Preface
Mandombe scripture is one of the modern African scriptures invented in 1978 by a man named DAVID WABELADIO PAYI from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He didn't invent it by himself; it came to him in a dream from a man of God named Simon Kimbangu, who is significant in Congo's history and the founder of the Kimbanguist church. In the dream, Wabeladio Payi saw a pattern on his bedroom wall that resembled the numbers 2 and 5 when they are represented in a digital format.
Through interpretations of the paterns of his dreams, Mandombe scriptures were born. "Mandombe" means "for the Black" in the Kikongo language which is a Bantu language spoken widely in the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola. Over time, Mandombe scripture was officially presented to the public and gained popularity, it got recognized by the education system in Congo and more than a hundred of schools teach Mandombe scriptures, and more than ten thousand people today use mandombe to write Afro-bantu languages.
The 2 and 5 patterns Wabeladio Payi saw.
Wabeladio Payi: The Visionary of Mandombe Scripture
David Wabeladio Payi was born on January 15, 1957 in the province of Bas-Congo, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was a Christian from the Catholic Church until he became a Kimbanguist (a Christian from the Church of Simon Kimbangu (EJSK)), after inventing Mandombe scriptures. He invented Mandombe scriptures at the age of 21 in Nkamba (a town in Bas-Congo which is aslso known as Nkamba the new Jerusalem), after a series of dreams he had. When Mandombe scriptures were officially published to the public, he grew popular, and as his popularity continued to grow, Mandombe scriptures became even more popular.
David Wabeladio Payi travelled across Africa, Europe, and America where he taught people how to read and write in Mandombe scriptures. Four years after creating the scriptures, he received patent No. 2505/82 for his writing system from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Zaïre (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). He was married to Eugenie Dikembi Dinueni and fathered five daughters, and he spent most of his time writing books and developing Mandombe scriptures.
On December 22, 2011, he received the honorary title Doctor Honoris Causa, at the University of Kinshasa in the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for his work in developing Mandombe scriptures. He died at the age of 56 in Turkey where he went for medical treatments, leaving behind a powerfull scripture that can be used to write almost every Bantu language, and that could be used in scientific studies. As of today, David Wabeladio Payi is regarded as an icon for his writing system, his legacy lives on through Mandombe scriptures, and we will never talk about Mandombe scriptures without talking about him!
David Wabeladio Payi
Wabeladio Payi and the Script Revelation
The revelation of Mandombe came to Wabeladio Payi through a series of dreams and visions of Simon Kimbangu. Despite being Catholic and not a Kimbanguist, he received instructions from Simon Kimbangu in a dream to visit Nkamba. Nkamba is considered to be a significant spiritual site associated with Kimbanguism as Simon Kimbangu’s birthplace. It was there, in 1978, that Wabeladio had repeated dreams of Simon Kimbangu urging him to create a writing system. One day after seeing Simon Kimbangu in his dream, he looked up at his bedroom wall and saw patterns in the mortar between the bricks, resembling two sacred geometric shapes: the numbers 2 and 5. From these shapes emerged the foundation of Mandombe scriptures.
"Mandombe" is the name given by Simon Kimbangu, which translates to "for the black," "that has been entrusted to the Black," and "in the manner of the blacks" in the Kikongo language. He called the patterns PAKUNDUNGU (5) and PELEKETE (2). After seeing the patterns on his bedroom wall, he became inspired and developed characters (alphabets, numbers, and combined letters) from the patterns, and those characters make up Mandombe scriptures.
Wabeladio Payi’s original idea was to use the script to write religious texts in the national languages of the Congo, including Lingala, Kikongo, Tshiluba, and Swahili. Later, after discovering how powerful the scripture is, Mandombe scriptures were published to the public, and it was found that they could be used to write numerous Bantu languages. Wabeladio Payi's inspiration and writing system, is a testament to the power of divine inspiration and human ingenuity.
Simon Kimbangu
How the scriptures became popular
Despite its humble origins, Mandombe Scriptures gained recognition and popularity over time. Four years after its inception, Wabeladio Payi obtained a patent for the scriptures. However, it took twelve more years before the scriptures were officially introduced to the public. The Kimbanguist church played a very significant role in promoting Mandombe scriptures. At the very begining when the scriptures were invented, The Kimbanguist church began teaching it in schools across Angola, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as in Kimbanguist centres in Belgium and France. A kimbanguist organization called Centre de l'Écriture Négro-Africaine (CENA), played a crucial role in promoting the script through various initiatives, envisioning its use for all African languages in the future. However, Wabeladio Payi also played a crucial role in promoting Mandombe scriptures as he was the one who firstly taught it to peolple, and wherever he went, he took mandombe scriptures with him.
Wabeladio's contributions to linguistic innovation were duly recognized when he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Kinshasa on December 22, 2011, and his legacy lives on through Mandombe scriptures. From the time Mandombe scriptures were invented up to today, its popularity keeps on increasing.
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