The Fulbe Fouta

The Fulbe are the largest ethnic group in Guinea. Numbering over 2.5 million, they make up 34 percent of the country's total population. Also known as the Fulani or Fula, they are related to the Fulani herders who are found across West Africa. Many Fulbe in Guinea are merchants and live in the major towns throughout the country. Their true home in Guinea, however, is the mountainous region of central Guinea known as the Fouta Jallon.

On the plateaus of the Fouta Jalon, there are grassy plains and fields of fonio, a local grain. Fulbe herders settled in this region over two hundred years ago and have since spread into other parts of Guinea and into surrounding countries. Today the majority of this subgroup lives in urban centers and many are involved in commerce.

What are their lives like?

The modern Fulbe are sedentary, unlike their Fulani relatives elsewhere in West Africa, who are largely nomadic cattle herdsmen. The Fulbe of Guinea are primarily town dwellers: merchants, government workers, Muslim religious teachers or transporters. There are those in the village who still herd livestock and farm the land. Cattle are still important to the Fulbe as a source and symbol of wealth, while sheep and goats are common. The Fulbe provide Guinea with much of its meat. Their cattle are not the humped Brahman herded elsewhere by the Fulani, but a native breed resistant to the tsetse fly. Staple crops include fonio, rice and peanuts.

As town-dwellers, the Fulbe have largely replaced their traditional mud-walled huts with brick and cement houses roofed with corrugated metal. Houses are often located in walled courtyards where a man and one or more of his wives live with their children and other members of an extended family. Though the relationship between a husband and his wives may not be close, the relationships between members of the extended family are still very important and form the basis for Fulbe society.

The Fulbe Futa are patriarchal, but the mother exerts a certain amount of power in the day to day running of the house especially during the frequent absences of the father. The husband/father is the one to make all the important decisions and represent the family. The decisions of the father can be discussed, but the father is always to be respected and never to be proven wrong or embarrassed in front of his wives or children. The father/husband is considered the provider of food, clothes, shelter, and medicine, but often the wives are the ones who get involved in various money making adventures to make ends meet.

Children often begin Koranic studies at the age of seven. Many also study in government schools where they learn French and get a western-style education. Fewer girls go to school, as they are usually expected to help their mothers clean, cook and care for their younger siblings.

What are their beliefs?

The Fulbe are staunchly Muslim and proud at having brought Islam to this part of West Africa. They see themselves as guardians of Islam in the region, and hold Islam to be part of their ethnic identity. The Koran, the holy book of Islam, forms the basis for their early education, while the local mosque is the focal point of the village or, in towns, of the neighborhood.

While they believe that there is only one God and Mohammed is his prophet, they also believe in charms, talismans and the manipulation of the spirit world. They see no contradiction in fulfilling their religious duties before God while seeking help from the spirit world for the problems they face in daily living.

The religion of the Fulbe Fouta is definitely mixed. One might be able to debate whether it is more animistic and mixed with Islam or more Islamic and mixed with animism. It probably is the case that for women the religion is predominantly animism and for the men it is predominantly Islam.

The true need remains prayer for the adequacy of our witness and the work of the Holy Spirit in and through His people so that the Fulbe of Guinea can truly know the love and grace of God shown to us through Jesus Christ.