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| Sheikh. Salim Ramadthan in Malindi Sec School Library |
Mambrui is an old Swahili town/village located on the
shores of the Indian Ocean, approximately 12 km North of Malindi town. It is on
the north of Sabaki River Estuary. Before the recent changes in administration
boundary structure, Mambrui was in Malindi district’s Magarini Division. Right
now, it is in Kilifi County, Magarini District.
In Magarini Division, high human settlements are found
in the foot plateau and the coastal range areas of Gongoni, Mambrui, Marereni
& Magarini villages/ trading centers. The areas have fairly good soils and
high rainfall for agriculture, good road network, (Malindi -Garsen) highway and
employment opportunities in the salt works. (Source: Malindi District
development plan 2002-2008).
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| Prof. Said, Sheikh Salim &Madam Halima Ali |
According to the Kenya population and household census
report Vol. 1A, 2009 Mambrui area is 54.4 sq Km, with a population of 16,752
people in 2,646 households. The population density is 308. (This statistics
include the old village and its surrounding areas).
Mambrui as a tourist resort is a host of many
bungalows & hotels at Karibuni and Angels Bay Development Projects, most of
which are foreign owned. Some with semi- permanent residents and others in
seasonal occupation
The memories recorded in this story are specifically
about old Mambrui village/ trading centre (which in the past was mainly the
village by the shore).
Introduction.
Prof Said thanked Sheikh Salim Ramadhan for finding
time to talk to us about himself and his memories of Mambrui. He explained the
changing roles of libraries from preservation of printed literature to collection
and dissemination of information through multimedia such as pictures, voice recordings
and currently the internet. This explanation was necessary because we
needed permission from sheikh Salim to record his
voice, to be used together with this write up on the Elimu Asilia blog, to
disseminate the unwritten living memories of Mambrui Community.
Prof. Abdullah Naji Said
Was born and brought up in Mambrui, went to Mambrui Primary
School, Mombasa (Arab Secondary school now known as Khamis Secondary School).
Studied at, Egerton Agricultural College and taught at the then Royal Technical
College (now University of Nairobi). He is the current chairman of Malindi
Museum Society
Sheikh Salim Ramadhan
Sheikh Salim links his age to the first event of
Maulid festivals in Mambrui Village approximately 104 years. His parents were
Mama Swabrina and father Bw. Ramadhan. Salim’s first name was Riadha, but some
people called him Juma (both are associative names to the Maulid events at
Riadha and to Friday, likely the day he was born). Later,he was given the name
Salim.
In the past, Mambrui and Malindi were regarded as one
place despite lack of a truck road connection between the two places. People
from Mambrui came to Malindi along the beach. There was boat transport (majahazi)
at the Mouth of Sabaki River (the point where the river estuary joins the
Indian Ocean) (kivukoni) used to carry people from either sides of the Estuary.
They would walk the rest of the distance to either Malindi or Mambrui. Salim
said that at that time, there was a lot of water flowing into the Indian Ocean
at the Estuary; unlike now.
There was only one long vehicle in Malindi, as public
transport means from Malindi to Mombasa through Takaungu bridge, which is no
longer there; a journey that took long hours, from 3.00 am to 5.00 pm. As a
child, Salim often travelled to Mombasa to visit his maternal grandparents.
They would leave Mambrui in the evening
walking to Malindi, spend a night in Malindi at his uncles house (Sheikh Alhamoodi)
and leave early the following morning for Mombasa by the only available vehicle.
Leaving Malindi at 3.00 am in the morning, they would be at Takaungu by 12.00
noon and in Mombasa by 9.00 pm.
On many occasions, Salim walked from Mambrui to
Malindi to buy provisions from Ba Athman’s shop (an old provisions and
merchandise shop that still exists today doing the same business).
Education in Mambrui
As a predominantly Muslim settlement, Islamic education
(Madrassa) existed in Mambrui from early times – this provides religious
teachings and guidance). Elementary education was introduced when the first
school in Mambrui – Mambrui Primary School, then known as Arab School was established
in 1910. The Mambrui primary school was founded by Sir Ali Bin Salim, who after
being taken overseas by British Administration to acquire the English system of
education, came back to establish schools along the Coast of Kenya. Some of the schools are:-
·
Arab School in
Mombasa
·
Arab School in
Takaungu
·
Arab School in
Malindi
·
Arab School in
Lamu
·
Arab School in
Mambrui/ Mambrui Primary School
The first teachers in the schools were Europeans,
mainly teaching elementatry syllabus (a, b. c, d etc.) Mr. Wick Boen and Mr.
Babel Owen. Later on, local teachers took up teaching the syllabus. Sir Ali
chose his playmates and friends experienced in teaching through Madrassa
schools to teach Koran in school as
well as learn to teach the elementary syllabus.
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| Aerial view. Mambrui village in 1972. Courtesy Prof. Said. |
Salim’s enrollement to Mambrui School happened as a
mix of accident and sheer good luck. As a child, his parents had a farm on the
outskirts of Mambrui village. He would be left at home while they went to work
on the farm all day. Salim, together with his playmates enjoyed swimming at the
Mambrui beach. However, one day, he almost drowned in the turbulent ocean
waves. His playmates sought the help of grownups to rescue him. That day marked
the turn of events in his life. On that very day, Mama Swabrina after her busy
day at the farm heard about the horrendous event. She did what she could do
best to protect her young son’s life. She gave him away to Sheikh Abdullah
Nassor and in her words said “ twakupa mtoto huyu, utupe siku ya kiama” meaning
“ we give you this boy, give him back to us on the resurrection day ”. Having
entrusted the responsibility of her son to Sheikh Nassor, at the age of 11
years Salim became Sheikh Nassor’s house assisatant/servant boy. Sheikh Nassor
happened to be one of Sir Ali’s friends appointed to teach Qura’n and
elementatry syllabus at the Mambrui School. He would go with him to school and
at the same time run errands for him like distributing dates (tende) in his
houses. The Sheihk’s neighbours like Sharrif Alwy (a medicine man) and Bi.
Khadija Kiberiti often requested for Salims help in their errands. He remembers
often helping Sharrif Alwy mix traditional herbal medicine. Salim would help
pound it in a mortar and pestle (kinu na mti). During his many visits to school
with Sheikh Nassor and being an obedient hard working boy, he was enrolled for elementary
classes, but, he continued staying with Sheikh Nassor and ran errand for him
between classes. The other friend and playmate appointed by Sir ali to teach at
Mambrui school was Abdi Salaam.
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| Aerial view. Mambrui village, 2013. Photo courtesy of Jamal Hashim. |
After completing his studies at elementary school,
Salim was sent to Kilifi to acquire health/medical training by the British
Colonial Officers in Malindi. For a period of two years between 1955 and 1957,
he went through apprenticeship training, staying in class for half day and
attending to patients in wards for the rest of the day at Kilifi, todays
General Hospital. There were 2 huge halls used as training facilities, and
wards, where patients were admitted for observation and treatment. He worked in
all the wards (children ward, men ward, women ward, special TB (Tuberculosis)
ward and even in the mortuary). By that time, the Colonial Government was also
building health facilities in several parts of the Coast. Salim therefore
worked in the following facilities at the Coast.
·
Mwanzani
Dispensary – on the border of Chonyi and Jibana
·
Ganze – with Dr.
Henry Kitunga
·
Mariakani-
“Guruguru with Ali Sudan, where as a trader had a small ranch.
·
Kwale
·
Marikebuni, near
Mambrui
As an accomplished Health Officer, he established good
reputation. The Colonial Officers occasionally appraised their members of staff
and Salim was rated highly as a good Health Officer by patients in all
hospitals where he worked.
Salim’s aspiration was to become a District Health Officer,
as he got a letter of reccomendation from his trainers for that position. However,
elders in Mambrui village requested to have a Dispensary within the village,
the nearest was at marikebuni, but even so, it was far and out of reach by most
sick people. With a dispensary in Mambrui, his people requested that Salim be
brought back to work for them in their dispensary. He chose to work for his
people. A farewell party was organized for him in the new financial year to
start his work at Mambrui. The Mission Hospital in Marikebuni was taken over by
Government after being closed for a long time. Residents protested against the
closure, prompting the Colonial Government to take it over. Sheikh Salim worked
in Marikebuni to revive the hospital.
Economic Activities in Mambrui
Farming.
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| Mtambuu/ Pan leaves tree. Malindi Bus Farm |
Most people in Mambrui owned and worked on farms on
the outskirts of Mambrui village, they planted crops for sale and for their own
food. Salim’s father owned Tambuu trees (pan leaves trees). It was common
practice for adults to leave the village, work most parts of their days on the
farm and come back to the village at about 3.00 pm. The main crops were pulses,
sorghum, millet, maize, cotton, cassava, cashew nut trees, coconut trees,
mangoes, citrus and a variety of other fruit trees. In some swampy land, rice
was planted. In the past, land owners had neither title deeds nor boundary
marks, they only knew their farms and respected each other’s portions .The
Colonial Government decided to help partition the land, through the efforts of
Sir Ali and Sheikh Nassur Abuod and
Abdallah Soo and others, land issues were presented to the colonial
government. People were given chains to mark perimeters of their land,
surveyors then used the chain borders to mark boundaries and allocate portions
to individuals.
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| Mtambuu tree. Usually supporter by trees so as to creep above the ground. |
Fishing
Mambrui being a beach village, fishing was done by
local fishermen for their own consumption and for sale to generate a small
income or for giving away to charity to those who could not go fishing.
Trade
There was a port in Mambrui where people used to take farm
produce, especially cotton for sale. Salim remembers Captains (nahodha Mzee
Nasibu and Auni) who knew positions of coral rocks at the port so well that he
was always recommended to help Europeans sail in and out of the port.
Small scale trade was also popular; women made and
sold foodstuffs especially homemade millet bread (mkate wa mofa). There was one
shop near Langoni. It was also a common practice for people from Mambrui to
walk along the beach to Malindi to buy provisions from Ba Athman’s shop.
Dairy farmers sold milk from Mambrui in Malindi town.
Prof said, as a boy helped work on his father’s dairy farm and used a bicycle
to ferry milk in cans to sell from house to house and purchase provisions for
home use as instructed by his mother.
Leisure activities
Travel to Mombasa.
Salim’s maternal parents stayed in Mombasa in Mkomani
area (present Ratna square area). Salim enjoyed visiting his uncles in Mombasa
because a lot of fun came with that. They would take him to watch black and
white movies at Majestic Cinema (near Mackinnon Market). His uncles, Awadh,
Auni and others had boats for making trips to the ocean. In those days, there
were few temporary structures (made from cut out gallons/tins) around Mkomani
area and Mackinnon market near Majestic Cinema. Mombasa was a small town near
the old port (Forodhani). Rick shaw vehicles were used for transporting people
within town.
One time sheikh Abdullah Nassor was sick (he had an eye
ailment), so Salim took him to Mombasa to Sir Ali for treatment. Sir Ali had a
guest house between Mackinnon Market and the present Baroda area, Salim and
Sheikh Nassor were welcomed well and given a place to rest. One of Sir Alis
workers informed him of their arrival, Sir Ali welcomed them well and arranged
for Sheikh Nassor’s eye treatment. At this time, Salim had not completed his
medical/ health training Kilifi.
Games.
Games for children:
Koko – kokokoma/ Cricket – equivalent to cricket played on flat ground on the
beach. Young boys used wooden poles to hit the seed of Mkoma tree.
Taso – this game was played in teams, members divided into two groups and
placed a pole at the centre of their playground. One person from each side
would touch the pole and run, the opposing team would try to chase and touch
the person to acquire a score. Team members would shield this person from being
touched. The longer the person stayed without being touched the higher their
side of the team scored.
Kibe / hide and seek – this was popular among young girls, sometimes they
played as mixed groups with young boys.
Dances for women:
Mwasha – This was a dance performed by women only, they would make two lines
facing each other and walking alternating from one side to the other singing,
dancing while holding fimbo (sticks).
Goma Kuu/ Msondo – this was a special dance for women and girls of
marriageable age, the drums were played by ladies, men were completely
forbidden from watching or taking part in this dance. The dancing arena was
closed up and well-guarded. The main purpose of this dance was to teach girls
how to dance for their husbands after marriage. It was mainly organized by
kungwi (well-known experienced women), appointed to each girls about their
matrimonial responsibilities to their husbands.
Lelemama – this was a popular dance performed during weddings,
women sung and danced while hitting sticks and horns in a rhythm matching drum
beats and tunes. Most of the time, the ladies would be dance standing along the
trees or from walls of the banda (shade for the Ceremony)
Dances for Men:
·
Kirumbizi
·
Chama
·
Sharha
·
Mwaribe
·
Ndonge
·
Burutangi (kites)
·
Bao Game
·
Dumna
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| Chama Dance. |
Kirumbizi dance during Twalib Omar Ali’s
wedding in Mambrui.
Food
Popular foodstuffs in Mambrui were:-
·
Wali wa mahindi –
Maize pounded and boiled as rice
·
Mkate wa mofa –
home baked millet bread
·
Wali wa mtama
- Millet /sorghumpounded and boiled
·
Samaki – fish
·
Ndizi- bananas,
both plantain and ripe bananas)
·
Viazi - potatoes
·
Mhogo – cassava –
Cooked in coconut milk or boiled and pounded to be eaten like ugali.
·
Vindoro – sweet
potatoes
Most farmers sold cow milk to make money and retained
goat milk for family use. Prices of commodities were affordable to both the
rich and poor people. For a 10 cent coin, one would buy sugar, tea leaves,
bread and a matchbox.
There was a notable variation between evening meal
times (dinner) in Malindi and Mambrui.
Dinner in Malindi was served after Isha prayers (from
8.00 pm), while dinner in Mambrui was served earlier after Margharib prayers (6.30pm
to 7 .00pm). This was because most people in Mambrui worked on farms all day,
had light packed lunched came back to cook just about sunset so had their meals
early. Majority of people in Malindi did not work on farms therefore had
daytime and evening meals in their homes.
Government Taxes.
There were two types of taxes
·
Graduated Personalities
Tax – (ushuru wa kichwa).
·
African
Development Committee Tax - (Kodi ya ADC).
In 1960, there was a drought, farm produce was low,
the people of Mambrui requested for tax to be waived because they hardly had
enough to sell to pay the taxes. Tax waiver was effected by the colonial
government on condition that they would not get medicine from hospital in that
year, most civil hospitals experienced shortage of medicine in that particular
year.
Nick Names in Mambrui
Omar Jomba - alikuwa na mikono migumu kama chuma,
akimkamata mtu amtie kwapani, mikojo humtoka aliekamatwa.
Ba Sango – babake Omar Sango
– alisifika kama mtu mwenye nguvu nyingi sana, mara nyingi watu wakishangaa
kama ni binadamu ama ni radi. Wakati mmoja, alialikwa harusini, akalishwa
vizuri, ashibe ili aende kupambana na jamaa mmoja (Jumaa, aliyesifika kama mtu
mwenye nguvu nyingi pia) katika ngoma ya kucheza na fimbo (ngoma ya kirumbizi).
Baada ya asri, kirumbizi kilianza. Ba tsango akaingia, akatamba (akazunguka),
yule bwana juma akajaribu kumpiga ba Tsango fimbo, Ba Tsango akamsukumia fimbo
kwa nguvu, ikamtoa mkono( shoulder dislocation) kwa zile nguvu nyingi.
Saidi
Kishindo- huyu alikuwa mtu mwenye hikma alikuwa na duka, kasha
wakulima wakileta mazao ya shambani kuuza mjini, alikuwa hanunui upesi, mara
nyingi wakizunguka kote mjini na kurudi kwake na mabaki ya mazao yao. Alizoea
kuwaambia wamuuzie bei nafuu, wakisita aliwaeleza kuwa mazao hayo yalikuwa ”mali
malande” mali isiyodhaminiwa kwa hivyo walimuuzia bei rahisi badala ya kurudi
nayo nyumbani.(Always wanted to have his way in any argument).
Omar
Kishaa/ kichaa – alikuwa mtu mwenye tabia ya kupanda hasira upesi.
Kila aliposhindana na mtu yeyote kwa jambo lolote, alikasirika sana akawaa
mwenda wazimu.
Omar
Mayuto/ar Majuto – alikuwa mtu mwenye tabia ya kujuta kila mara. (He
had a habit of regretting).
Popular women in Mambrui, whom Salim
Ramadhan remembers.
Sheikh Ali Kassim Bin Omar wife (Bi.
Mkubwa). Her husband wanted to marry
a second wife in secrecy. Traditionally, men sought their wives permission to
marry other wives. Permission would be granted on condition that the man gifts
the first wife two khangas (gora mbili ya lesso/ khanga). Sheikh Kassim did not
seek Bi Mkubwa’s permission, he went to Malindi, on his way back stopped at his
targeted second wives home. He stayed for long hours, so long that when he left
to go back to Bi Mkubwa’s house, he forgot his walking stick ( bakora). Word had
reached Bi mkubwa that her husband had married a second wife but she never took
it seriously till then. So when Sheikh Kassim got back home to Bi Mkubwa, she
noticed that he did not have his Bakora. Sheikh Kassim had a pleasant surprise
when Bi Mkubwa told him not to worry about his walking stick and that she knew
he might have left it at his secret wife’s house and that she was going to get
the walking stick for him. Had he not forgotten the walking stick, he would
have deceived Bi Mkubwa for long that she was his only wife.
Swaleh Diye
During droughts, Bi Diye Mobilised women to meet at a
special place where rain water gallows within the Village (mkondoni). This
place was near Mohamed Athman’s house. The women went with coconut cups (zifufu
za nazi) filled with spiced porridge (uji wa manjano) to offer special prayers
for rain.
Mamake Kadede(Zaituni)
She taught religion and helped women deliver at home (midwife).
Interviewer: Prof. Abdullah N. Said (Chairman
Malindi Museum Society, Volunteer in the interview)
Note taking & voice recording: Doris
Kamuye (Librarian Webb Memorial library)
Venue: Mambrui Secondary School Library.
