Cultural Survival

The Zaghawan people live a semi-nomadic life style. As stated before in this blog, these people live in the country of chad. Primarily by the border of Chad and Sudan. They travel South to North depending on the climate and seasons. They do so to tend to their stock. Above you see some of the Beri traveling.

Here we see a Zaghawan at a Darfu Refugee camp. Outside of Chad the Beri find themselves in the same situation as many other Africans. They struggle to survive in the shadow of violence sweeping the region. 

Inside Chad is a different story. Some stick to the nomadic ways and others settle down in the cities and live like average citizens. Of those that settle down some maintain the traditions and others are more modernized. Just about all practice Islam.

This here is the Zaghawan alphabet. Random? Wrong! Language is an important part of any culture, its how you communicate. They maintain their language. Their primary language is Zaghawa. They don’t call themselves Zaghawa, they refer to themselves as Beri. In the 1950s, a Sudanese Zaghawa schoolteacher named Adam Tajir created an alphabet for the Zaghawa language. In 2000, a Zaghawa veterinarian named Siddick Adam Issa adapted Tajir's script to Zaghawa