The Doma (or Vadoma, or Wadoma) are a tribe living in Zimbabwe’s Zambezi Valley. They are characterized by their isolation from surrounding tribes, leading them to marry only within their own tribe. This practice of close kin marriages and the resulting limited genetic pool has led to several genetic deformities, the most prominent being ectrodactyly, a condition where the middle toes are missing and the outer ones are turned inward. They usually have two or three toes, resembling ostrich feet. This condition may make running difficult and necessitates walking barefoot, but it gives them a significant advantage in climbing trees. Consequently, they view it as an advantage, even a blessing. Their reluctance to marry outside the community is driven by a desire to preserve this advantage within the tribe.
Their ability to climb trees, especially tall and complex ones, and the fact that this ability was “granted to them” through a disadvantage turned advantage, has led to the development of several myths explaining their uniqueness. They have two founding myths. The first tells that their ancestors were bird-like creatures who came from another planet called Liitolafisi and established a colony on Earth. They married Earth’s women and passed on the special feature of their feet to their descendants. The second myth states that their ancestors originated from the baobab tree itself. Upon descending from the baobab tree, they had to adapt to life on the ground and thus became upright, which forced them to hunt and gather the fruits of the land. In both cases, these myths aim to portray the genetic deformity as an inherently non-human trait present within them.
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