The Burji story
From a homeland in the Ethiopian highlands to communities across Kenya and around the world, this is the story of the Burji people across generations.
The Burji homeland lies in southern Ethiopia, in the highlands east of Lake Chamo, centred on the area now known as the Burji Zone and its town of Soyama. The Burji are farmers known for terracing the steep hillsides and cultivating enset, grains and coffee.
Burji belongs to the Highland East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, related to languages such as Sidamo, Gedeo and Hadiyya. For generations it lived in speech and song long before it was written down.
Over the last century many Burji moved south into northern Kenya, settling around Moyale and Marsabit and later in Nairobi, where trade, farming and family ties built lasting communities.
Today Burji families live far beyond the homeland, in Kenya, Ethiopia and across the wider diaspora, carrying language, faith and identity with them wherever they settle.
In 2018 Abdulkadir Dube Mohamed published the Burji to English Language book, setting the language on the page so it could be taught, learned and preserved. This platform continues that work.