Proudly Nubian

Ugandan Sunday Vision, Sunday, 8th February, 2004
Nubian women at a cultural festival at Kibuli a few years ago
Esther Namugoji set out to discover who nubians are. She visited a nubian family and learnt about a people’s traditions, dreams and fears.
Questions about Nubians tumble out one after the other from their Ugandan countrymen who still have not quite comprehended what makes these people who they are. However, one thing you look at and ask no more questions about Nubians is the picture of their women.
The men appear ordinary, but if you want to detect a Nubian, look at the woman he is with. She drapes herself in metres and metres of fabric for daily dress, has lots of jewellery and carries handcrafted baskets and mats — everything in bright colours.
Nothing goes without loud shades of sunshine yellow, rose red and grass green. Colours that speak of vibrancy and of a certain love for life that will not give in to death or extinction without a spirited fight.
We are sitting in the living room of Nasur Abdallah, the former governor of Central Region during Idi Amin’s days. His wife shows us the things that make the Nubian woman, and we are informed that she is doing the unusual, coming to hang around the living room.
Ordinarily, women remain somewhere at the back of the house until they present excellently prepared meals and then retreat again to eat with the children — out of sight.
Matthias, the photographer, has a field day clicking away at the colourful fabric for making the long underskirt (kurbaba) that acts like kitambi or kikoy in other Ugandan cultures. He also steals shots of colourful crafts and clever hair plaiting.
We are then served a sample of lebere, a kind of flaked cassava delicacy which, when dissolved in water and sugar, tastes like lemonade. The dry flakes can be preserved in that state for even 10 years without going bad.
We learn that food in Nubian culture is a complex and rich affair.
Apart from the varieties of dishes that are possible from cassava, any other meal has to be prepared according to strict procedures. Samaga (fish) is the measuring tape from which a suitable wife can be gauged. One look at the saucepan used for cooking it can make a man reject a maiden’s meal — there should be no signs of soup slopped on the top or the sides.
Forget the gloom of the 1970s, when the late former president, Amin, let some of them terrorise Ugandans, or any other negative memories you may have about these quiet people. Nasur himself is a picture of serenity and hospitality.
Here are a deeply religious people whose ethnicity cannot be separated from their Koranic heritage. A people who hold firmly to what their mothers and fathers teach them, long enough to pass it on to their own offspring with such reverence only reserved for gods. The result is that Nubians are the only Ugandan tribe that seems to have maintained everything about their culture over many decades.
They stand out from their neighbours wherever they are; in language, food, dance and religion. But that has not shaken them into blending or shedding some of their totems easily.
To settle the question of whether all Nubians are necessarily Muslim, the answer is yes. In spite of things such as intermarriages when they have occurred, no Nubian will let a non-Muslim take his daughter’s hand in marriage.
Besides, no mother can allow a thing so abominable as a man wanting to change the basic nature of her daughter’s culture. Such a man will lose his wife if he dares try to change her.
It also follows that they are the only tribe that is open for anyone to join, as long as one changes one’s beliefs into Islam.
If you leave the faith, you lose the ethnic identity with it. Sounds very complex, but then, that is the survival thread that Nubians have clung to over the years.
The girls from an early age have their ears and nose pierced to accommodate a decorative jewel or ring. Their hair is plaited into cornrows with different variations of different names.
In their teenage, or even earlier, they have to learn to wear the traditional ankle length dress and to cover their heads. All of this has been taken from the Koranic rules that stipulate strict dress codes for women.
When it comes to marriage, they are even more peculiar. A Nubian couple does not have to go to the mosque to get married. The wedding consists of taking the bride home. Other ceremonies take place without her presence.
Originally from the area known as Nubia, in southern Egypt and northern Sudan, Nubians are believed to have been the first people on earth — definitely the first civilisation.
The word ‘Nubia’ comes from the Arabic word for gold, ‘Nab’ due to the rich gold mines that were in the region. Over the years, unfortunately, this glorious civilisation was lost to conquering foreigners. The construction of the artificial Lake Nasser and Aswan High Dam dealt the Nubians the greatest blow in the 1960s, when their land became flood-prone, driving them further and further away from home, some into Ethiopia, Somalia and elsewhere. Today Nubian communities can be found on every continent, still clinging to their basic culture.
Their first arrival in Uganda is credited to the British colonialists who used them as troops in war against the Sudan Mahdist Rebellion. Later Captain Frederick Lugard brought them with Emin Pasha to quell rebellion in Uganda, especially in Bunyoro. Between 1880 and 1887, Nubians were happily in the service of the Kabaka. For their good work, the Kabaka gave them land in Kyebando and Bwaise.
He also gave 80 beautiful women to the officers among them. The stream in Kyebando called Nsooba today was once named KorMwanga (River Mwanga) after the Kabaka who treated them well and even understood their language. Today Nubians still refer to the Bwaise-Kyebando area in their conversation as KorMwanga.
Later, they were placed in Bombo, near the military headquarters of the King’s African Rifles in Uganda. After World War II, Nubians returning from war settled in different locations in Uganda and East Africa.
There are several groups in Eldama Ravine, Kibera,near Nairobi, Tororo, Wanyange, near Jinja, Kayunga, Kitubulu, near Entebbe and parts of Tanzania. The majority settled at Bombo and these claim to be the most modern of the world’s Nubians.
Here in Uganda they have been lucky to be recognised as a citizen tribe unlike many others who are treated as foreigners in their countries of residence. Their Kenyan counterparts suffer discrimination and abuse from their neighbours and live mostly in slums.
The language of the East African Nubians is not the same as the original creole (mix) of Arabic and the local language of the Nubis of Aswa. It has evolved, as all languages do, to include a bit of Swahili and Luganda, especially among the youth.
The older Nubians insist on the original version, which sounds more Arabic than anything else. I am told that the Ringa of Yumbe District in West Nile are the closest in ethnicity to Nubians in Uganda Over the decades, Nubians had proved to be good combatants, and so it is not strange that they ended up in the service of the Kabakas, King’s African Rifles and easily found their place in Amin’s military ranks.
But after Amin’s overthrow in 1979, Nubians experienced a serious backlash of hostility from their neighbours. Since then, their livelihood has been turned to other things like farming, crafts and other businesses. They are well known for good cooking and their restaurants are doing well wherever they are.
They are also famous for the original kabalagala, a kind of small thick pancake made out of cassava flour and sweet bananas. Many imitations of kabalagala exist, but the real thing comes from the Nubians.
It is not the only thing other Ugandans have borrowed from Nubians. The multiple ear and nose piercing, the cornrows, popularly known as ‘biswayiri’ and use of henna for painting nails were learnt from Nubians.
For now, the older folk have a lot of concern about the younger generation of Nubians, who seem to be ashamed or reluctant to follow the ways of their ancestors. According to some elders, the culprits are those whose forefathers joined the Nubians voluntarily and now their descendants do not feel the real attachment to the group.
After the war that ousted Amin, many started pretending not to be Nubians. In addition, today, when some students go to school, they come back with watered down versions of their culture.
Non-Islamic schools, for instance, would not recognise the strict dress code that is required of the girls.
Meanwhile, some Nubians see the expansion of Bombo town and the military barracks as a threat to their culture and existence. In addition, globally, the Nubian community is generally feared to be on the verge of extinction.
It is these small things that bother the Nubians, although they are confident that their culture will go on being strong.
To curb the decay, a Nubian Cultural Association and Forum has been formed which is documenting oral material from old men. Stories about their history, their culture and anything that can be passed on to the younger generation are being preserved.
A dictionary of the Nubian language is also being compiled. The cultural preservation should not be difficult given their traditions that are guarded so jealously, especially the religious link. As long as Islam exists undisturbed, Nubian communities will survive.
In addition, the fact that all Nubians, no matter where they are, consider themselves brothers, coupled with a glorification of their once great civilisation can work miracles in the youth, making them love being Nubian.
My eyebrow climbs an inch when we see Nasur’s wife driving a minivan from the back of their huge house and parking it for the children to put jerry cans into it — going to fetch clean water, probably. Breaking the rules? No threat, she still holds fast to the basics and won’t let go or allow her children to. Just marching on with the times along with the strict Nubian standards.
Published on: Sunday, 8th February, 2004