The Makhuwa People

Where they live . .

The Makhuwa people live in northern Mozambique, and can be found in parts of Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Comoros, Madagascar and Mayotte.

Makhuwa History . . .

One source places the Makhuwa in Mozambique as early as A.D. 800. Arab traders came to Mozambique in search of slaves and maintained trading posts until the Portuguese arrived in 1498. The Portuguese came searching for gold and slaves and eventually exerted power over Mozambique. In 1975, Mozambique won it's independence from the Portuguese following a long civil war. However, independence did not bring peace to the country. Warfare killed more than half a million people and sent more than a million into refugee camps in neighboring countries. After seventeen years of civil war, peace finally came to Mozambique in 1992.

How they live . . .

The Makhuwa are traditionally agriculturists. Most live in rural villages in mud huts with grass roofs. Generally, there are no sanitation facilities, electricity or running water. They grow coconuts, cashews, rice, cotton, tea and corn. Their survival depends greatly on the rains coming in sufficient quantity at the proper times. Preservation and storage of food from one harvest to the next is very difficult, so a failed crop can be disastrous. Even people who have jobs in the city also have fields to grow their basic foods. Fishing is an optional vocation for those living on the Indian Ocean coast.

Life is not only dark physically but also spiritually. Fear of spiritual forces plays a large part in Makhuwa life. Much time, attention and energy is given to keeping spirits appeased so that crops produce, diseases are cured and women bear children. The slightest illness is realistically a possible cause of death where access to medical treatment is difficult to secure without traveling long distances.

Women, especially suffer in this culture which, although seeing inheritance and chieftancy pass to sons of one's sister rather than one's own son, still treat females as persons of little value. Physical and sexual abuse are strong parts of the culture which needs the life-changing light of Jesus Christ to shine through.

The influence of Arab traders encouraged the Makhuwa to adopt Islamic culture and religion, but the majority of Makhuwa maintain traditional African religious beliefs. Animism (the belief that physical objects have souls) and witchcraft are common, lying beneath a veneer of Christianity or Islam. Christianity among the Makhuwa can be traced back to the Roman Catholic Church in Mozambique in the early 1500’s. This influence is so deeply ingrained that much of it carries over into the Protestant churches without those churches being aware of the source of some of their beliefs and practices.

For more than 20 years, the majority of the country's income went into war instead of into schools, hospitals, roads and bridges. Most Makhuwa would quickly say that their greatest needs are for schools and teachers on the elementary, high school and university levels. And that an equally great need is for medical treatment facilities---urban and regional hospitals and for many rural clinics.

Clean water is also a widespread great need. Most homes get all the water that is used for drinking, cooking and bathing by carrying it on the heads of the various family members from nearby or not-so nearby streams.

Another great need is for adult literacy. An entire generation has grown up largely without the opportunity to attend school because of the two protracted wars. The Bible in the Makhuwa language is in the process of being revised. A literacy primer for teaching adults to read and write has been developed in the Makhuwa language. Many people need to be trained to teach others to read so that the new Bible can be read and understood.

There is a great need for Bible teaching in the churches and also for leadership training for the churches. Many times a person is chosen to be the lay pastor of the church simply because he knows how to read while the rest of the members do not.