Since the early 1900’s the Batemi have been known by the name of Sonjo. In Tanzania’s national language, Swahili, the people are called the Wasonjo, their language Kisonjo, and the area in which they live Sonjoni. There’s a humorous story of how this came to be.
During colonial times, the Batemi surrounded their villages with thorn enclosures. The only ones who would travel outside the area were the batana, the young warriors, who might be on foot for three days before reaching a larger center like Arusha.
The colonial headquarters were located some sixty kilometers away in mountainous Loliondo. It took a day to walk there, as no roads had yet been built. Although Swahili had already become established as a trade language along the coastline, in areas as remote as the Temi valley it would have been virtually unknown.
The story goes like this: an outsider, presumably an officer, was trying to determine which people lived in the area. He approached a group of Temi women who were communally farming a field. They would have been using the long mulɔ, a digging stick, in order to plant beans. One can imagine these women laughing and being astonished at the stranger’s appearance. It’s told that he asked them who they were, and what language they spoke. The women, not understanding, answered what they were doing, which was planting sonjo (lablab) beans.
“Who are you?”
“Sonjo beans."
“You are the Sonjo people??”
“Yes, (we're planting) sonjo beans.”
And with that the officer, thinking that he had captured their true name, wrote down ‘Sonjo’ in his book instead of 'Batemi'!
