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Gripe of Ogieks Now Forced Into
'Modernity'
The Nation (Nairobi)
August 7, 2007
News Article By Dennis Odunga
Honey and dogs are all an Ogiek man needs to get himself a wife.
Uncommon as it may look, the Ogiek have for years shunned the
conventional lifestyle and have stuck with customs and practices
that enable them blend with nature.
Unlike the common trend where many communities regard cattle and
money as the acceptable form of paying bride price in Kenya, the
Ogiek have had a strong attachment to honey and dogs.
But that cultural practice is now facing challenges after the
community was evicted from Government forests, paving the way for
inter-marriage with other tribes that prefer cows and cash as
bride price.
The community evicted from Kipkurere, Cerengony, Kelboi and
Tinderet forests in Nandi South and Uasin Gishu districts values
honey, not only as food but also as medicine.
The dogs come handy in their hunting expeditions.
Mr Joshua Kuto, 50, who is among the Ogiek who have pitched camp
on a road reserve at Cherobon village in Nandi South District,
says dogs help in their hunting and gathering practices, which are
the community's main economic activities.
"We usually traverse various bushy sites in the vast districts to
hunt and gather fruits. We do this with the help of dogs," he says.
Following the eviction, they now gripe over the missed daily
grapes and scarce honey.
Dogs as dowry
Mr Kuto says that in the forest life, a family could receive as
many as 10 gourds of honey and an equivalent number of dogs as
bride price.
Elders Benjamin Chelelei and Kimengich Ng'etich insist that the
value of the bride price had to be determined by the ability to
satisfactorily serve the interests of the bride's family.
Now with the changing lifestyle, most families are settling for
less.
"While in the forest, we relied on honey, meat and blood from wild
animals and herbs for our food. Dogs came in quite handy in
hunting the animals we needed for food," says Mr Ng'etich.
Mr Chelelei, 52, adds that honey was the most treasured of all. He
says three types of honey were available when they lived in the
forest.
Whereas the natural honey was for multi-purpose use, the ngunuk
type, which is harvested from beehives placed on top of trees, was
used for medical purposes.
It was added to some herbs and used to get a patient to either
diarrhoea or vomit in case of stomachache.
The gosomek type is available from bees that make their honeycombs
underground. This, he says, is best for curing flu and helps in
quick development of teeth among children.
However, due to inter-marriage between Ogieks and neighbouring
communities, the former have started rearing livestock which they
receive as bride price. This has with time added livestock blood
to their diet.
Milk and beef
"Our daughters nowadays sneak into the neighbouring villages and
in the process marry men from neighbouring tribes who could
present cattle as bride price," said Mr Ng'etich, adding that this
has prompted them to start feeding on milk and beef as well.
The Ogiek admit that they have been adversely affected by the
change of lifestyle. However, they are slowly adapting to the
life, away from a place they termed their ancestral land.
The Government evicted about 390 families from the forests
following an outcry from environmentalists that most forests in
the country were being depleted through human encroachment.
Some of the community members were settled at Ndungulu in Uasin
Gishu District but the land set aside for them was inadequate.
As a result, some were left stranded with promises from the
Government that they would be resettled on alternative land.
Mr Kuto says they now rely on manual jobs to raise money for food
and pay school fees for their children.
Besides the "harsh weather", some of the community members still
shun conventional medicine in favour of traditional herbs, which
were available in plenty when they lived in the forest.
"I have a natural phobia for injections since I have never been
injected since I was born. I was born and brought up in the forest
and our medicine has been herbs and honey," said Mr Ng'etich, 69.
He says apart from the natural herbs, few stings from bees in the
forest could heal some diseases.
The Ogiek admit that although they have expert herbalists, all the
community members virtually know the variety of herbs available in
the forests that could cure most of their diseases.
The community members now want the Government to allow them to
return to the forests or offer them permanent residence outside
the forest.
Their return, they say, will enable them revert to their original
lifestyles which they cherish.
Recently, Rift Valley provincial commissioner Noor Hassan Noor
dashed hopes of resettling Ogiek squatters in their former homes
when he said the Government would not resettle anybody in forest
land.
Successful life
The PC said having land was not the only sure way to a successful
life and instead asked the squatters to explore other income
generating activities.
"Water catchments, land under forest cover and the general
ecosystem must be safeguarded against any form of depletion.
Therefore, it's absolutely necessary to conserve our forests,"
said the PC.
He assertively said that the Government would only consider
purchasing land elsewhere to resettle squatters and told them to
forget the issue of returning to the forest.
But, the Ogieks say they are willing to cope with new life only if
the Government identifies the alternative settlement for them.
"Why are we being treated as if we are not Kenyans? It's not our
mistake to have found ourselves in the forests. We were born there
and we don't know any other home," said area resident Samwel
Laldim, 39.
He added that during their stay in the forests, they used to
conserve the forests and could not allow anyone to cut trees for
charcoal or any other purpose.
This, they say, is because they knew trees were homes for the bees
and destroying them also meant flowers, which are sources of
nectar for bees, could be ruined as well.
Honour promise
And as the community members wait for the Government to honour its
promise to either resettle them elsewhere or allow them to return
to the forests, they seem hard-pressed to change their attitude to
suit their new-found environment.
They have to refocus their energy to other economically viable
enterprises and adapt to the emerging living standards in their
temporal home, in the hope that one day, they will have a place to
call home.
The small gardens next to their makeshift structures in Nandi are
a clear indication that they can venture into agricultural
activities.
That could reduce their over-dependence on dogs and honey.
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