Ndamba people

The Ndamba is an ethnic and linguistic group based in south-central Tanzania whose population was 79,000 in 1987. It is found in South Central, the Iringa Region, northeast of Bena, southeast of Hehe, west of Pogolo and southwest of Mbunga.

Language

The Chindamba language has a lexical similarity of 69% with Mbunga and 56% with Pogolo. Speakers also use Swahili. Although it has been reported that Ndamba and Mbunga are two different tribes, the reality is that they are one tribe and the difference between them is purely dialetic. All three are Rufiji–Ruvuma languages of the Bantu family.

In recent years some Ndambas have volunteered to write a dictionary on Chindamba. The first standard Ndamba Dictionary was written by Agathon Kipandula in 2008. The writer is a language researcher who is an employee of the Bank of Tanzania.

Origin

The tribe is based in Mlimba, Msagati, Chisano, Chita, Merera, Malinyi, Igawa, Ngombo, Mchombe, Mngeta, Lwipa, Mbingu, Mofu, and other parts of Kilombero and Ulanga district areas, and derived from Pogoro. A small group, it was initiated by its own chief and spread through the southern part of the Morogoro Region. Their first Chief was known as Mbuyi Undole I who also registered the tribe in the Government registered as a tribe in 1901

Customs and beliefs

The tribe, also known as Wandamba, is well known for eating rice and fish only: its members can eat rice all year without changing. Most of them belong to the Roman Catholic religious sect.