Monieka

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Monieka is a small community on the Busira River in Bolomba Territory, Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It sits on the river’s north bank, about 339 metres above sea level, between Busira to the west and Bokote to the east, and it faces Boende Territory across the river.

The village gave its name to the Monieka Health Zone. Traditionally, fishing in Monieka was paired with farming in the nearby Ekonda-Moke village; the two communities traded produce and shared dances, games and marriages.

Belgians arrived in the area by steamboat in the late 19th century. They used force to compel rubber gathering along the Busira, often killing villagers who resisted. By 1894, the SAB company had many posts in the region, and Monieka’s post was established in 1901.

A Protestant mission began in Monieka in 1912. In 1917, American doctor Louis Jaggard criticized the traders at Bussira.

A rebellion that started in Sankuru in 1920 spread to the Bus Bloc on the Upper Busira. The military arrived in 1921 and killed at least 115 rebels in the following months.

A 1947 account described Monieka as an 89-acre clearing with a bush mission founded by the Disciples of Christ from Indianapolis. The mission served about 60,000 people over 17,500 square miles, with five adult missionaries and five children. They lived in four brick houses with tin roofs and ran a residential school for 450 boys and 100 girls, ages 6 to 30, offering a four-year course in Mongo and French. In 1947 a print of Warner Sallman’s Head of Christ arrived at Monieka and was used in religious pageants.