A glimpse at the pastoral life of the Rendille people

The longer I am in this area, the more I realize how little I know - and how impossible it will be for me to really understand this life when I am only here for three weeks!  I am doing my best to keep my eyes and my ears open.  So even though I will share some of what I have heard here, please know that there is LOTS more to learn, and this is just a small glimpse at life as I saw it at Logologo.  In order to understand it a little more fully, you could go to www.sautimoja.org, and look at the sustainable livelihoods under the Kenya heading.  The Rendille people build their homes in family clusters and those homes are placed in a particular order according to your age in the family.  When we went to see the camels, we were at one of the Moga family sites.  To keep their animals close to them at night, they have pens, and the fences for those enclosures they have are made of an intertwining of brambles and branches.  I didn't get a very good picture of it, but these young camels are in such an enclosure to keep them separate while the milking happens.

During the dry season, the goats are taken long distances away in order to find some pasture for them to feed on.  They will travel several days away with them.  Once the rains come, they can bring their animals back to their home communities.  This year the rain came much earlier than expected.  One of the great difficulties is that during the drought when the animals are not getting enough food or water, those that don't die of starvation become very weak.  When the rains do come, the animals don't have enough body fat to keep them warm, so they will often die of hypothermia.  One of the farmers that Tim was telling us about lost all 135 of his animals that way - came out to see them and they were all lying in the field.  Very sad. And very difficult to recover from such a huge loss.  When Sauti Moja provides the widows with goats, they also provide them with hay and with the veterinary medicines needed to keep them healthy.  As one widow told us, without that extra support given by Sauti Moja, she would have lost all her animals.  The drought meant she lost 2 goats, but 2 survived - much thanks to Sauti Moja.

Now that the rains have come, and the pastures are greener closer to home, the goats, sheep and donkeys can be taken out early in the morning, but not to such great distances.  They can then come home again in the evening.  And then the worry will be wild animals, so the men will often stay outside beside those pens at night to make sure the animals stay safe.  That is another difficulty when a woman is alone - it is much more difficult to keep the animals safe.  One of the widows told us that she would take the goats into her house at night sometimes, both to keep them warm, and to keep them safe.  This is a picture showing a small grouping of Rendille homes.

Back in Canada, the focus is on snow and blizzards.  Here it is very much on rain and drought.  It is clear that people are very, very happy to have the rains right now.  Rather than dust everywhere, I am seeing a much different picture of Marsabit, with mud and puddles everywhere.  The beauty of the green bushes and grass is extremely welcome.  However, we had lunch today with Tim's friend Paul, who lives in HulaHula, a community about 6 km south of Marsabit on the same road we followed to Logologo.  As is common with nomads, walking is just a way of life - Paul walks back and forth between the communities every day.  Anyways, he told us that the road is even worse today than it was last weekend when we were on it.  Last night there was a huge storm with thunder, lightening, strong winds, and a very heavy downpour.  Even fewer trucks are getting through right now - he told us there are trucks thoroughly stuck right near his community.  So now one of the concerns is whether or not supplies such as food and petrol for vehicles will be able to get through.  But as another man said, "we are happy to be stuck as long as the rains keep coming!"  One of the things that I am learning as I spend time in this community is that it is important to appreciate the sun when it is out, and to give thanks for the rain when it arrives.  Both are needed.  But since you have no control over one or the other, all you can really do is simply live in the moment and know that this is the moment you have, so live it well!