Pokomo Way of life

Pokomo Way of  Life

The Pokomos Originally used to hunt  wild animals like: Hippopotamus, Elephants, Wild pigs,

Antelopes,Crocodiles and many others  and also used to eat wild fruits like: Makoma, Mahapfa,Nyambembe,Nkunazi...  all these were some kind of  wild Palm trees which were

found in the forest.

There main  Staple food was "Kaa" ,"Maduga",""Njija"".This they got from a

kind of Water lilies found growing in the lakes.

From the Lily pads they got a cereal which was later

pounded and cooked mixed with fish this was the so called "Maduga" but when it was cooked alone

without mixing it with anything it was called "Kaa"

From the roots of the Water Lilies they got  a kind of potato and this was peeled and

cooked , this was called "Njija"

As l mentioned previously Pokomos were mainly Hunters ... During those times the men would spend many days in the forest hunting ,drying the meat or smoking it and on the day they were coming back to the village with their Canoes they used to sing and shout heroic hunting songs.

The Women would run to the river to Welcome them back home ....what a Celebration ,they would sing and dance the whole night through.

Later on as hunting of wild animals was prohibited, they stark to fishing and farming of maize,rice,bananas ,cassava ,beans and other farming products along the river banks and the lakes.

l remember as a Child,Fishing was done only once a week .Every saturday around five thirty in the morning an alarm was raised to call all the men and this was done by hitting with a stick an old Canoe which was kept right at the river bank and all the Men at sound of this alarm would assemble at the river to decide which lake they would go to for fishing because in this way traditionally they were trying to avoid overfishing. meanwhile the women would gather into small groups to go look for firewood which would be used for cooking and at the same time use it for drying the fish....in most cases depending on the capture of the day they would come back home in evening so the women would be very busy preparing the fish ,pounding and grinding maize or rice and as children mostly helped with cleaning,fetching water from the river or helping taking care of our little brothers and sisters.

However it is sad to say that nowadays these practises have been forgotten.Later on, foreign fishermen came and begun large scale fishing which had disastrous conciquences,as they began to fish everyday even the little fishes were fished away and with time there was hardly any fish to be found neither in the lakes nor in the rivers.

Secondly,because of climate change the  nearby lakes dried up and even the river changed its course.

Lastly due to lack of security it's dangerous to go fishing to the lakes far away from the Villages as several times people have been attacked and even killed.