Tradition des "Mingi" Interview mit Lale Labuko (OMO Child Ethiopia)
Lale Labuko is the Founder and Country Director of OMO Child in Jinka, South Omo/SNNP. He comes from the Kara tribe in the Omo valley and has dedicated his life to fight Mingi, a brutal tribal practice. In January 2022 he was awarded as Human Rights Defender by the Ethiopian Human Rights Defenders Center (EHRDC).
Lale, please tell us a bit about yourself and your organization OMO Child.
My name is Lale Labuko from South West Ethiopia. I was born in a small village of the Kara tribe, called Dus, in the Omo Valley. I was a cattle and goat herder since I was nine years old. Then, my father decided to send me to a missionary school. I was one of the first children in our tribe to go to school, far away from the tribe in a boarding school. Later, I was lucky to be able to go to a bible school in Germany for nine months and to the US. I was the first person of our tribe to go abroad.
Back in 2001 my wife Gido, who is from Arbore tribe, and I decided to fight “Mingi”. Originally, we did not think about founding an organization and just wanted to save some children. In the beginning we sheltered the first rescued children in our small house in Jinka. Over time, the number of children was growing, and so we decided to set up our organization OMO Child, to make the project sustainable. Until today, we have rescued 52 children who grow up in our shelter in Jinka.
What is Mingi?
The word “Mingi” means “curse” in English. Some tribal villages in the Omo valley still have a centuries-old belief that certain children are born without blessing and therefore are considered cursed. In this case they get killed by their own family, who believes that they have to do so to protect the village from disasters, such as drought or illness. There are four types of Mingi: Teeth-Mingi, means children that develop their top teeth before their bottom teeth. These children can be over a year when they get killed. Woman-Mingi are children resulting from a pregnancy of marriage that was not approved by tribal elders. Girl-Mingi are children born out of wedlock. Last, but not least twins are considered Mingi. Those babies get killed right after birth.
You grew up in one of the tribes that practiced Mingi. What made you stand up against your own tribal rituals to fight Mingi?
Everything started when I was 15 years old. I saw how they took a Teeth-Mingi girl from their mom to be killed in the river. This was the turning point in my life, and I realized that there was a purpose why I was sent to missionary school. I found out that my two older sisters were killed. Every night this came to my mind, as I knew that many more innocent children would get killed in the future if nobody stopped this. This is when I decided that I wanted to protect and rescue the children in the future.
What have you exactly done to fight Mingi? What kind of resistances do you face?
Fighting Mingi is not easy, as there are many tribes, many villages, many warriors. Therefore, I needed alliances and a strategy. First, I convinced my father to support me. He had an important role in our tribe. Secondly, I liaised with some young people. We held secret meetings in the bush to agree that we want to stop Mingi and stand-up against it.
Then I discussed with the king and elders. I asked them to declare a change in the culture to end Mingi. This is most powerful, as people obey to them. I said the rescue of the children was the priority. I explained that Mingi is a blessing and not a curse, and that nothing will happen to their villages if these children stay alive. I told them to give me their children, to let me be the river and the bush. This is where they otherwise would have killed the babies. I told them that I will take the curse far away with me and that nothing would happen to me or their village, as the children would be turned into a blessing. This way, I have been able to save 52 children until today, who grow up in our OMO Child shelter in Jinka. We have been working with chiefs and elders of around 35 villages since then.
We faced a lot of resistance of people believing that the curse will come back to the village, even if the children were far away. Over the last five to six years we have seen that more and more elders believe us. There were times where the fear was so big that some people attempted to kill me. They also tried to burn down my father’s house and, in the end, they expelled my family from the tribe. They believed if they had dinner with me, the curse would come to them. I was completely isolated from the tribe, but together with my wife and the team we stayed strong to fight Mingi.
Today, the situation has improved, but there are still villages where the superstition exists and children get killed. The way they fight against us is different, e.g. on a social, political and economic level, but the resistance continues.
Which successes have you had so far and how did these change the thinking about Mingi in the tribes?
The biggest success of my life is that we rescued the 52 children. Secondly, it is a big success that we could reduce the number of children that get killed. In the Kara tribe, the killing was officially stopped. When we started around 20 years ago, it was estimated that around three thousand children were killed every year across the tribes. Today we estimate that the number of children that get killed every year has come down to 100-200. There is still secret killing ongoing, but slowly the situation is improving. Thirdly, our education is a big success. The first three OMO Child children have entered university this year. Those kids who were left in the bush to be eaten by animals, have the chance to turn into leaders of our country. Only education will help to stop Mingi and transform the Omo valley people to the next level. Therefore, we have built a primary school in Jinka with support of German and Austrian donors. The school integrates the OMO Child children into the community, as the majority of the students are external. This is an incredible step.
What are the next steps and projects you are planning?
As a next step, we want to build a boarding school in the tribes. Our vision is to create a next generation that is knowledgeable, skilled, ethical and a role model to end the harmful traditional practises like Mingi. We want to contribute to an increased prosperity in the tribes and reduce the dependency on aid from abroad. We are currently developing a concept that focuses on sustainability and how to help people help themselves.
What support is needed?
First of all, we need financial support to run our OMO Child shelter in Jinka. Right now, the financial means are tight, especially as prices have been sky rocking during the last months as consequence of the drought and Ukraine war. Besides these basic needs, we need funds to realize our project and to get better access to the tribes to rescue more children. The Omo Valley is a big, wide place and the villages are scattered, which adds complexity to our undertaking. With the help of our German, Austrian and US donors we want to make our vision a reality.
Donations / Spendenkonto:
OMO Child Äthiopien, Germany e.V.
Bank Name: Sparkasse Rhein-Maas
IBAN: DE 33 3245 0000 0030 0485 16
BIC: WELADED1KLE