Opinion / Blogs
The Tonga people from Binga
08 May 2011 at 03:05hrs | Views
The day Binga people will be asked to choose, alphos chuma
Binga the land of hard working, and loyal people. Very patient people, look for them you will find them in Binga. Binga is one of the vast districts in Zimbabwe, but it is not known for its vastness.
Ba Tonga people who live in Binga had their own way of living which went through a shift after the construction of the Kariba dam.
With the widening of the water body, they were separated from their Zambian equals, and they went to live over the valley.
They lived much on hunting, fishing and growing crops. They supplemented their poor rains with off season planting along the wet Zambezi valley.
This is known as INCELELA, in the local Tonga. Binga is well known for being one of the hottest part of Zimbabwe, and it was natural for the people in Binga to embrace hunting as their important way of living.
They lived and still live with some of the most dangerous animals, the elephants, crocodiles, hippos, buffaloes, lions, hyenas , all kind of birds.
The life was mainly lived in chiefdoms and this has been mostly preserved in areas like Cuunga, which still have a lot of chiefs concentration in the district if not the country.
Because of the change in their way of life after the ba Tonga moved off the valley, they were seen and known to be poor and underdeveloped.
The district is way way underdeveloped, for a couple of reason. The Tonga are peaceful people who did not seek modernization very early. They let politics role everything.
They were also too busy trying to cope with the new life over the valley. They were always dealing with drought, and subsequently got used to food aid almost year after year.
This has been happening in other part of the country but it became a need for Binga as most parts of the district are perennial drought areas.
Gone was the time the ba Tonga people used to supplement their food needs through hunting, modern government rules stopped house hold hunting.
Zambezi swell after the Kariba dam was constructed and the animals felt more at home than the baTonga. Alot of NGO infested Binga with a lot of good programmes. Among the most important NGO progammes is food relief which have found home in Binga.
I wish I could calculate how much money have so far been used on food relief in Binga. The largely poor Binga people have not been empowered with ways of kicking hunger out of Binga.
Its very interesting the government of Zimbabwe is always talking of drawing water from Zambezi to Bulawayo, which is surely important. Binga itself need means to use the water to avert drought more than Bulawayo do.
A project has been started in Bulawayo Kraal part of Binga but unfortunately, it is purely driven by politics. We need yearly national election to see political driven project moving fast.
One wonders why doesn't it come to the Financiers of food relief organisation to think of empowering the people of Binga by gradually constructing dams and other water reservoirs in places like Pashu, Muchesu, Tinde,Syabbuwa,
Lubanda, Sinansengwe, Lubimbi There is Lungwala dam in Kariangwe and there is no doubt it has helped a lot in to reduce hunger and drought in Kariangwe.
Ba Tonga are a sharing people and that means if Mudenda have some food, he will not let his neighbor Mweembe die of hunger.
If organisation like World Food Program were spearheading the projects like the construction of the dams and community irrigation, maybe 3 years project per ward they could be out of Binga now helping other people in other places, or at least the number of beneficiaries could be reduced significantly.
Binga have a huge permanent water source which can sustain serious irrigation. Give them the fishing rod and teach them how to fish.
Drought in Binga have robbed us the baTonga of our pride and dignity. Our children drop out of schools because the are hungry, some little girls as young as 17 get married in polygamy for a lot of reasons including poor food security.
Some go to work as maid and some boys to work as herd boys at very tender age because life in Binga has been ba tonga baku binga so affected by poor food security.
Being one of ba Tonga myself, I have an idea of what could help us. we need help to sustain our own livelihood. Start it today and stop feeding us in 12 years... ignore me and feed us for the next 100 years
Binga the land of hard working, and loyal people. Very patient people, look for them you will find them in Binga. Binga is one of the vast districts in Zimbabwe, but it is not known for its vastness.
Ba Tonga people who live in Binga had their own way of living which went through a shift after the construction of the Kariba dam.
With the widening of the water body, they were separated from their Zambian equals, and they went to live over the valley.
They lived much on hunting, fishing and growing crops. They supplemented their poor rains with off season planting along the wet Zambezi valley.
This is known as INCELELA, in the local Tonga. Binga is well known for being one of the hottest part of Zimbabwe, and it was natural for the people in Binga to embrace hunting as their important way of living.
They lived and still live with some of the most dangerous animals, the elephants, crocodiles, hippos, buffaloes, lions, hyenas , all kind of birds.
The life was mainly lived in chiefdoms and this has been mostly preserved in areas like Cuunga, which still have a lot of chiefs concentration in the district if not the country.
Because of the change in their way of life after the ba Tonga moved off the valley, they were seen and known to be poor and underdeveloped.
The district is way way underdeveloped, for a couple of reason. The Tonga are peaceful people who did not seek modernization very early. They let politics role everything.
They were also too busy trying to cope with the new life over the valley. They were always dealing with drought, and subsequently got used to food aid almost year after year.
This has been happening in other part of the country but it became a need for Binga as most parts of the district are perennial drought areas.
Zambezi swell after the Kariba dam was constructed and the animals felt more at home than the baTonga. Alot of NGO infested Binga with a lot of good programmes. Among the most important NGO progammes is food relief which have found home in Binga.
I wish I could calculate how much money have so far been used on food relief in Binga. The largely poor Binga people have not been empowered with ways of kicking hunger out of Binga.
Its very interesting the government of Zimbabwe is always talking of drawing water from Zambezi to Bulawayo, which is surely important. Binga itself need means to use the water to avert drought more than Bulawayo do.
A project has been started in Bulawayo Kraal part of Binga but unfortunately, it is purely driven by politics. We need yearly national election to see political driven project moving fast.
One wonders why doesn't it come to the Financiers of food relief organisation to think of empowering the people of Binga by gradually constructing dams and other water reservoirs in places like Pashu, Muchesu, Tinde,Syabbuwa,
Lubanda, Sinansengwe, Lubimbi There is Lungwala dam in Kariangwe and there is no doubt it has helped a lot in to reduce hunger and drought in Kariangwe.
Ba Tonga are a sharing people and that means if Mudenda have some food, he will not let his neighbor Mweembe die of hunger. If organisation like World Food Program were spearheading the projects like the construction of the dams and community irrigation, maybe 3 years project per ward they could be out of Binga now helping other people in other places, or at least the number of beneficiaries could be reduced significantly.
Binga have a huge permanent water source which can sustain serious irrigation. Give them the fishing rod and teach them how to fish.
Drought in Binga have robbed us the baTonga of our pride and dignity. Our children drop out of schools because the are hungry, some little girls as young as 17 get married in polygamy for a lot of reasons including poor food security.
Some go to work as maid and some boys to work as herd boys at very tender age because life in Binga has been ba tonga baku binga so affected by poor food security.
Being one of ba Tonga myself, I have an idea of what could help us. we need help to sustain our own livelihood. Start it today and stop feeding us in 12 years... ignore me and feed us for the next 100 years
Source - opinion
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