Life among the cows in Sudan

how we live — By Bob Riel on September 19, 2007 at 11:47 am

There was an interesting profile recently in the NY Times about the Dinka people of southern Sudan, who are pastoralists and rely on cows for their livelihood. After musing about how life could change for the Dinka in the face of economic development, the article told the story of three boys from the same family to show how the indigenous people are trying to maintain a hold on their traditional way of life while also making some adjustments for a changing society.

… southern Sudan, an isolated area home to the Dinka people, impossibly tall and rugged pastoralists who – after suffering 50 years of war – are finally witnessing peace, development and change.

But whether Panthar and thousands of boys just like him will benefit from this change is up in the air. Cattle are fundamental to Dinka culture. The Dinka are not about to jettison them for the extra cash that city life might bring.

Panthar’s oldest brother, Moichok, 18, is Dinka all the way, with long, hard scars on his forehead that feel like rawhide rope. Six of his bottom teeth are missing, chiseled out by a spear-wielding man known as the engineer. The scars and the gap teeth are traditional Dinka marks of adulthood – and tests of pain. If a boy even winces while being cut, the saying goes, he will be teased until the day he dies.

Panthar’s next brother, Bol, 16, is in school in a nearby town, and his forehead is smooth, the sign of a city boy. It seems that Bol is the one the family has chosen to follow the new way.

As for Panthar, his father said he would like to send him to school, but that might be a stretch because then there would be no one to care for the cows.

It is never-ending work. Panthar begins his days mashed under the belly of a twitchy 700-pound beast, his face covered in a glaze of sweat and milk as he jerks on the udders and fills a bucket squeezed between his knees. He scoops cow dung for campfires and collects cow urine in maraca-like gourds for his big brother and his friends to dye their hair. He nurses the cows when they are sick and sings to them when they are restless.

Cows are Dinkaland’s diamonds. They are exchanged upon marriage and handed out as prized gifts. The Dinka are so devoted to them that they would rather live off milk (with a little sorghum here and there) than steak.

“If I ever make money,” Panthar announced earlier that morning before leading three other little boys – his helpers – into the bush, “I will buy more clothes and more cows.”