Kholba's History

To shift gears a little bit, I thought today I’d present a history from Kholba. Kholba is a village in PZ1 (Priority Zone 1 of the STEWARD project - a large region encompassing Outamba Kilimi National Park and the Kuru Hills, which exist on the border of Sierra Leone and Guinea). Kholba was my favorite village in PZ1 (of the 4 we visited). Part of the reason I enjoyed Kholba so much can be attributed to the charismatic chief, who was elected into the position because “Kholba is a democracy!” Le chef de village was rocking some pretty sweet sunglasses, a little zztop goatee, and was so full of energy it was hard not to be in a good mood the entire time we were there. When we were discussing the NTFPs that the community gathers from the forest (non timber forest products), zzchief leapt up, acquired examples of all the plants we were discussing, then demonstrated (along with the women of the village) how they were prepared – and with an enormous amount of animation. When he squatted down to show me how nairee powder was reconstituted into a porridge, he prepared an entire bowl of it, called for honey and milk powder, and then proceeded to share it with everybody. The community just roared with laughter (preparing food is women’s work, and definitely not something a chief would normally do). I got a video snippet of the scene. I’m not sure if it was le chefs infectious energy that gave the entire community a positive feel, or if positive vibes within the community contributed to his liveliness. Either way, I liked Kholba a lot. They gave me two chickens, and there is no better way to my heart.

The history of Kholba was retold for our group on April 30, 2013 by Molai Keta, an elder, the head of one of Kholba’s land owning families, and a descendent of one of the original founders of Kholba. For this retelling of Kholba’s history, our group was seated in the comfortable shade of a well-built thatched roof. About 50 or so people joined us to participate in the telling of Kholba’s history. We were seated in a large circle, women sat to my right, many with nursing babies. The men sat to my left. Children hung around the bamboo poles supporting the roof, peeking through gaps in the crowd to catch glimpses of the visitors. Women brought in a bucket of water and a cup to use for drinking, which they placed in the center of the room. The heat of the day has not yet set in, and we are all comfortable. Kholba’s history follows.

Despite being located deep in the heart of Susu country, the founder of Kholba was actually a Malinke man by the name of Mustafa Keta. Mustafa Keta was interested in travelling, so as a young man he left Mali and began to wander. He wandered through Wasso and Watanga (other villages in the present day district of Madina Oula) before arriving in what is now the town of Madina Oula. At the time, Madina Oula was an important regional center within the Khosimbaya Chiefdom. The Khosimbaya Chiefdom was split into two “tamesos” – the upper tameso, and the lower tameso. Madina Oula was located in the lower tameso valley and was, at the time of Mustafa Keta’s travels, in need of a chief. A man by the name of Alamami Amara Kamara had his eye on the position, and had been looking for some time to become chief of the lower Tameso valley. He welcomed the visiting Mustafa Keta with great interest, and offered up his sincere friendship. Informing Keta of his ambitions, Kamara then asked Keta for his assistance in gaining enough power to fulfill his chiefly ambitions.

Keta listend to Kamara with interest, but he delayed in giving him an answer because he was not interested in settling down in Madina Oula, at least not yet. Instead he informed the ambitious Alamami Amara Kamara that he wished to continue travelling. But because Keta liked Kamara, he promised to keep his ears and eyes open. He then set off for the large market center of Kindia, where he happened to meet the district chief, who was named Manda Kindi Kamara.  Keta and Manda Kindi Kamara sat together and talked, and Keta passed on the information from Madina Oula – that he had heard the lower Tameso was in need of a chief, and that Alamami Amara Kamara was interested in the position. Keta told the chief of Kindia that Kamara was a kind, peaceful and strong man, and that he should be made a chief. The chief of Kindia received these recommendations kindly. Keta then returned to Madina Oula to inform Almami Amara Kamara of these happenings.

When the travelling Mustafa Keta arrived back in Madina Oula, he told the ambitious Almami Amara Kamara of his meeting with the chief of Kindia. After hearing Keta’s account, Kamara was satisfied, but he asked Keta not to travel again. Instead, Kamara wished for Keta to stay with him, and assist him as he prepared the necessary sacrifices to become chief. (There are certain elaborate sacrifices that must be made if one wishes to become chief.) Kamara then requested that Keta remain in Madina Oula until Kamara’s objective of becoming chief had been met.  To ensure that Keta would stay in Madina Oula, Kamara hatched a strategic plan – he presented him with a wife from Madina Oula, as a beautiful woman would surely keep him around. The woman was named Kumbaxhati Suma, and she came from a nearby Susu village called Khabouya. (The Suma family, it should be mentioned, are a very prominent Susu clan. As are the Kamara family.)

Mustafa Keta, enamored with his new wife, stayed in Madina Oula, and assisted Almami Amara Kamara with the ritual sacrifices demand of him. Through these sacrifices, Kamara became chief. Shortly after Kamara became chief, Keta’s first son was born, and was given the name Mamadeba Keta Quaquonee. Keta’s second son was given the name Kaelfala Keta, and he is the ancestor of Molai Keta (who is relating this account to our group). Realizing that his family is growing, Mustafa Keta asked the new chief Kamara for access to a parcel of land, so that he could settle his growing family. In his travels Keta had seen a nice piece of farming land (what is now present day Kholba), just outside of Madina Oula, and on the banks of a large river, and he requested access to his piece of land. Chief Kamara readily agreed, and Mustafa Keta and his wife came to what is now present day Kholba to settle. Their first home was built under a tree, which still stands in the middle of present day Kholba. This was during the time of, or just before, French colonialism.

Because Keta and his wife were busy farming and fishing, they left their two young sons in Madina Oula. The two boys remained in Madina Oula, but would often visit their parents. Recognizing the bounty of the land, they changed the name of their settlement to Kholba – a word that means “anything you need for your life you can receive here without problems.” People from all around the region would travel to Kholba to visit, to acquire forest products, fish, or agricultural products. These visitors would give Keta beneficial items in exchange. Kholba, as it turns out, was a great place for agriculture. Chief Kamara, recognizing the importance of agricultural production, sent laborers from surrounding villages to go work in the plantations of Kholba, and labor under Mustafa Keta. The laborers came with oxen and plows, and Keta himself oversaw their work. Kholba was such a bountiful place that even Chief Kamara came frequently to visit. Chief Kamara came so frequently that he kept a house in Kholba – his house overlooked the plantations, because he liked to sit and watch the workers at work in the fields.  By this time, French Colonialism had started in earnest across what is present day Guinea.

By now Mustafa Keta and Chief Kamara were getting on in age. When Chief Kamara died, he was succeeded by his son, Alamami Abaduka Kamara. Like his father, the new chief Alamami Abaduka Kamara liked to come to Kholba to visit, and to check in on the farming activities. Mustafa Keta’s own two sons began spending more time in Kholba to help their father monitor the farming activities. Kefala Keta, the second son, eventually requested land in Kholba, to settle permanently. Keta’s first son, Mamadeba Keta Quaquonee, never married, and chose not to stay in Kholba. Instead he left to travel in what is present day Sierra Leone. He never returned. Around this time, travelers from the region began to arrive in Kholba, and request to settle in Kholba permanently. Ousman Keta and Ababuka Kamara both came to Kholba and requested land, which they were granted. Along with Kefala Keta, Ousman Keta and Ababuka Kamara represent the family heads of Kholba’s three land owning families. The eldest living ancestor from each of these men are now the caretakers and owners of all the land in Kholba.

When they first settled in Kholba, these 3 men did build their houses close together, but spread out around the community. Ousman Keta settled towards what is now the main road from Madina Oula, and Ababuka Kamara went even beyond to build his house. Kefala Keta, the son of Mustafa Keta, the original settler, was made Kholba’s first chief. He was given the name Alkahalee, which means chief. The lands over which he ruled were referred to as Alamamee. (These Susu terms hold true for all Susu chieftaincies, even those in present day Sierra Leone.) To forge good relationships, Kefala Keta gave one of his cousins to Ousman Keta as a wife. Kefala Keta names his first born son Mustafa Keta, after his father, the founder of Kholba. Things were good in Kholba, but these were the times of French colonialism, and change was coming. As a harbinger of change, white hunters began to appear in the woods (of what is now Outamba Kilami National Park), to hunt elephants. When they killed elephants, they took only the tusks, which they kept for the ivory.

 A more serious change came much later, in the form of World War II. During World War II the people of Kholba came to understand that a man named Adolph Hitler had started a war, in which the French (the colonizers of Guinea) were involved. When Hitler invaded France, the French president escaped, and rumor was that he went to present day Sierra Leone. Fearing that his presence would bring Adolph Hitlers war to Guinea, people all throughout Guinea took precautions to make sure that the exiled French president would not enter their lands. They did not wish to be invaded by the German army. To make movement difficult, men went to the forest and cut down many trees, which they used to block the roads.

Around this time, Guinea gained independence from France, and many more changes began to happen. The Chief in Madina Oula, Chief Kamara II, died, and was replaced by his son Almami Mussa, who came to Kholba to farm. He married Djeneba Keta of Kholba, the sister of Mustafa Keta II. As Guinea began to set up its new government, many things began to change. One thing that changed is local administratiors were appointed by the government. After colonialism ended, the first administrator sent to Madina Oula was Richard Suma. Suma came regularly to Kholba to visit his fater, who lived there. He saw how good Kholba was for farming. At the time, the government of Guinea was building a lot of agricultural plantations throughout the country, to feed the population. The president, hearing of Kholba’s good agricultural land, decided it was a good place for a sugar plantation. So in 1962, agricultural co-operatives run by the government were put in place. To facilitate this process, agricultural technicians came and measured all the farming lands.

The people of Kholba began to fear that they would not have enough land for their own farming purposes. The government was making plantations, and suddenly all the land belonged to the government, where were the people of Kholba supposed to go to do their own farming? The people of Kholba consulted with Richard Suma, who saw what was happening, but did not have much power to change anything. When Kholba raised these concerns to the agricultural technicians sent by the president, the technicians threatened to evict them. The people of Kholba refused to be evicted. This was their land, they were not going to move. But around this time many of their elders were passing away in old age. Kfala Keta, Ousman Keta, and Ababuka Kamara (the three family heads), all passed away. There were many changes happening in Kholba, and the people of Kholba were afraid of what changes would come next. They had always lived and farmed here, and they knew how to navigate the dense tropical forest which surrounded Kholba. (The forest was so dense that you couldn’t go safely alone to Madina Oula – otherwise some of the wild animals, like elephants and buffalos, might jump over you and kill you.) The people of Kholba did what they could to resist eviction, but they were not able to stop by government from seizing some of their lands. After gathering their measurements, the technicians returned with more people from the government, who cut all the trees down to make their sugar plantations. Now, the only swatch of primary forest that remains, is the community forest of Kholba, which was left by the ancestors of Kholba. The people of Kholba have protected this as a sacred place. It was delineated by their ancestors, and they take care of it so that it will be here for their children. This forest is called Kon Turi, and is on the border of Sierra Leone and Outamba Kilimi National Park. During Guinea’s civil war, all the animals in the forest fled out of Kon Turi and in to Outamba Kilimi National Park in Sierra Leone. They were afraid of the gun fire, but now they are starting to come back.

The government was very active in Kholba. After setting up their sugar plantations, they decided to move a sugar refinery into Kholba. The factory had been located close to the border of Sierra Leone, but officials feared that the sugar was going into Sierra Leone illegally as contraband. The government figured they could better control the flow of refined sugar coming from this factory if it were located in Kholba. So they built the factory, and recruited workers to come to Kholba. Kholba became such a center for agriculture that eventually the government even built a military barracks there, in 1970. It is still there today.

Shortly after the military barracks were built, in 1973, a large bush fire burned down all the sugar. The technicians insisted that they would replant, and had the people clear the land for replanting, but in 1974 the government decided to stop their plantation activities in Kholba. Instead, the military seized the plantation land, and began to use it to grow food for the military. In 1994, when the military gained power, and the country began to enjoy a period of peace. At some point, the military stopped farming the lands, and the people of Kholba took it back. NGOs began to turn to Kholba as a good place for farming development. Many people came through: American people, Yugoslavian people… they didn’t come back. But the government came to put in improved well water, and a US NGO called the Christian Children’s Fund, now Child Fund Guinea, eventually came in, and did so much, it made the community happy. Child Fund built a school house, latrines, a white house to store seed, an improved well, and brought in improved seed so that the people of Kholba could grow better food for their children. After that… STEWARD came.