Chagga People

 ‘Neighborhood’ 'Neighbor' ‘Neighborliness’ : a relationship of friendship and mutual assistance. To have a neighbor is to have a helper on whom one can rely in all circumstances and with whom one enjoys fellowship.

Time and civilization have undermined Chagga culture. “Money becomes a substitute for brother and neighbor, dehumanizing and dissolving all mutual obligations,” Peter Beyerhaus . This is true throughout the world, of course

Acknowledge that the old relationships of clan, neighborhood, and age groups were divine gifts, and by encouraging a return to that way of life, the Chagga people can develop relationships that are more brotherly (indeed the goal is to become brothers and sisters in Christ).

The Chagga people migrated from the rest of Africa to the slopes of Kilimanjaro some 300 years ago. Bantu-speaking indigenous Africans and the third largest ethnic group in Africa. Converted to Christianity and likely why they have had easier access to education and health care over other ethnic groups. They do not speak one single language but only dialects, no swahili. Known for their irrigation system.


The traditional Chagga house was cone-shaped, with a roof thatched with dried grass or a dwelling with a roof thatched with banana leaves. The Chagga people known for their sense of enterprise and strong work ethic. Work centred around the farm and is divided by gender however now they have added these types of work especially for the younger generation of children - clerks, teachers, administrators and small-scale business activities. 


Staple food of the Chagga is bananas. Bananas used also to make beer, their main beverage. They plant a variety of crops like, banana, millet, maze, beans, and cassava. Keep cattle, goat and sheep. 


Pregnant women eat a diet of milk, sweet potatoes, fat, yams, and butter. These are considered female foods. Bananas and beer are considered male foods and are not to be eaten by pregnant women. In the photo above, we stopped along our walking route to share small bananas with these two confident little girls that came to very edge of their family property to greet us. 

Enjoyed a glass of glacier water during the tour -super clean and smooth -yum

THE CHAGGA HOMEGARDENS OF KILIMANJARO

The Chagga people were originally nomadic pastoralists and they did modernize their farming techniques over time. What makes the remarkable and well-known today is their farming technique. They have been able to maintain a sustainable and well-developed agroforestry system degradation in this area of Kilimanjaro despite ever-increasing population. The homegardens have four vegetation layers. Under a tree layer, which provides shadows, fodder, medicines, firewood and formerly also construction wood bananas are grown and under the bananas coffee trees, and under these vegetables. The area is irrigated by a network of canals fed by main furrows originating from the montaine forest. 

With higher demand for wood, low coffee prices on the world market and the introduction of coffee varieties that are sun-tolerant also endanger the traditional homegardens. In some areas of the mountain (e.g. on the eastern slopes) the trees in the banana fields are very scattered or already missing. This has far reaching consequences for biodiversity, microclimate and soil fertility.