June 2003 -- Somali Bantu Culture

Somali Bantu Health Statistics...Some Quick Facts:

•Malnutrition rate for children < 5 Years Old -- 65%
•60% of the population is 17 years and below
•30% of the population is 5 years and below
•Extremely high birth rate
•Deaths due to malaria is 24.5%
•Death due to pneumonia is 41%
•Death rate due to water-associated diarrhea is 16.9%
•High rates of hypertension, post traumatic stress disorder, depression, and diabetes
•Low rates of HIV and TB in this population...<1% of the Bantus have tested positive for HIV

The following information is courtesy of http://www.culturalorientation.net/bantu/
Somali Health Information (pdf file; need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing)

Persian and Arab traders established business contacts with east Africans over 1,000 years ago. These relations, coupled with refugees who fled the turmoil in Arabia after the death of Muhammad in the 7th century, resulted in a significant number of Arab immigrants residing on the coast of east Africa. The mixing of the coastal Bantu-speaking African peoples with these Arab immigrants led to the emergence of the Swahili people and language. The Swahili people lived and worked for the next seven centuries with the indigenous African population. During this time, the Swahili people expanded their trade and communication further inland and to the south with the other African groups, including ancestral tribes of the Somali Bantu.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports a high birth rate among the Bantu population, noting that most married women are either breastfeeding or pregnant and that the concept of family planning does not exist. According to recent data collected by the UNHCR, an estimated 60% of the Bantu are under 17, and 31% are under 6.

Although these characteristics are not unique to the Bantu, let alone other refugee populations, resettlement professionals should be prepared to deal with significant health care, sanitation, and social support issues relating to small children and mothers. For instance, the Bantu use pit latrines and are unfamiliar with typical American bathroom facilities and common sanitation items such as diapers and feminine care products.

The Bantu are a rural people who practice traditional beliefs. This extends to medical care in which local healing techniques are used. The IOM reports that some Bantu apply a heated nail or metal object to an infant's head in the belief that the burns will reduce the swelling of the head in cases where it is unusually large. They also burn small holes in the skin to cure ailments like stomach aches and migraine headaches. Like other rural east African people, the use of herbs in traditional medical practices is common.

Religious healing, such as prayer, is also frequently used. Some Bantu women, accompanied by traditional healers, perform ritual ceremonies, known as Gitimiri or Audara, to cast off illness and evil spells. Other such healing techniques are practiced among the Bantu and other Somali groups. Resettlement professionals in the United States may want to consult with their southern Somali colleagues to better understand the scope of such healing techniques practiced in that region.

Like other Somali groups, the Bantu circumcise both males and females. Aid workers in the refugee camps state that female circumcision practiced by some Bantu is a milder form than that practiced by the other Somali groups. While service providers report that the Bantu are agreeable to giving up the practice when they arrive in the United States, there have been reports from the UNHCR that some Bantu, knowing that they cannot legally circumcise their daughters in the U.S., rushed to circumcise them before departing Kenya. Health and legal concerns around this should continue to be addressed by resettlement agencies upon the Bantu's arrival in the United States. It should be noted that female circumcision is a tradition that may have accompanied Islam but is not mandated by Islam.

Since the Bantu have had very little exposure to Western housing, conveniences, and food, resettlement professionals will need to employ strategies with the Bantu that previously worked with other rural refugees. Electricity, flush toilets, telephones, and kitchen and laundry appliances are all foreign to most Bantu refugees.

For more information about the Somali culture:
http://www.ethnomed.org/ethnomed/cultures/somali/somali.html
http://www.humanrights.state.mn.us/somali_culture.html

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