Notes from Tanzania

The Barabaig Tribe of Eastern Tanzania

Photo of Author by Author

A few years back, I had the opportunity to visit the Barabaig Tribe in Tanzania and observe life and family relationships. As an ethnographer, I’ve always been interested in how mothers struggle to support their families. As part of a participatory action research project, I witnessed how daily activities that women must perform contribute to the domestic survival of their family units. Like many First Peoples tucked away in mostly unwanted territories on earth, it is unusual to find any family planning. Unlike in many parts of the Western world, a poor household needs many children to survive. Although the research is much broader in depth and perspective, for Medium purposes, I compiled a short list of advice mothers share with their daughters.

Taken as a whole, the advice offers an economic model of cultural sustainability in which living needs are met. The motherly advice given to their daughters includes the following admonitions:

1. Sisina Mureda Gwenu e Gemadu.
   Respect me and your Baba and his mama.
2. Gisisi Mureda Ng’ashega erukni Ghutenyu.
   Respect all my words and what I command you to do.
3. Nala Gideba Gewaschi Gemadu.
   Know that I am your mom.
4. Huwa wetenya.
   Be our help.
5. Huwa sida weta be…