You See Us, Mama Rungu

After our stop in Lengima village, we drive the two vehicles out into the vastness of the Kaisut Desert.  Low trees and scrub bushes dot the terrain, broken only by cone-shaped volcanic hills and dry river beds.  The huts of the nomadic villages, dark in color and low...

Please Teacher, Give Us More Instruction

Visitors to northern Kenya, including Kenyans, are always astonished to see a part of Kenya so neglected and poor.  For the few tourists who come to the north, there is the inevitable comparison to the other pastoralists in the south and central parts of Kenya, the...

Amina Rage Bakes a Cake

After lunch, we drive outside of town to a local campsite with thatched huts, a long drop latrine and real showers that come down from a large water container perched above a small surround of reeds.  The dramatic mountains provide a stunning backdrop to the setting. ...

Lunch at Ishmaels

The road from Ndikir to Ngurunit is one of the worst in the district.  Last November I drove this road in the dark, plowing through sand that was at times three feet deep.  The sand was so deep that it would come over the hood of the truck, necessitating the use of...

May I Take From You Your Shadow

David duChemin and his assistant, Corwin Herbert, are traveling with us in order to document our work, and the conditions of the pastoralists in northern Kenya. Our journey begins at 6 am with a transfer from Nairobi, a quick stop in Nanyuki to pick up the...