MBOLE (BAMBOLE)

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The 150,000 Mbole get their name from their position vis-à-vie the river; “Mbole” means “the people from downstream”. They live on the left bank of the Zaire River, in the heart of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They migrated to this forest region from the north of the Lualaba River during the 18th century. Politically each Mbole village is autonomous, headed by a chief chosen from the elders of each family. The women of the tribe are involved mainly in cultivating manioc and rice while the men hunt. Lilwa (libwe), a graded men's organization, dominates Mbole life. It supervises ritual, educational, judicial, social, political, and economic functions. Boys of seven to twelve years old are isolated in the forest for circumcision and initiation, undergoing ritual purification and proving themselves through ordeals and fasting. The head of the lilwa society, known as Isoya, is so important that he is buried in a tree and his village hut is kept empty.