HISTORY

The Yao originated in northwestern Mozambique and have spread into Tanzania and Malawi. The Yao were known as slave traders—middle men—who captured Africans and sold them on to Arabs. In the middle of the 19th century, they converted—as a people—to Islam, in the attempts to solidify their relationship with Arab traders. During the two decades of violence after independence from Portugal, many Yao fled to Malawi in order to escape the war and to find food. Currently, many Yao are moving back to their homelands, while others are returning to Mozambique but settling close to the border of Malawi south of Lichinga.

CULTURE

The Yao are mainly subsistence farmers who work the plateau country adjacent to Lake Malawi. Growing beans, corn, cassava, bananas, and peanuts, the people work plots that are often a good distance outside of their local villages. These plots are called machambas. There are also many Yao laborers in the capital Lichinga, in which the Yao surround.

The Yao speak Chiyao. Like many other places in Mozambique, many Yao who live out in the rural areas do not know Portuguese or it is very limited. This is especially the case with the women & children. The chiyao in Mozambique is somewhat different than the chiyao spoken in Malawi. We’ve heard that the chiyao in Mozambique is more traditional (being the birthplace of the Yao) and the chiyao in Malawi is more modernized.

The Yao, like the Makua and other ethnicities in this region, are matrilineal. They trace their lineage through the mother of the family and much of the familial authority is not necessarily with the husband of a family, but with the eldest brother of the wife! The Yao are also matrilocal, in that the husband lives with the wife’s family. It seems that this cultural aspect will have a lot of influence on our work. Consequently, we will be studying this and trying to learn about other matrilineal groups and how mission has been integrated into such cultures successfully.

RELIGION

As stated above, the Yao are Muslim—Sunni. Nevertheless the indigenous religious beliefs before Islam remain and have been integrated into the Islamic matrix. Consequently, there continue to be specialists for curses, blessings, and communications with ancestors. Recent orthodox movements of Islam to a stricter adherence have been occurring in Malawi. As of yet, this does not seem to be a strong force in Mozambique.