ekottomagazine
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Ë KOTTÒ, is a magazine of the cultural field in all its disciplines.
We are committed to bringing culture closer to our readers. Our goal is to give visibility to sectors that lack this opportunity of presence in large media platforms.
Our publications will be monthly and we will focus on four basic sections and four complementary ones.
INFORMATION, INTERVIEWS, ACTIVITY AND PROMOTION, and SOKKÒ, ËTYÖ LAÖTYA, OPINION y EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL
A general story on a specific theme of each edition.
INFORMATION: Its content will be based on knowing the path of our guests. That is, what you could call their biography.
2. INTERVIEW. Focused on the professional field.
3. ACTIVITY: Focused on our guest's current affairs.
4. PROMOTION: Publicize everything related to the works of our guest or in its case what it believes necessary to promote related to his or her professional work.
OPINION
It is a section for sociocultural opinion articles.
ËTYÖ LAÖTYA
It is a section of learning and knowledge about the Bóbë-Bubi identity in its different manifestations.
SOKKÒ
It is a section with a variety of socio-cultural news.
With the magazine Ë KOTTÓ, we will bring culture a little closer to our homes.
Editorial
WE DID IT
Well, yes, we did it. It was a challenge for the magazine to interview a young figure born far from the land of their ancestors, but whose mind and heart, despite everything, the diaspora never separated from their Basakato-Bososo and vice versa.
She represents a generation of young people who, even though they were born far from Africa and especially in Bioko, the land of their ancestors, the diaspora could not distance them from their cultural identity. She speaks her mother tongue Bubi perfectly and is very connected to her cultural values.
She keeps creating projects with the aim of sharing her cultural knowledge to help promote the teaching of her mother tongue.
We are convinced that if she is not the first, she will be among the top three creators of a social media platform teaching Bubi as a mother tongue, under the name of her platform Pulóo.
We achieved it, because with this edition we are closing the publications for 2024 with great enthusiasm for having achieved the goal of interviewing a leading figure in the world of culture.
Our readers will be able to perceive that we continue to strive to provide content based on our editorial line, always trying to improve and strengthen our work.
Thank you for your support.
H A P P Y H O L I D A Y S !
Story
BORABEKO LOBERY SULE
I am a citizen of the world and of the African continent, born in Europe but very attached to origins that I could not determine exactly, but I will try. I was born and raised in Geneva (Switzerland), of bubi parents from the island of Bioko (Equatorial Guinea). Personally, I define myself as BÖTYÖ (Bubi person from the island of Bioko) because I think and relate to the world from that point of view. I believe that the richness of my identity is the multiculturalism that allows me to see the world from several points of view and I choose to do it from the one of my DNA.
I would like to share with you my history in the field of African language and culture in general, and Bubi in particular. My commitment to the language comes from my family and music, with which I learned and continue to learn. My interest in culture comes to me from the language but also from African hair.
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In 2015, I started a Bubi language teaching project called “Pulóo” (which means “come” in Ëtyö). It is an invitation to unite all those who want to learn or transmit our language so that it does not disappear, as it is a threatened language. Even if it wasn't on Púlóo's social networks, I notice that since those years, there are more and more initiatives to spread the language and this is very positive so that ëtyö doesn't disappear.
Since I was a child, I always wanted to learn to braid. In fact, I liked it so much that my mature work was dedicated to African identity in relation to hairstyles. The braids led me to make several artistic projects of hairstyles to claim the African identity.
African culture
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African dance lessons with my mother in Geneva (1990- 2000).
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final baccalaureate work on African hairstyles and their identity meaning through history (2004).
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2012: Fashion Show Alikuleti (Geneva/Zambia)
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2014: Video Clip “Pinot in the grass” Kami Awori (Geneva/Haiti)
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2012-2018: Hairstyle creator for the singer Licia Chery (Geneva/ Haiti)
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2018: Co-organization of the event Nhappy Afro Hair on natural African hair (Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Haiti).
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2018: Co-creator of the project Loëka Concept (Cameroon/Equatorial Guinea)
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2018- 2024: Afrocentricity international: member of an organization working to give back to Africans their cultural identity (project in progress: material for children, translation)
Bubi culture
Pulóo Project (language activism)
I have spoken ëtyö since I was born because my parents were aware of the importance of transmitting their cultural values to me (they only gave me a Bubi name, taught me their language and some of their traditions). I think it all started when I was a baby and my parents sang me Bososo's (my mother) songs and my father's compositions, such as the song of “Tyuí tyuíi tuë pale o ribela.” Music has had a great impact on my learning both the language and our culture, and I relate it to my name Löbërí (meaning song).
Ölöita lué ësèsèsèmbè
In the audience of an African natural hair awareness event I did in 2018 (Nhappy Afro Hair) were members of the organization Afrocentricity international, who encouraged me to reach out to my community, seeing the connection I had with them despite living so far away. That same year, my older brother, Mastho Ribocho, encouraged me to participate in the first meeting of the young Bubis of the diaspora: Ölöita lué ësèsèmbè. Very excited, I joined the organization and since then, I am an active member of the board of directors. At Ölöita, I teach the language from my Pulóo project, do research on the Bubi culture and support the team in different projects.
Interview
Loberi Borabeko ¿Káwëlè?
È Kottò, në lèlè, potóo.
Thank you for accepting the invitation of Ë Kottò magazine.
I am the one who is grateful to the team for giving me the opportunity to share my project with their readers. I love the journalistic work they do to make bubi culture visible and it is an honor to be part of this great project, this great step!
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What motivated you to teach the Bubi language for free, and what has been the community's response to this initiative?
Our language, besides being a means of communication, is the foundation of our culture. As time went by, I realized that, both in the diaspora and in Bioko, many values and teachings that I had learned through Ëtyö (both the Bubi language and its cultural heritage) were being lost. The motivation to want to pass on both the language and those values was born in 2015, when I became a mother for the first time. I would say that I wanted to maintain the legacy of my mother and grandmothers, as if it was my duty. My father, a great connoisseur of the language, was also an important driver, but in Spanish we talk about “mother tongue” and I understand that the mother is the first transmitter. It was also important for me to transmit that part of me that I saw fading away in the community. I did it for free and on the web so that anyone interested can access this knowledge from anywhere in the world. Another thing I wanted to share is the joy and happiness I feel when I speak bubi. It allows me to establish a unique connection with people. As for the response from the community, I regret to admit that few people, even from my own family, appreciated the initiative, for many reasons that I will develop below. The small part of the community that embraced the Pulóo initiative were the people who were aware that language is fundamental to keeping a people's cultural identity alive and who were interested in connecting with the language to affirm their own identity.
2. What main challenges have you faced in trying to preserve and promote the use of the Bubi language?
The first challenge was to launch the project from isolation and lack of contact with the community. I had no idea how far-reaching my initiative would be because in the early years, I only had contacts with my immediate family, who were not in Geneva (Switzerland). I started my project with cousins who were in Barcelona and the distance did not help much. In fact, it was not possible to record many chapters because distance work through the network was not as easy as it is today. So promoting the language from outside the community and knowing almost no one, that was my first challenge!
The globalized world in which we live challenges those of us who want to preserve and promote the use of our language, because what we do is to bring to light something of our own identity, when we live in a world that encourages uniformity and the elimination of our own identities. It shouldn't be like that, but that kind of initiative is like going against the current. This challenge is mainly due to the colonization of minds to which we are still subjected, consciously or unconsciously.
Over time, it has become normalized that global (mostly Western) languages are of greater value than our indigenous languages. I have heard people say “bubi is not getting me anywhere” “bubi is not going to feed me”. The challenge in this case is the difficulty of promoting the use of the Bubi language when the environment often requires learning Western languages in order to evolve professionally or socially. In short, it is a real challenge to promote the Bubi language in societies that do not value it.
The other consequence of colonization that challenges the spread of the language is alienation (being foreign to oneself). In our community, few people value their language, because they do not understand or accept that it is part of their identity, their essence, their being. Many aspire or tend to westernize, thinking that they have to do so to adapt to the world, so they consider that learning their language is of no interest to them.
Fortunately, the search for identity is what often motivates many to learn their language. In most cases, that motivation comes to people's consciousness when they travel to other countries and realize that abroad, people speak their language to connect with each other and grow as individuals and as a community. I have also seen it happen to young people when they have their children and they want to pass on their language to them.
To conclude, I would say that there is an identity awakening in the community and that initiatives to preserve and promote the language are multiplying. The biggest challenge, I think, is to ensure that the language is used on a daily basis in families, and even that it is introduced in schools, because the content offered is not enough if the teaching is not put into practice.
3. What methods or tools do you use in your classes to teach the bubi language effectively?
Since I learned bubi by speaking and listening to what the artists were saying, I use music a lot in my private lessons so that the students integrate the structure of the sentences and some expressions. I appreciate the work of many platforms such as ËTYÖ TV, which have audiovisual content that I also use in my classes. I learned our language intuitively by understanding its logic, so in individual lessons I try to awaken this intuition.
In group classes, the methods are more classical: I try to explain the theory with the help of didactic material, and we do oral exercises (sometimes using game platforms) as a review.
4. How do you see the future of the Bubi language, especially among the younger generations?
The language is seriously threatened with extinction. That's a fact, but I don't think it will necessarily happen. Everything will depend on everyone's awareness, effort and involvement. The future of the language depends not only on the young, but on everyone. The elders have to pass on what they know to young people and children on a daily basis. I do not know the effective impact of all the revitalization, promotion and recovery efforts that currently exist, but for the future, what counts is the daily use of the language and in all day-to-day situations. I think that the initiatives are good, but in my opinion, the ideal to ensure the survival of the language would be the creation of strongly conscious communities in which the language would be spoken 24 hours a day, 24 hours a day. In today's society, the role of young people who know how to speak Bubi should be to speak it in all everyday contexts and to teach those who do not. The most important role is played by young women, who should speak Bubi with their children from the cradle so that it becomes their language of reference.
5. What role do you think technology and social networks can play in the revitalization of the Bubi language and culture?
I use these avenues because I think they are a good way to initiate contact with the language. They are also very useful for learning in a playful and alternative way. However, I think they are only tools that facilitate communication and learning. The creation of the content and the actual transmission still need a person knowledgeable in the language, but as everything evolves so fast, you never know! I say that but in a general way, I don't believe in technology 100% because history has taught us that it has its good sides and its less good sides.
6. Besides teaching the language, what other activities or events do you consider essential to preserve the Bubi culture?
In 2023, the motto of the meeting of the Bubi youth of the diaspora, Ölöita lué ësèsèmbè, was ËTYÖ KÁ RIBÖYTÖ (Tradition is life). I say this because it had a great impact on me since culture refers to the way of life of a particular people. I have a deep conviction that our culture empowers us, but only if we give it that place in our lives.
I think that to preserve culture, we have to know it and then put that knowledge into practice.
To preserve cultural heritage, you have to know it first, and knowledge starts with itself. The first place of reference to learn about oneself and about culture is the family, because it is within families that the main rites for the person are performed. If the family is not anchored in the culture, it is good to approach the elders and elders of the community, attend conferences or exhibitions of the organizations, read books by Bubi authors, attend community events (and I am not talking about weddings, communions and baptisms), go to know the island and its villages to see how people live, etc. Acquiring knowledge continuously is important, but at the same time it is necessary to impregnate this knowledge with experiences to be able to integrate them.
As essential events I would mention the week of the mother tongue on the island because in one week are condensed several aspects of the culture that are still preserved. It is also an opportunity to meet many people and to live enriching experiences. I consider Ölöita lué ësèsèmbè as a cultural training space to acquire basic knowledge about language and culture throughout the year, but especially during the annual event. On the island, the days of celebration of important rites in different villages, such as Bötói day for example, are also very important.
7. Have you been able to establish collaborations with other communities or institutions interested in the preservation of indigenous languages?
It is not possible to speak of achievements because I am still starting, but in the city of Geneva, I received the support of the African Popular University (UPAF), an organization that teaches African languages to the native children of the city when I decided to start my project. The institution has helped me to make visible the work of recovery of the Bubi culture on several occasions, for various entities such as a project of the University of Geneva and the Museum of Natural History (where I appeared on a giant map of the African continent in which I represented the Bubi people explaining in a video that “our desire, as Bubis, is that our language does not disappear) or the book “126 battements de coeur pour la Genève internationale” by the writer Zahi Haddad (in which I represent Equatorial Guinea talking about my involvement in the organization of Ölöita lué ësèsèmbè for the transmission of culture to the youth of the diaspora). Currently, I am in contact with several African language teaching platforms (such as Metchoup.com with which I had a collaboration in the past). In fact, since I have taken up the project again, I have new contacts with people from Equatorial Guinea who want to preserve the Anobonese and Ndowe cultures.
8. How do you think the Bubis living outside the island of Bioko can contribute to the preservation of their language and culture?
I may be repeating something I said before, but speaking the language and practicing the rites on a daily basis is the best way to preserve the language and culture. I think what we lack is to normalize the use of the language on a daily basis and both inside and outside the home.
Outside the island there are places with a large concentration of Bubis. In that case, it would be good to get together to create activities for adults and children. The community needs many more opportunities to teach the language: there are very few classes and there are no learning spaces. This requires a high level of awareness, commitment and involvement.
Nor should we forget that the work of recovery and preservation should be everyone's. Many elders are knowledgeable about many things. Many elders are knowledgeable about many things that should not be lost. It is important that both young and old do what is in their power to preserve the language and culture. I believe that intergenerational work is important.
9. If you had to give a message to future generations about the importance of their language and culture, what would you tell them?
Future generations! I invite you to consider your language and culture as part of your DNA: they contain information from previous generations that identify you as members of the Bubi people and your families. They are as important as your existence and allow you to connect with a very special part of yourselves that you will be able to pass on to future generations. Without DNA there is no existence. Without language and culture, you will not exist as bubis. ËTYÖ KA RIBÖTYÖ (language and culture are the foundation of our lives, the roots of our tree).
10. PULÓO is back after a long silence. How have the followers of this great project received the return.
Yes, Pulóo has returned to give individual and group classes, thanks to the impulse of several young people from the community who have requested me. I started with individual classes and the group classes began on November 8, 2024, with an attendance of approximately 10 students. In general, I would say that the return has been received with a lot of motivation and enthusiasm by those who attend.
11. What is the short- and medium-term objective of the PULÓO platform?
The main objective is transmission. The important thing is that the language is promoted and that people practice it, both inside and outside the platform. In the short term, I will start with individual and private lessons, the aim of which is to enable each student to cope with simple day-to-day situations. In the medium term, I will start again with the dissemination of content through social networks and in the long term, the idea is to create my own platform to centralize the activities.
12. Living in a country with different official languages and a strong cultural diversity, has this condition influenced your daily life and have you worked hard to prevent the disappearance of your mother tongue, Bubi?
Of course it has! In the city where I grew up, everyone speaks the language of their country of origin. There are even centers subsidized by the state and embassies where children can learn their mother tongue, like the African People's University I mentioned earlier. Growing up in this context and knowing the situation of our language has motivated me a lot to work for its preservation.
13. From Ekottomagazine.com we know that you are very Africanist and a great defender of indigenous languages. What could be the reason why in Africa there is not one or two languages for inter-African communication?
The truth is that I wonder if it would really be necessary to have one or two languages to communicate across the African continent. If I am not mistaken, the only continent where two languages (Spanish and English) are mostly spoken is the American continent and we know that those languages were imposed in a criminal way, ending the existence of several peoples and their languages. In this sense, I would say that fortunately, if there are not one or two languages for inter-African communication, it is because the 2000 languages spoken on the continent and their specificities still survive, despite the multiple attempts of colonization throughout history. The idea of having a single continental language is a pan-African project but there is still no consensus as to what it would be (I know that many vote for Swahili but it is not accepted because it has a lot of Arabic vocabulary). I know that in some countries, in order to communicate easily, the most spoken language in the country or region will be spoken and it works quite well. In others, Creole is spoken like pidgin English in Equatorial Guinea and its neighboring countries.
14. In this return or return of the PULÓO platform in this new cycle, will the teaching and the contents be more of children's education or in a global way?
The teaching of the language to children is essential, but the format is not the same. I would like to form a group for parents and children with an adapted format because in the situation we are in, it is important that adults learn as well since they are the ones who educate the children. Everything will depend on the demand. The group classes are also attended by children, even if the format is for adults. At the moment, the classes are global: everyone is welcome but the format is not adapted to children.
15. The organization Ölöita lué ësèsèmbè, of which you are a member, was inspired, founded and co-founded by parents and grandparents of young people to create an entity where young people could learn about the Bubi cultural identity. Today this entity is run almost exclusively by young people, do you think there was an adequate transition or in your case were the young people in a hurry to take the reins of the entity?
The young people did not decide to take the reins of the entity. The elders were the ones who considered that the young people were qualified to lead the entity. I believe that the withdrawal of the elders was precipitated because being young and a member of the association, I still find it curious to teach other young people about aspects that I do not manage 100%. At the same time, I appreciate it because it is very formative. It forces us to research, read and ask questions to the elders. I still think that the project of that organization should be intergenerational because that's how our society works. The fact that in the end, the lectures and content are given by the elders proves it: we are interdependent.
16. What is your area of responsibility on the board of Ölöita lué ësèsèmbè?
I am involved in language teaching and cultural research. I also support my colleagues in the coordination and organization of events.
17. Do you think Oloita is fulfilling the objectives for which it was founded?
Yes, I believe that the current board of directors is fulfilling the founding objectives: to promote language and cultural learning through training, singing workshops, language courses, round tables, conferences and the annual event.
18. What, if anything, could have gone wrong with the organization of Ölöita Lué Ësèsèmbè in its great annual event which, in its first years, brought together many young people from almost the entire Bubi diaspora, eager to learn, and in recent years, participation has been very low?
Since its creation, participation in Ölöita events has varied. The second edition was the only one that attracted a large number of people, due to the intergenerational work of promoting the event. I think the unemployment during the pandemic years did not help either. In the conclusions of the young people during this year's event, they expressed their interest in learning about their language and culture.
19. What do you think Oloita should do to encourage more young people to join and actively participate in the association?
Having an international scope of activity, from the beginning, Ölöita has always used social media to invite young people to events. In that aspect, the organization fulfills its work of dissemination and convening, trying to improve the format of the videos and adapting to technological developments and ways of communicating on the network.
However, experience has shown that encouraging young people to attend does not depend solely on the organization, but on everyone's involvement. I remember that at the beginning, I attended being invited to the event by an older member of my family and I think that was the case for many young people. From the beginning, I understood this project as a project of the people, of the community. What is a community made up of? Of families. In this respect, I believe once again that families have an important role to play and that the attendance of young people depends a lot on the solidarity and intergenerational involvement of all the members of the community.
20. Currently, members of Ölöita's board of directors are attending Bubi language classes. Do you think that in the not too distant future we could have conferences and events conducted entirely in Bubi language?
Yes, all the members of the board of Ölöita attend Bubi classes and that is the goal we want to reach, but not only. Nowadays, we also try to respect our tradition so we open and close each of our work sessions in the mother tongue.
There are currently two groups of language classes at Ölöita whose first objective is for us to learn to communicate only in Bubi. The evaluation exercise for level 1 is for the students to present what they have learned in a short video. As time goes by and as the students progress, we will progress until we reach our goal.
Thank you for sharing it with us. Is there anything else you would like to say to the readers of Ë Kottò magazine?
Yes, I would like to thank Ë Kottò for giving me the opportunity to talk about the language and culture that make us unique as a people, but also to all the other platforms that work towards the same direction for culture and language.
I would like to invite Ë Kottò readers who know how to speak Bubi (whether a lot or a little) to join these initiatives, both on the island and in the diaspora.
There are many ways to do your bit. For example, you could start with the children within your family circles. If you are in Bioko, you could go and teach in the villages, in the cultural centers or in your neighborhood and those in the diaspora could approach the different people or platforms that are fighting to keep our linguistic and cultural heritage alive. I also invite you to become aware that this work can be done on a daily basis starting with very simple things like teaching how to say hello and thank you. I will end by sharing with you the lyrics of Pulóo's song “Pulóo tö töwa'e ë böbé, ë böbé ë pale o ribela” (Come, let's speak bubi, let's not let bubi disappear) and reminding you once again that the work is everyone's TÖ TYI BIKÉ TUE SÓLALE (We are not many, let's show solidarity).
Activity
Promotion of culture
and the Bubi language
in thecity of Geneva
Bubi language classes in Bososo
Welcome speech at
Ölöita lué ësèsèmbè 2019
Fashion show for Loëka Concept
Nhappy Afro Hair
Alikuleti Fashion Show
Kami Awori
Licia Chery
Promotion
Borabeko (Löbërí) Napo Coffí
+41 78 942 94 14
Instagram/Facebook/ Youtube @loberysule
OPINION
BÖSUBÓBBÈ MAY MATA
WHAT IS SAID AND NOT DONE
Recently, we have been bombarded with images and videos of people proudly wearing the teka, photos created using AI (artificial intelligence) of Bubi women, videos of people dressed in teka reciting verses about mountains, rivers, seas, valleys, and ancestors, in a display that might seem like a tribute to the rich Bubi culture. However, for those of us who work directly in the preservation and promotion of our language and traditions, these demonstrations generate a mix of frustration and fatigue. What could be an authentic celebration is turning into an empty show, a phenomenon that threatens to undermine the real efforts to revitalize our language and culture.
The problem does not lie in the pride for our roots, but in how this pride is manifested. Many of these people who fervently proclaim phrases like "Ölö tö'óló luaó luépalo ribela" rarely greet others with an "ebariee" or actively engage in initiatives that truly make an impact. Instead of contributing to the rescue of our language or the documentation of our traditions, they remain on the surface, generating an appearance of "cultural activism" but without substance.
This is not just a matter of perception. The lack of concrete and sustained action has direct consequences for our culture. While some share colorful images, the number of native Bubi speakers decreases each year. The oral traditions, which are the heart of our history, face progressive oblivion. And, unfortunately, the few who work seriously and consistently to prevent this decline often do not receive the support or attention they deserve. Meanwhile, those who engage in cultural posturing seem to do so with a single intention: to gain notoriety in the field of cultural activism.
Cultural posturing not only diverts focus from real efforts but also creates an illusory sense of progress. It's easy to believe that our culture is "flourishing" because we see many posts on social media, but this does not reflect reality. The recovery of a culture requires hard work, time, and, above all, sincere commitment. It's not enough to talk about our towns and rivers; we must collaborate with those who work in those towns. It's not enough to grab a microphone at each Evobe edition and start singing the same old song that says our language is disappearing; we must lead by example and show that commitment to our own in our daily lives. It's not enough to remember our ancestors; we must honor their legacy through concrete actions.
The solution to this problem is not to stop celebrating our culture in public spaces, but to do so with authenticity and purpose. If we truly want to preserve and promote Bubi culture, we must start with simple yet meaningful gestures: learning our language, teaching it to our children, normalizing the use of the Bubi language on social media, documenting our stories, participating in community activities, and supporting those who are actively working on the ground.
It's time to abandon posturing and turn that superficial enthusiasm into tangible action. Let's set aside the need to "appear" and start "doing." Because only through collective and sustained work will we ensure that our language survives, flourishes, and continues to be a pillar of identity for future generations.
The message is clear: let's stop talking and get to work. The Bubi language and culture deserve much more than mere words. Our language and culture are not just a thing for February each year.
BÖSUBÓBBÈ MAY MATA
SOKKÒ
TIMELY NEWS
Interesting works.
They are worth having in your home library.
When the fashion for globalization and single thinking emerged at the beginning of the 21st century, its ideologues and apologists never imagined the forceful response of the peoples claiming their respective identities that they encountered. Without being aware of it, it turns out that the Bubis joined this worldwide vindictive current of defense of the right of peoples to preserve their heritage with an unprecedented energy, and it is in this context that the publication of this work, which was conceived from the beginning as a small contribution to the titanic and peaceful struggle of the Bubi people for the perpetuation of their heritage, that is to say, their identity, our identity, should be interpreted. Good reading. Author. K.opesese -Edmundo - Sepa Bonaba
Ë KOTTÒ
Editor y Productor
Diversity Ëtyö Project
Directora de la revista
Barbara May
Editor Jefe
Tomás May Pelico
Diseñadora
Böhulá
Colaboración
Eduardo May Mata
ISSN 2833-4116
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