assignment was spent with the Barbaig
who came to trust us to some extent, particularly in the area of Mureru. The
Barbaig are a tribe of the Datoga, a Nilotic-Hamitic people thought to have their
roots a few thousand years ago in southern Ethiopia and who migrated to this
area of the Rift Valley over 90 years ago. As nomadic cattle herders, they do
not have permanent settlements. Cattle are the economic backbone of Barbaig
communities. This area experiences a
harsh climate on the dry savannah with shortage of water for cattle, limited
arable land, lack of safe drinking water and very limited services.

The Barbaig people have been marginalized by the mainstream
society and Tanzanian government, often being referred to as mangati, the
enemy. The challenge of providing health
and educational and veterinary services to these nomadic peoples has yet to be
met.

Now twenty years later we notice some changes. In 1992 we
built with Canada Fund monies and the participation of villagers and the
Community Development department the first primary school for Barbaig
children. The Barbaig of the area had
asked for a school, not that they valued formal education so much, but that
they realized that they needed to educate themselves to fight against the
confiscation of their land and the erosion of their rights. Now, a secondary
school has been built by the Tanzanian government and provides education for
those graduating from that primary school. However, national statistics
indicate that literacy among Barbaig communities is only around 1%!a(MISSING)nd only
around 5%!s(MISSING)peak Swahili. Rates of education are increasing in areas closer to
urban centres but are still low among nomadic Barbaig children living rural
areas.

We were recent guests at the culmination of a Bungn’eda, a
nine month funeral ceremony of an esteemed elder, and noticed children not
attending school. Just as we had found
in 1992 when we invited CHES to Tanzania, Barbaig fathers in this polygamous
society prefer their children keeping cattle than sending them to school. They
fear that their traditions and customs will be swallowed by formal education. Many problems continue to exist that limit
access to education: corruption, witchcraft, corporal punishment and demands
for unnecessary contributions by the schools. One of the first CHES sponsored
girls is Udagejar Manonga. Uda recently
completed her Masters degree in Education and id her dissertation on the
barriers to accessibility of primary education among nomadic Barbaig children
in Hanang. In it she makes several recommendations that urge government,
non-governmental organizations and religious institutions to address the
illiteracy of Barbaig children

CHES provides scholarships for needy girls of all tribes in
Hanang. Barbaig girls from nomadic families have even more barriers. It’s obvious that until the Barbaig community
understands the importance of education for their children, until government
and NGOs initiate special programs to sensitize the Tanzanian community on the
rights, needs and potential of these nomadic Barbaig children, little change
will take place over the next twenty years.

I’m not sure I will be back on the fortieth anniversary of
CHES, but I do know that these interventions of educating girls will have a
major impact on the next generation. I think it’s very true that here in Hanang
that if you educate a girl child, you educate her entire family and her community.

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Comments

[Gilangwenda Qambawayda]

Great naration
Its interesting but also so painful about Barbaig, Iam the one among them , friends ignorance is very very expensive in life.