The Trees of Sand

At dawn we drove out of the village toward the Chalbi Desert, a land of dry volcanic sand that stretches all the way to Ethiopia. Judy and Ali, as well as a couple of other village friends, all lifetime residents of Kargi, were interested in joining us on this...

BOMA Accolades on the Web

BOMA was recently listed as one of “50 Nonprofits Making a World of Difference” on the Matador Network, a Website that publishes independent, original and in-depth reporting on the global travel culture. The report featured nonprofits around the world—including such...

Begging is the First Born

At Judy’s home in Kargi there is a stick hut with burlap walls. It has a dirt floor, a bed made of sticks and a thin foam mattress. This will be my room for the next two nights. We arrived in the middle of the day. I asked Omar to bring me a basin of water into which...

The Face of Food Aid

The town of Marsabit is on the Cape Town to Cairo road, a main artery of the African continent. Just two hours west of this main road is the village of Kargi, home to numerous clans of the Rendille people. Like many of the main villages in Northern Kenya, Kargi became...

The Ominous Falam

When we drove up the western side of Mount Kulal to reach the village of Gatab, our vehicle had to negotiate the steep sides of the mountain. Deep gashes in the dormant volcano’s lava flows created jaw-dropping canyons that made the ascent long and challenging. The...