African Diaries

The Adhola people, also known as Jopadhola or Badama, are an ethnic group of Uganda. They live Tororo District in southeastern Uganda and comprise about two percent of the country's total population. They speak Dhopadhola (a Luo language), which belongs to the Western Nilotic branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. They are primarily pastoralists. Badama is a synonym for Japadhola used by their Bantu neighbours, because Jopadhola occupy an area in Tororo district commonly known as Budama.

The Jopadhola arrived in southeastern Uganda in the 16th century during the Luo migration from southern Sudan. They first settled in central Uganda, but gradually moved southwards and eastwards. Their kin who settled northern and central Uganda are Acholi and Alur populations, who speak languages similar to Jopadhola. They settled in a forested area as a defence against attacks from Bantu neighbours who had already settled there. Unlike some other small Luo tribes, this self-imposed isolation helped them to maintain their language and culture amidst Bantu and Ateker communities.

Jopadhola speak a language which is mutually intelligible with Acholi language, Lango language, Alur language of Uganda and luo language of Kenya. They call their language Dhopadhola. The prefix dho means "language of" and jo means "people of". The infix pa means possessive 'of' - hence Jopadhola means people of Adhola, and Dhopadhola the language of the Jopadhola.