THE MUNDARI AND THEIR TREASURED COWS
By France Leclerc
What probably stayed with me the most (besides the burning eyes and throat from the constant breathing of smoke and ashes) is how hard the children work. They are involved and often responsible for most tasks in and around the camp. Watching them reminded me of a line about children in Congo in one of Barbara Kingsolver’s books:
“In Congo, there’s only two ages of people: babies that have to be carried, and people that stand up and defend themselves. No in-between phases. No such thing as childhood”.
– France Leclerc
Indigenous to the Nile Valley, the Mundari is a small ethnic group of roughly 100,000 (very tall) people. As is the case for many other tribes in the area, everything is about the cows for the Mundari.
Cattle are their primary source of wealth; the cows serve as a form
of currency (these days, an attractive bride can “cost” as much as 100 cows) and, as such, have become a symbol of status and power.
The Mundari are semi-nomadic people. Women, children, and the elderly stay in a permanent village while the men and boys accompany the cattle in a search for grazing. To do so, they live in a temporary camp where they can keep a close eye on their “property.” The activities in a cattle camp are quite predictable.
At dawn and dusk, fires are lit to burn heaps of dung that have been collected and dried. The ashes from the dung fire are turned into a light orange powder, used to lovingly massage the cows, serving as a fly-repellent and sunscreen. The Mundari also cover their bodies with those ashes, hoping for the same benefits.
After the cows have been massaged in the morning, they are taken to grazing fields, where they stay for the day. At the end of the day, the cows return with their herders and go straight to their assigned “home,” where they are tethered to a piece of wood. Men and boys sleep among the precious cattle at night, ready to guard them against a potential raid from humans or wild animals.
Though this practice is slowly changing, traditionally, Mundari’s men have sported a V-shaped scar on their forehead to indicate that they had completed their initiation rites into adulthood. Also, boys and young men color the top of their hair in a lighter shade to attract young ladies. To achieve this, they immerse their hair in cow urine, preferably in the morning when it is most potent.
“After the cows have been massaged in the morning, they are taken to grazing fields, where they stay for the day.
At the end of the day, the cows return with their herders and go straight to their assigned “home,” where they are tethered to a piece of wood.”
FRANCE LECLERC
France Leclerc, born in Quebec, Canada, is an independent photographer living in Chicago. Her early career was in academia, but eventually, she decided to make a change to pursue her true passion for documentary photography. But her curiosity and hunger for learning did not vanish. France now uses photography to understand and help depict issues that puzzle her. Her most prominent themes are culture (especially disappearing ones), gender, and social inequality. For many years she has been documenting people’s lives in diverse settings, often in out-of-the-way places. She often describes her work simply as “life photography” because she always focuses on people. Her images have now been shown in numerous curated exhibitions, won countless awards, and have been published in prestigious magazines.
