Chapter 6
Data and Observations: Other Dimensions of Pastoralism
This chapter analyses the information collected from the field interviews on the subjects presented on pages 3 to 8 of the questionnaire. Analysis of the first two pages, biographical and livestock is contained in chapter 5.
The material in this chapter will not appear in the order in which it was presented in the questionnaire as the subjects of one of the latter pages, Administration and security emerged as the most important issue with the Borana pastoralists. During the group interviews it soon became evident that this subject was foundational to any hopes the Borana have of stability and survival. They saw little point in trying to discuss or make development plans until the problem of insecurity is resolved which they believe is the chief role of the Government and its administrators. Hence the priority given to this subject in the order of contents.
Administration and security 6.1
Medical services 6.2
Education and the future of the pastoralists' children 6.3
Cultivation and irrigation 6.4
Other livelihood options 6.5
Religious issues 6.6
The material in this chapter will not appear in the order in which it was presented in the questionnaire as the subjects of one of the latter pages, Administration and security emerged as the most important issue with the Borana pastoralists. During the group interviews it soon became evident that this subject was foundational to any hopes the Borana have of stability and survival. They saw little point in trying to discuss or make development plans until the problem of insecurity is resolved which they believe is the chief role of the Government and its administrators. Hence the priority given to this subject in the order of contents.
Administration and security 6.1
Medical services 6.2
Education and the future of the pastoralists' children 6.3
Cultivation and irrigation 6.4
Other livelihood options 6.5
Religious issues 6.6
6.1. Administration and security.
Within this section of the questionnaire a variety of subjects were included which related to the political situation with the original intention of finding what the Borana thought about the Government administration at various levels and what expectations they had from these paid officials.
The first few questions on this page of the questionnaire were all directed towards finding out who the Borana pastoralists regarded as their government appointed administrators and to whom they felt they could look for various kinds of assistance. The responses to those were brief as there was much uniformity and little need for discussion. The only representative of the government whom the pastoralists seemed to trust and respect was their member of parliament. He is currently a Borana, Dr. Waku Abdullahi who lives and owns a pharmacy in Meru. He is accepted as a true Waso Borana who grew up in Kinna and still has a home there. In comparison with the high esteem in which he is held as a champion of the Borana all other officials and administrators were considered to be "of little use". Councillors and chiefs were regarded as paid servants of the District Commissioner (DC) who rated little better than the District Officers (DO.s) "A chief is a government worker. He is on the side of the government.", was a typical comment. Nobody appeared to object to the fact that Dr. Waku Abdullahi received the much higher sallary of an M.P. and also operated a very successful Pharmacy.
In defence of the councillors and chiefs, one ex-chief commented, "At least they stay around for a few years, unlike the D.C. and D.O.s who change more often than we Borana change our shirts." "Those government people have no idea how we live, nor care how we die." was another typical comment.
Who can help the Borana in times of need.
In reply to the four part question as to who do they think can help the Borana people: a/ In times of drought and starvation. b/ In times of human sickness and death, the answers from both Christian and Muslims were - "only the missionaries". c/ In times of animal sickness - the reply was mostly "only God" with little mention of the government veterinary services. d/ When shifta threaten to attack - there was a favourable expectation of the army, probably due largely to the fact that the Kenya army had finally taken action against the Somali raiders only few weeks before the interview period and had made a dramatic difference to the security situation. This military intervention had only come after several years of escalating losses of animals and slaughter of Borana people, so some older men stated that the army would soon be taken away and then they would have nothing but those useless askaris (police) and the home guards.
Security problems and colonial methods of controlling it.
This led naturally to the next question. "Why are there security problems in your area? There appeared to be unanimous agreement in the replies, that it is due solely to the constant pressure of the Somali, trying to take the best grazing and water. "Ever since the British left Kenya there have been problems as nobody now tries to keep the Somalis out of our land" was a common refrain. Several men said that they wanted the British government to come back as they had understood the pastoralists problems and strongly punished the Somalis if they crossed into Isiolo District. Another man pointed out that "there was a time under the Colonial government when the Borana and the Somali could live in peace but now the British have left the Somalis do as they please, taking not just our cattle but our lives and our land". "When have we ever stolen from the Somalis or gone into Wajir district. It is always they who attack us and push into our grazing -- They will not be satisfied until they have taken over the whole district and pushed us back to Isiolo town."
These are just some of the bitter complaints that came out of the prolonged reports of suffering and losses which were recounted during these replies to questions regarding security.
Primary and secondary effects of insecurity.
Besides the primary effect of insecurity in loss of livestock and lives of herdsmen during attacks from raiding parties there are secondary effects which seriously affect many other aspects of life amongst the Borana. These will appear repeatedly in their respective sections of this chapter when discussing problems and inadequacies in various government services which are not available because workers from other parts of Kenya refuse to come to work in the remote areas of Eastern Isiolo district. This is a recognised problem in any rural area where transport housing and electricity are deficient but in areas subject to repeated raiding and blood shed the qualified and salaried government personnel are understandably doubly reluctant to take up their appointments. If they do get to their posts - usually considerably later than expected, they do not usually stay long before leaving again because of lack of supplies or medical care. The Borana did not often mention these secondary effects of insecurity as to them the primary problem is danger from raiding parties. There were many who referred to the other indirect effect of insecurity, - that it restricts the use of the full grazing areas which the pastoralists need to keep their herds well fed throughout the year.
When the most experienced herd owners were questioned as to whether it is the normal grazing pattern to keep all the cattle so close to home they admitted that it is not good. They conceded that already there is serious overgrazing in the land surrounding the settlements which should be kept for the milk cows later on. They acknowledged that it would be much better to have the non-milking animals out in the wide expanses of prime grazing at present completely untouched except by wild game. They knew that they could be making use of the few pans and natural ponds which still contain water at this stage so soon after the rains but they said that it is too much risk. They told of the raid only last January when 3,500 cattle from Sericho were stolen and several herd boys murdered. They were the non-milking animals which had been sent northwards across to the other side of the river. The army were called to pursue them but non were ever recovered. The herd owners of Sericho understandably spoke very strongly of their unwillingness to trust the army to protect their herds if they couldn't trace such a number being driven away with all their helicopters and vehicles.
When they were challenged with the success of the army in attacking and killing many shiftas in early February in that same area just across the river, they replied that "It was only luck that the army ran into that raiding party as they are coming back from another patrol and anyway those shiftas were just local Somali from the nearby government controlled town of Modo Gashe. How can the police and army people in a town like that not know when a force of more than 50 Somali men go out to raid the Borana. If they can't control Somalis in their own government town how can they do anything about the real full time bandits and murderers coming from Somalia with their automatic weapons."
The history of Borana/Somali relations
When another question was raised about the long standing tradition of raiding between Somali and Borana the elders of the latter all vehemently protested that Waso Borana do not raid -they do not need to. "We have the best land and the best cattle which is why the Somali keep attacking us." In support of their peaceful record they cited the evidence of history and geography. They quoted place names throughout Wajir and Mandera districts which are clearly Boran words. They even mentioned Hargeisa, the capital of northern Somaliland which means nothing in the Somali language but in Borana means an aloe plant. There is no doubt that the Borana have constantly been pushed aside and tricked in alliances with various Somali-related ethnic groups. As recently as 1933 the British Colonial administration allowed them to occupy the Ewaso Nyiro area in compensation for the loss of access to the wells at Wajir. What is most surprising is that the Borana were prepared to enter another alliance with the Somalis in 1963 at the time of Kenya's independence as mentioned in chapter 4.
In 1934 the British Colonial administration tried to resolve the conflict by establishing "tribal grazing grounds", with clear boundaries along what was known as the "Galla - Somali line". They officially declared the Ajuran as Somali which has been a point of contention ever since, as it fails to acknowledge that such a group can have double affiliation. Many Ajuran were seen wandering all over Isiolo district grazing their camels during the 1992 survey period. It was only at the end of the year when some of the Ajuran were accused of being involved in the big raids on Boran villages that they disappeared.
Current changes in Boran/Somali relations
The main difference from the traditional rivalry reported over and over again by Boran elders in all parts of Isiolo district is that now the Somali are coming not just to take cattle but to take lives. Many of the worst killers moved out of Somali when the United Nations forces and the U.S. army moved in. They brought their sophisticated weapons with them and used them to make a living as they had in their own country. They stopped vehicles, took what they wanted and shot anyone who resisted, even some who did not. Any trader who came to buy animals or sell miraa was an obvious target as he would have lots of money in his vehicle. This was the pattern through most of 1991 and '92. towards the end of that period a new type of raiding began. Gangs of several hundred heavily armed Somali, including Ajuran, began to attack Boran communities who had nothing else to protect them but a few administrative policemen with ancient single shot rifles. The attacks were not just random or isolated but coordinated on several towns or settlements to give the maximum effect of intimidation. In one particularly bold raid at Kinna about 350 Somali speaking shiftas rampaged through the small township in the early morning, driving out all the animals from the Bomas and killing the chief and 5 policemen who tried to stop them. On this occasion an army truck was able to get to Kinna and 6 soldiers are alleged to have killed between 26 and 67 shiftas,- the number depends on whom you talk to. In spite of that more than 300 animals were never retrieved.
At Malka Daka in November there was an even more brutal raid by several hundred Somali when 17 women and children were killed, many of them by being thrown alive onto their burning houses as they tried to escape. One of the eye witnesses who survived by hiding under the bed in his home told us that he heard the shiftas speaking first in Somali and then in Boran. They were Ajuran he said - not men from Somali.
The battle for land
Whenever this subject came up in the interviews, the most frequently mentioned reason for the new type of large scale attacks was that "the Somali are not just after our cattle they want to take our land as it is much better than theirs." "Those big attacks with heavy automatic weapons were intended to make us run away and abandon our place in Eastern Isiolo." There were even some in Kinna who told of direct taunting from Somalis that it would only be a matter of time before the Borana were driven out and the Somalis took over all of Ewaso Nyiro area.
"They want to drive us back to Ethiopia so that all of northern Kenya will be their land". That is why the Kinna respondents told us they took up stones in the market and killed 15 Somalis who were suspected of killing a home guard. The fact that the home guard later turned up unhurt and his unfortunate alleged attackers were probably all Ajuran does not reduce the resentment of the Boran towards any whom they regard as Somali.
The Boran elders declare their intention not to be intimidated this time,- "We are ready to fight to defend our land." When it is pointed out that they have already surrendered a considerable portion of Isiolo district - that some of the former main towns like Garba Tula and Eldera are virtually dead, they have no ready answer. Some settlements close to the Garissa border such as Skot or even Rapsu, less than 10 kilometers from Kinna have been abandoned. Other major population and communication centres like Modo Gashe and Habus Wein which were formerly considered to be Borana settlements are now totally dominated by Somalis. It is admitted that there are almost as many Borana living in and around Isiolo town as there are remaining in the traditional grazing lands of eastern Isiolo district. Still the elders insist that they will not run away; they will do whatever is necessary to keep their land in Garba Tula and Merti division where the best grazing is found in the Ewaso Nyiro area.
Who has the guns?
At the height of the big raids at the end of 1992 it was admitted that the Borana had brought down some of their ex-Ethiopian army Borana with their weapons. It was significant that the armies of both neighbouring countries had been disbanded that year with no other form of compensation than the clothes and weapons they were carrying as political upheaval over threw their ruling military governments. This would account for a sudden increase in the availability of modern weapons on the open market, even without the inter tribal clashes going on right across northern Kenya. The fighting may possibly have been allowed to continue unchecked if there had not been an international outcry that United Nations forces should be sent to northern Kenya to control the movements of Somali bandits, especially in attacks on the refugee camps and the food convoys trying to supply them.
In the words of numerous Borana men, "What else can you expect when the Chief of Staff of the Kenyan Army is a Somali." "Of course he is not going to prevent the Somali raiders attacking the Borana." Some enlightened leaders added that the Kenyan Minister of the Interior was also a Somali close relative of General Mohammed so what hope did they have for justice. Any Somali who wanted Kenyan identification papers could get them immediately even if they spoke no Swahili or English or Borana. They pointed to the recent appointments of Somali officials to top positions in Kenya as P.C.'s and D.C.'s as evidence of the pro-Somali trends in this country.
In mid 1992 one senior police official in eastern Isiolo told us that they had all the resources necessary to control and drive out the shifta from that area. The only hindrance was that every time they planned a major preemptive operation against the raiding bands moving around, the order came back from Nairobi that no action should be taken. "We even know where the camps are where those Somali are living but we are not allowed to touch them", he reported. This is obviously a delicate political subject which was not even recorded in the previous year's reconnaissance report.
The army was mobilized in January 1993 establishing mobile units in Merti, Modo Gashe and Garba Tula. With the aerial support of two military helicopters they were quickly able to drive all the shifta bands out of eastern Isiolo. In Kinna where an army truck arrived in time to inflict considerable damage on the shifta and rescue most of the cattle being stolen, the attitude towards the army is markedly better than in most other areas. The general opinion amongst Borana is that the shifta will return as quickly as they left, as soon as the army withdraws. Some even said that it would be the sort of clever thing that the Somali would do to stay out of Isiolo completely so that the army would soon declare that they were not needed and make an early withdrawal. "If the shifta made any raids then the army would not leave so quickly so we do not expect to see any Somalis for a while."
Who owns the guns has become a very sensitive point in recent weeks as the Kenyan administrative officers working through the appointed chiefs are demanding that all the Borana must hand in their weapons. Whether or not this unilateral disarmament will be total is not clear at this point. We witnessed for ourselves that some guns are being handed in - not without a few defiant final shots being fired, ostensibly to show that the guns are still operational. It is not hard to imagine the mutterings going on beneath the surface as the few weapons they have are taken away when the Borana believe that the Somalis back in Wajir and Garissa have hidden their much more modern weapons in the bush until the time is ripe to bring them back into action. Whether or not this is true is debatable but some of the Borana elders say "This is the last time we will trust the army to protect us. If they do not stay and keep the Somali under control then we will never hand in any guns again".
The role of the homeguards
Apart from the small detachments of administrative policemen assigned to the various chief's locations, the only other guns permitted by the government are those belonging to the homeguards. These are mostly old .303 rifles of second world war vintage. The men who are given the title of homeguard and allowed to carry the guns are usually Borana pastoralists with little or no training unless they served in the army at one time. They are meant to go out with the herds to protect them in the bush or especially when moving long distances to market. Whatever they may lack in training they make up for in motivation as usually their animals will be part of the herd they are guarding.
Until recent years their guns were reasonably effective and they had a relatively proud record of protecting the herds. In the last two years, since the collapse of the Somali government and the consequent proliferation of the latest automatic weapons the homeguards and their weapons have been seen as increasingly inadequate. The confrontation between several hundred Somalis armed with AK47's and half a dozen Borana homeguards with 50 years old rifles have been pathetically unfair and usually fatal.
One of the questions included in the questionnaire used in the field research amongst the Ewaso Borana was, "Who do you think can best protect the Borana herds?" The answer came back quite consistently. "We can if the homeguards are given better weapons." Occasionally someone may have replied, "The army can." but then added, "Who knows how long they are going to stay ...Once they go we will be worse off than before as they have taken away so many of our guns."
Within this section of the questionnaire a variety of subjects were included which related to the political situation with the original intention of finding what the Borana thought about the Government administration at various levels and what expectations they had from these paid officials.
The first few questions on this page of the questionnaire were all directed towards finding out who the Borana pastoralists regarded as their government appointed administrators and to whom they felt they could look for various kinds of assistance. The responses to those were brief as there was much uniformity and little need for discussion. The only representative of the government whom the pastoralists seemed to trust and respect was their member of parliament. He is currently a Borana, Dr. Waku Abdullahi who lives and owns a pharmacy in Meru. He is accepted as a true Waso Borana who grew up in Kinna and still has a home there. In comparison with the high esteem in which he is held as a champion of the Borana all other officials and administrators were considered to be "of little use". Councillors and chiefs were regarded as paid servants of the District Commissioner (DC) who rated little better than the District Officers (DO.s) "A chief is a government worker. He is on the side of the government.", was a typical comment. Nobody appeared to object to the fact that Dr. Waku Abdullahi received the much higher sallary of an M.P. and also operated a very successful Pharmacy.
In defence of the councillors and chiefs, one ex-chief commented, "At least they stay around for a few years, unlike the D.C. and D.O.s who change more often than we Borana change our shirts." "Those government people have no idea how we live, nor care how we die." was another typical comment.
Who can help the Borana in times of need.
In reply to the four part question as to who do they think can help the Borana people: a/ In times of drought and starvation. b/ In times of human sickness and death, the answers from both Christian and Muslims were - "only the missionaries". c/ In times of animal sickness - the reply was mostly "only God" with little mention of the government veterinary services. d/ When shifta threaten to attack - there was a favourable expectation of the army, probably due largely to the fact that the Kenya army had finally taken action against the Somali raiders only few weeks before the interview period and had made a dramatic difference to the security situation. This military intervention had only come after several years of escalating losses of animals and slaughter of Borana people, so some older men stated that the army would soon be taken away and then they would have nothing but those useless askaris (police) and the home guards.
Security problems and colonial methods of controlling it.
This led naturally to the next question. "Why are there security problems in your area? There appeared to be unanimous agreement in the replies, that it is due solely to the constant pressure of the Somali, trying to take the best grazing and water. "Ever since the British left Kenya there have been problems as nobody now tries to keep the Somalis out of our land" was a common refrain. Several men said that they wanted the British government to come back as they had understood the pastoralists problems and strongly punished the Somalis if they crossed into Isiolo District. Another man pointed out that "there was a time under the Colonial government when the Borana and the Somali could live in peace but now the British have left the Somalis do as they please, taking not just our cattle but our lives and our land". "When have we ever stolen from the Somalis or gone into Wajir district. It is always they who attack us and push into our grazing -- They will not be satisfied until they have taken over the whole district and pushed us back to Isiolo town."
These are just some of the bitter complaints that came out of the prolonged reports of suffering and losses which were recounted during these replies to questions regarding security.
Primary and secondary effects of insecurity.
Besides the primary effect of insecurity in loss of livestock and lives of herdsmen during attacks from raiding parties there are secondary effects which seriously affect many other aspects of life amongst the Borana. These will appear repeatedly in their respective sections of this chapter when discussing problems and inadequacies in various government services which are not available because workers from other parts of Kenya refuse to come to work in the remote areas of Eastern Isiolo district. This is a recognised problem in any rural area where transport housing and electricity are deficient but in areas subject to repeated raiding and blood shed the qualified and salaried government personnel are understandably doubly reluctant to take up their appointments. If they do get to their posts - usually considerably later than expected, they do not usually stay long before leaving again because of lack of supplies or medical care. The Borana did not often mention these secondary effects of insecurity as to them the primary problem is danger from raiding parties. There were many who referred to the other indirect effect of insecurity, - that it restricts the use of the full grazing areas which the pastoralists need to keep their herds well fed throughout the year.
When the most experienced herd owners were questioned as to whether it is the normal grazing pattern to keep all the cattle so close to home they admitted that it is not good. They conceded that already there is serious overgrazing in the land surrounding the settlements which should be kept for the milk cows later on. They acknowledged that it would be much better to have the non-milking animals out in the wide expanses of prime grazing at present completely untouched except by wild game. They knew that they could be making use of the few pans and natural ponds which still contain water at this stage so soon after the rains but they said that it is too much risk. They told of the raid only last January when 3,500 cattle from Sericho were stolen and several herd boys murdered. They were the non-milking animals which had been sent northwards across to the other side of the river. The army were called to pursue them but non were ever recovered. The herd owners of Sericho understandably spoke very strongly of their unwillingness to trust the army to protect their herds if they couldn't trace such a number being driven away with all their helicopters and vehicles.
When they were challenged with the success of the army in attacking and killing many shiftas in early February in that same area just across the river, they replied that "It was only luck that the army ran into that raiding party as they are coming back from another patrol and anyway those shiftas were just local Somali from the nearby government controlled town of Modo Gashe. How can the police and army people in a town like that not know when a force of more than 50 Somali men go out to raid the Borana. If they can't control Somalis in their own government town how can they do anything about the real full time bandits and murderers coming from Somalia with their automatic weapons."
The history of Borana/Somali relations
When another question was raised about the long standing tradition of raiding between Somali and Borana the elders of the latter all vehemently protested that Waso Borana do not raid -they do not need to. "We have the best land and the best cattle which is why the Somali keep attacking us." In support of their peaceful record they cited the evidence of history and geography. They quoted place names throughout Wajir and Mandera districts which are clearly Boran words. They even mentioned Hargeisa, the capital of northern Somaliland which means nothing in the Somali language but in Borana means an aloe plant. There is no doubt that the Borana have constantly been pushed aside and tricked in alliances with various Somali-related ethnic groups. As recently as 1933 the British Colonial administration allowed them to occupy the Ewaso Nyiro area in compensation for the loss of access to the wells at Wajir. What is most surprising is that the Borana were prepared to enter another alliance with the Somalis in 1963 at the time of Kenya's independence as mentioned in chapter 4.
In 1934 the British Colonial administration tried to resolve the conflict by establishing "tribal grazing grounds", with clear boundaries along what was known as the "Galla - Somali line". They officially declared the Ajuran as Somali which has been a point of contention ever since, as it fails to acknowledge that such a group can have double affiliation. Many Ajuran were seen wandering all over Isiolo district grazing their camels during the 1992 survey period. It was only at the end of the year when some of the Ajuran were accused of being involved in the big raids on Boran villages that they disappeared.
Current changes in Boran/Somali relations
The main difference from the traditional rivalry reported over and over again by Boran elders in all parts of Isiolo district is that now the Somali are coming not just to take cattle but to take lives. Many of the worst killers moved out of Somali when the United Nations forces and the U.S. army moved in. They brought their sophisticated weapons with them and used them to make a living as they had in their own country. They stopped vehicles, took what they wanted and shot anyone who resisted, even some who did not. Any trader who came to buy animals or sell miraa was an obvious target as he would have lots of money in his vehicle. This was the pattern through most of 1991 and '92. towards the end of that period a new type of raiding began. Gangs of several hundred heavily armed Somali, including Ajuran, began to attack Boran communities who had nothing else to protect them but a few administrative policemen with ancient single shot rifles. The attacks were not just random or isolated but coordinated on several towns or settlements to give the maximum effect of intimidation. In one particularly bold raid at Kinna about 350 Somali speaking shiftas rampaged through the small township in the early morning, driving out all the animals from the Bomas and killing the chief and 5 policemen who tried to stop them. On this occasion an army truck was able to get to Kinna and 6 soldiers are alleged to have killed between 26 and 67 shiftas,- the number depends on whom you talk to. In spite of that more than 300 animals were never retrieved.
At Malka Daka in November there was an even more brutal raid by several hundred Somali when 17 women and children were killed, many of them by being thrown alive onto their burning houses as they tried to escape. One of the eye witnesses who survived by hiding under the bed in his home told us that he heard the shiftas speaking first in Somali and then in Boran. They were Ajuran he said - not men from Somali.
The battle for land
Whenever this subject came up in the interviews, the most frequently mentioned reason for the new type of large scale attacks was that "the Somali are not just after our cattle they want to take our land as it is much better than theirs." "Those big attacks with heavy automatic weapons were intended to make us run away and abandon our place in Eastern Isiolo." There were even some in Kinna who told of direct taunting from Somalis that it would only be a matter of time before the Borana were driven out and the Somalis took over all of Ewaso Nyiro area.
"They want to drive us back to Ethiopia so that all of northern Kenya will be their land". That is why the Kinna respondents told us they took up stones in the market and killed 15 Somalis who were suspected of killing a home guard. The fact that the home guard later turned up unhurt and his unfortunate alleged attackers were probably all Ajuran does not reduce the resentment of the Boran towards any whom they regard as Somali.
The Boran elders declare their intention not to be intimidated this time,- "We are ready to fight to defend our land." When it is pointed out that they have already surrendered a considerable portion of Isiolo district - that some of the former main towns like Garba Tula and Eldera are virtually dead, they have no ready answer. Some settlements close to the Garissa border such as Skot or even Rapsu, less than 10 kilometers from Kinna have been abandoned. Other major population and communication centres like Modo Gashe and Habus Wein which were formerly considered to be Borana settlements are now totally dominated by Somalis. It is admitted that there are almost as many Borana living in and around Isiolo town as there are remaining in the traditional grazing lands of eastern Isiolo district. Still the elders insist that they will not run away; they will do whatever is necessary to keep their land in Garba Tula and Merti division where the best grazing is found in the Ewaso Nyiro area.
Who has the guns?
At the height of the big raids at the end of 1992 it was admitted that the Borana had brought down some of their ex-Ethiopian army Borana with their weapons. It was significant that the armies of both neighbouring countries had been disbanded that year with no other form of compensation than the clothes and weapons they were carrying as political upheaval over threw their ruling military governments. This would account for a sudden increase in the availability of modern weapons on the open market, even without the inter tribal clashes going on right across northern Kenya. The fighting may possibly have been allowed to continue unchecked if there had not been an international outcry that United Nations forces should be sent to northern Kenya to control the movements of Somali bandits, especially in attacks on the refugee camps and the food convoys trying to supply them.
In the words of numerous Borana men, "What else can you expect when the Chief of Staff of the Kenyan Army is a Somali." "Of course he is not going to prevent the Somali raiders attacking the Borana." Some enlightened leaders added that the Kenyan Minister of the Interior was also a Somali close relative of General Mohammed so what hope did they have for justice. Any Somali who wanted Kenyan identification papers could get them immediately even if they spoke no Swahili or English or Borana. They pointed to the recent appointments of Somali officials to top positions in Kenya as P.C.'s and D.C.'s as evidence of the pro-Somali trends in this country.
In mid 1992 one senior police official in eastern Isiolo told us that they had all the resources necessary to control and drive out the shifta from that area. The only hindrance was that every time they planned a major preemptive operation against the raiding bands moving around, the order came back from Nairobi that no action should be taken. "We even know where the camps are where those Somali are living but we are not allowed to touch them", he reported. This is obviously a delicate political subject which was not even recorded in the previous year's reconnaissance report.
The army was mobilized in January 1993 establishing mobile units in Merti, Modo Gashe and Garba Tula. With the aerial support of two military helicopters they were quickly able to drive all the shifta bands out of eastern Isiolo. In Kinna where an army truck arrived in time to inflict considerable damage on the shifta and rescue most of the cattle being stolen, the attitude towards the army is markedly better than in most other areas. The general opinion amongst Borana is that the shifta will return as quickly as they left, as soon as the army withdraws. Some even said that it would be the sort of clever thing that the Somali would do to stay out of Isiolo completely so that the army would soon declare that they were not needed and make an early withdrawal. "If the shifta made any raids then the army would not leave so quickly so we do not expect to see any Somalis for a while."
Who owns the guns has become a very sensitive point in recent weeks as the Kenyan administrative officers working through the appointed chiefs are demanding that all the Borana must hand in their weapons. Whether or not this unilateral disarmament will be total is not clear at this point. We witnessed for ourselves that some guns are being handed in - not without a few defiant final shots being fired, ostensibly to show that the guns are still operational. It is not hard to imagine the mutterings going on beneath the surface as the few weapons they have are taken away when the Borana believe that the Somalis back in Wajir and Garissa have hidden their much more modern weapons in the bush until the time is ripe to bring them back into action. Whether or not this is true is debatable but some of the Borana elders say "This is the last time we will trust the army to protect us. If they do not stay and keep the Somali under control then we will never hand in any guns again".
The role of the homeguards
Apart from the small detachments of administrative policemen assigned to the various chief's locations, the only other guns permitted by the government are those belonging to the homeguards. These are mostly old .303 rifles of second world war vintage. The men who are given the title of homeguard and allowed to carry the guns are usually Borana pastoralists with little or no training unless they served in the army at one time. They are meant to go out with the herds to protect them in the bush or especially when moving long distances to market. Whatever they may lack in training they make up for in motivation as usually their animals will be part of the herd they are guarding.
Until recent years their guns were reasonably effective and they had a relatively proud record of protecting the herds. In the last two years, since the collapse of the Somali government and the consequent proliferation of the latest automatic weapons the homeguards and their weapons have been seen as increasingly inadequate. The confrontation between several hundred Somalis armed with AK47's and half a dozen Borana homeguards with 50 years old rifles have been pathetically unfair and usually fatal.
One of the questions included in the questionnaire used in the field research amongst the Ewaso Borana was, "Who do you think can best protect the Borana herds?" The answer came back quite consistently. "We can if the homeguards are given better weapons." Occasionally someone may have replied, "The army can." but then added, "Who knows how long they are going to stay ...Once they go we will be worse off than before as they have taken away so many of our guns."
6.2. Human medical services.
The time spent on discussing this subject during the interviews was found to be the shortest of all the nine pages of the questionnaire. In fact it appeared to be the only page which required considerable effort to get the people interested in the questions. This could be an indication of the degree of importance which the Borana attach to human medicine in general, but it is more likely to be an indication of the quality of medical service they have received from government clinics compared with the perceived relative merits of traditional medicine. This latter possibility is confirmed by the large measure of confidence shown in their repeated mention of a large range of traditional treatments that were in common use and in certain men and women who were believed to possess healing powers. Medical services for the Waso Borana are provided by three different agencies: the Government, the Catholic Mission and another N.G.O. called Action Aid.
Common diseases and these treated by traditional medicine.
The time spent on discussing this subject during the interviews was found to be the shortest of all the nine pages of the questionnaire. In fact it appeared to be the only page which required considerable effort to get the people interested in the questions. This could be an indication of the degree of importance which the Borana attach to human medicine in general, but it is more likely to be an indication of the quality of medical service they have received from government clinics compared with the perceived relative merits of traditional medicine. This latter possibility is confirmed by the large measure of confidence shown in their repeated mention of a large range of traditional treatments that were in common use and in certain men and women who were believed to possess healing powers. Medical services for the Waso Borana are provided by three different agencies: the Government, the Catholic Mission and another N.G.O. called Action Aid.
Common diseases and these treated by traditional medicine.
No attempt was made to assess the relative importance of the various diseases and the value of traditional treatment but there was no doubt that malaria is the most serious problem. The responses from the spokespersons as to how many children they had lost and by what sickness or accident were also revealing.
One man said that seven of his died from malaria and meningitis. Another had lost three, one to malaria and two from eating poisonous fruit. Others had lost one each to vomitting and diarrhoea, snake bite, one died at birth, another doesn't know why but she was nine years old. Again these can only give an indication of the most common causes of infant mortality as the number of spokesmen were so few compared with the large group responses which were used in recording the previous two lists of common diseases and those which could be treated by traditional medicine. Other responses to these questions invite further investigations. The most frequently given comment regarding traditional medicine was that "nobody ever dies from rabies amongst the Borana if the healer is available. "There were two medicines in particular which were mentioned most frequently, both derived from plants. One called Waldena is used to treat 25 different diseases and everyone agreed that another called Arsa is the best cure for fever.
The government medical facilities.
The largest facilities which should have been the most important were those provided by the Government at health centres, dispensaries and clinics. There were buildings standing in most of the new settlements that have come into being as part of the government plan to encourage the Borana to become more sedentary and concentrated. Unfortunately, at least half of these facilities were abandoned, unfinished, flood damaged or had no competent staff. There was usually a watchman or cleaner recruited from the local people, but as nearly all qualified and registered medical personnel are from southern Kenya, very few of them were willing to serve in these remote areas. Lack of transport is the most common reason given for their staying in Isiolo for months on end, but the danger of constant shifta attacks on these settlements in eastern Isiolo is probably another major deterrent to their going to their posts.
Lack of medicines.
In the Government health facilities, where there are some qualified staff, there appeared to be a totally inadequate supply of medicines and essential supplies. This was not only reported by all the responses to the question regarding where the pastoralists obtained their medicine, but by personal visits to the medical centres that were officially functioning. Even in the main administrative centres, such as Garba Tula and Merti, the divisional head quarters, with permanent buildings which looked impressive from the outside, the basic essentials such as anti- malarial tablets were rarely available. This problem was particularly serious at Garba Tula where there are more than 1000 students in the high school and primary schools. During the rainy season, the mosquitoes are so prolific that most students in the high school cannot survive without a mosquito net. Even then, many become sick with malaria and are sent to the nearby Health Centre, only to be told that they had no medicine. An accusation made by many of the local people was that whenever medicines are sent from the central supply depot most of them disappear very quickly and can be purchased privately from certain shop keepers in town soon afterwards.
N.G.O. operated clinics.
Most pastoralists in the survey said they got their medicine from the mission clinic in Merti as it was the most reliable and well stocked. It is staffed by young Borana men and women who have been assisted by Father Pius through their education and nurses training, and have returned to work in the clinic which he established. There are usually one or two Italian sisters helping in a supervisory role, but the day by day operation and treatment seems to be run efficiently and conscientiously by Borana staff. This is a good example of the advantage of giving training to local young people who will come back to serve their own people.
The third main source of medical help mentioned by the Borana along the Ewaso Nyiro river is a mobile clinic operated by a development N.G.O. called Action Aid. This agency has been operating for about ten years in Isiolo district, based of course, in Isiolo town. No discussions were held with their management staff to learn what their programme entails, but several evidences were observed in the field of a variety of projects. They were financing the construction of a borehole and a cattle watering station at Duma in northern Merti and a school building in Mado Gashe, on the Borana side of the town. We did not hear how extensively the mobile clinic travelled, but villages along the southern side of the Ewaso Nyiro river appreciated its monthly visits.
Payment for medicine or free for nothing.
Medicine is supposed to be free from government operated clinics and health centres, but as most of the respondents stated, "What good is free medicine if there isn't any? We would rather pay for it and have it when we need it". The N.G.O. clinics make a nominal charge for medicine but is far cheaper that the prices charged by the private pharmacies in the nearest towns. Some of the wealthier Borana said that when they needed medicine, they preferred to go to those towns where commercial pharmacies were run as very lucrative businesses. They apparently adhered to the common belief that 'the more money you pay for your medicine the better it does you". The Waso Borana living so close to the relatively affluent and well stocked towns of Meru District can get medicine more easily than the other pastoralists further north and seem to use that option quite often. If they hear that someone is going to buy medicine in the nearby towns of Meru and Maua, if they have the money they will frequently ask that person to buy medicine for the most common diseases.
The possibility of a cooperative clinic.
The existence of the established practice of sending money with a friend to buy medicine led to the obvious question during the group discussions. Would it be possible for some one or some community to buy a stock of the most frequently used medicine to have available for purchase by those in need? The question was directed usually at the settlement or semi permanent villages which had no clinic and were furthest away from medical help. As there do not seem to be any restrictions in Kenya on drugs being sold privately to anybody able and willing to buy them, could not the local people find one of their own educated young people whom they can trust and help them to set up as a community medicine supply or trader? Or could one of the duka (shop) owners that exist in even the smallest settlements, keep a stock of most useful medicines?
There was no immediate answer from the large group discussions but one of the unemployed students told me later privately why that would not work amongst the Borana. He said that he would be very happy to help his people in that way but he knew what would happen in practice. "When anyone got sick and knew that I had the medicine they would come to me and I would have to give it to them as they are all my relatives." The same situation does not seem to apply in the dukas selling consumables like tea and sugar. "People can live without those but medicine you would have to give to your family whether they had money or not". The concept of family amongst pastoralists is well known for its extensive commitments and responsibilities. Another young Borana asked the question, "Why do you think that we Borana can never succeed in running dukas in our villages?" It is only the outsiders that can make a living - the Merians, the Kikuyus and most of all the Somalis."
One man said that seven of his died from malaria and meningitis. Another had lost three, one to malaria and two from eating poisonous fruit. Others had lost one each to vomitting and diarrhoea, snake bite, one died at birth, another doesn't know why but she was nine years old. Again these can only give an indication of the most common causes of infant mortality as the number of spokesmen were so few compared with the large group responses which were used in recording the previous two lists of common diseases and those which could be treated by traditional medicine. Other responses to these questions invite further investigations. The most frequently given comment regarding traditional medicine was that "nobody ever dies from rabies amongst the Borana if the healer is available. "There were two medicines in particular which were mentioned most frequently, both derived from plants. One called Waldena is used to treat 25 different diseases and everyone agreed that another called Arsa is the best cure for fever.
The government medical facilities.
The largest facilities which should have been the most important were those provided by the Government at health centres, dispensaries and clinics. There were buildings standing in most of the new settlements that have come into being as part of the government plan to encourage the Borana to become more sedentary and concentrated. Unfortunately, at least half of these facilities were abandoned, unfinished, flood damaged or had no competent staff. There was usually a watchman or cleaner recruited from the local people, but as nearly all qualified and registered medical personnel are from southern Kenya, very few of them were willing to serve in these remote areas. Lack of transport is the most common reason given for their staying in Isiolo for months on end, but the danger of constant shifta attacks on these settlements in eastern Isiolo is probably another major deterrent to their going to their posts.
Lack of medicines.
In the Government health facilities, where there are some qualified staff, there appeared to be a totally inadequate supply of medicines and essential supplies. This was not only reported by all the responses to the question regarding where the pastoralists obtained their medicine, but by personal visits to the medical centres that were officially functioning. Even in the main administrative centres, such as Garba Tula and Merti, the divisional head quarters, with permanent buildings which looked impressive from the outside, the basic essentials such as anti- malarial tablets were rarely available. This problem was particularly serious at Garba Tula where there are more than 1000 students in the high school and primary schools. During the rainy season, the mosquitoes are so prolific that most students in the high school cannot survive without a mosquito net. Even then, many become sick with malaria and are sent to the nearby Health Centre, only to be told that they had no medicine. An accusation made by many of the local people was that whenever medicines are sent from the central supply depot most of them disappear very quickly and can be purchased privately from certain shop keepers in town soon afterwards.
N.G.O. operated clinics.
Most pastoralists in the survey said they got their medicine from the mission clinic in Merti as it was the most reliable and well stocked. It is staffed by young Borana men and women who have been assisted by Father Pius through their education and nurses training, and have returned to work in the clinic which he established. There are usually one or two Italian sisters helping in a supervisory role, but the day by day operation and treatment seems to be run efficiently and conscientiously by Borana staff. This is a good example of the advantage of giving training to local young people who will come back to serve their own people.
The third main source of medical help mentioned by the Borana along the Ewaso Nyiro river is a mobile clinic operated by a development N.G.O. called Action Aid. This agency has been operating for about ten years in Isiolo district, based of course, in Isiolo town. No discussions were held with their management staff to learn what their programme entails, but several evidences were observed in the field of a variety of projects. They were financing the construction of a borehole and a cattle watering station at Duma in northern Merti and a school building in Mado Gashe, on the Borana side of the town. We did not hear how extensively the mobile clinic travelled, but villages along the southern side of the Ewaso Nyiro river appreciated its monthly visits.
Payment for medicine or free for nothing.
Medicine is supposed to be free from government operated clinics and health centres, but as most of the respondents stated, "What good is free medicine if there isn't any? We would rather pay for it and have it when we need it". The N.G.O. clinics make a nominal charge for medicine but is far cheaper that the prices charged by the private pharmacies in the nearest towns. Some of the wealthier Borana said that when they needed medicine, they preferred to go to those towns where commercial pharmacies were run as very lucrative businesses. They apparently adhered to the common belief that 'the more money you pay for your medicine the better it does you". The Waso Borana living so close to the relatively affluent and well stocked towns of Meru District can get medicine more easily than the other pastoralists further north and seem to use that option quite often. If they hear that someone is going to buy medicine in the nearby towns of Meru and Maua, if they have the money they will frequently ask that person to buy medicine for the most common diseases.
The possibility of a cooperative clinic.
The existence of the established practice of sending money with a friend to buy medicine led to the obvious question during the group discussions. Would it be possible for some one or some community to buy a stock of the most frequently used medicine to have available for purchase by those in need? The question was directed usually at the settlement or semi permanent villages which had no clinic and were furthest away from medical help. As there do not seem to be any restrictions in Kenya on drugs being sold privately to anybody able and willing to buy them, could not the local people find one of their own educated young people whom they can trust and help them to set up as a community medicine supply or trader? Or could one of the duka (shop) owners that exist in even the smallest settlements, keep a stock of most useful medicines?
There was no immediate answer from the large group discussions but one of the unemployed students told me later privately why that would not work amongst the Borana. He said that he would be very happy to help his people in that way but he knew what would happen in practice. "When anyone got sick and knew that I had the medicine they would come to me and I would have to give it to them as they are all my relatives." The same situation does not seem to apply in the dukas selling consumables like tea and sugar. "People can live without those but medicine you would have to give to your family whether they had money or not". The concept of family amongst pastoralists is well known for its extensive commitments and responsibilities. Another young Borana asked the question, "Why do you think that we Borana can never succeed in running dukas in our villages?" It is only the outsiders that can make a living - the Merians, the Kikuyus and most of all the Somalis."
6.3. Education and the future for the pastoralists' children.
This subject proved to be a source of fruitful discussion amongst the Borana pastoralists - also revealing some unexpected insights.
A high value on education.
The Waso Borana have an unusually high view of the possibilities and advantages of education probably because of certain features not found in most other areas where pastoralism predominates.
Firstly, they have the close proximity of a well equipped and established secondary boarding school for both boys and girls at Garba Tula referred to in Chapter 2. In recent years the school has been obliged to add an additional stream intended primarily for the local children of the Borana. This was 'forced upon' the school authorities by local officials and elders because of the large proportion of non-pastoralists students who were filling the school under the government competitive entrance procedures into secondary education. Garba Tula secondary school had been opened and operated as one of the top class national schools so it had the benefit of well trained graduate teachers as well as the expensive facilities built by foreign funds.
Declining morale at Garba Tula high school.
There had been a good number of expatriate teachers in the early years but this steadily declined until in 1993 there were none. The Kenyan teachers were well qualified but their motivation was often questionable as most of them were not happy to be working at such a hot and isolated place as Garba Tula. They received extra "hardship" pay for serving there but the lack of transport and conflicts with the head master led to teachers doing as little as possible and abandoning all the extra curricular clubs and voluntary societies which were popular during the early days of the school.
The compulsory addition of another stream for local boys and girls, meaning Borana or Somali, did little to help the smooth operation or academic success of the school as some of these were inevitably below the usual standard accepted into the school. and were not so highly motivated to succeed scholastically.
N.G.O. sponsorship for students and school buildings.
The second influence on the Waso Borana which has probably given them an atypical view of educational opportunities is the presence of the Roman Catholic mission at Garba Tula and Merti which provides financial aid to many local young people - mostly boys. Father Pius could not recount the number of young men he has sent to Garba Tula and onwards through higher education but it certainly came to several hundreds over the last 20 years. This is on top of the costs of building and operating the Roman Catholic primary schools not only at Garba Tula and Merti but also at several other emerging towns such as Bulessa.
He has exercised considerable influence over the appointment of nearly all the teachers in his parish. Most of the schools required some sort of boarding facility for the students beyond walking distance, the food usually being supplied by various donor organisations, primarily the Roman Catholic agencies.
The government operates 27 primary schools in all the main population centres of the district with secondary schools at Isiolo, and Garba Tula. New secondary schools were being constructed with foreign donor assistance at Mado Gashe and at Merti. He said that he was giving so much money to the government secondary schools for students and teachers over which he had no control that he decided to "do it his way". There is no doubt that he has a remarkable ability to make things happen, in spite of all the difficulties of getting supplies and skilled labour to Merti. Nobody questions his desire and ability to assist the Borana, but the criticism that is heard about him, mostly from students whom he used to sponsor, was that he wanted to control their lives. It is understandable that he should feel that those who enjoyed the benefit of financial sponsorship should be willing to listen to his advice about what training they should take. Father Pius made no secret of the fact that he felt that Borana young men and women who got the opportunity to go on to higher education should study subjects useful to their own people - teachers, nurses, veterinary assistants, water engineers and technicians. This well intentioned pressure from Father Pius was resented especially by those who chose to reject his concept of Roman Catholic Christianity and joined the Muslim side of the feud which constantly simmers under the surface at Merti.
The historic evidence of the advantages of education.
The third attraction for the Borana towards education as a good option for their children is the evident benefits it has brought to some families.
There is one individual who has set a well-known precedent for Borana educational advancement, namely Dabaso Wabera who had been appointed the first Borana District Commissioner in 1963, before independence. He had been sponsored through his education by a Roman Catholic priest in Marsabit. The priest adopted the young man when he found a poor Borana woman cutting meat from a dead elephant to feed her young son. The advances this first educated Borana had made, introducing forms of development most appreciated by pastoralists, are still remembered. Tragically he was killed at the start of the shifta wars, together with the Garba Tula chief, Haji Garba Dida, who at that time was another very influential leader encouraging appropriate development and cooperation with the national Government. They were killed in an ambush near to Mado Gashe in the nearest place to Somalia to which the killers fled. The killers were never found but this was given as the primary reason why the extremely harsh policy was adopted by the Government of putting all the Borana into the three concentration camps. Chief Dida who gave most of this information was one of the strongest opponents to the alliance between the Somalis and Borana which led to the shifta Wars.
More recent exemplary successes are the advancement of Borana to key positions such as Member of Parliament, doctors and the even more lucrative profession of registered pharmacist in the nearby town of Meru.
How many children will continue as pastoralists?
Useful insights regarding the Borana view of the future for their people came from the two questions: How many of your children work as herdsmen and how many will stay as herders? The responses to these questions were only recorded from the answers of the spokesman chosen from each group but they clearly reflected the views of all the others whom he represented. There were considerable variations in the replies from groups in different representative locations, such as those in the semi settled towns, those starting to cultivate and those out with the animals at the grazing camps and water holes. There seemed to be a large degree of consensus between the individuals within the groups at each of the various locations as they were usually all in the same employment or at a similar stage of transition from nomadic pastoralism to agro-pastoralism.
Recognising the limitations of such a small sample group the following figures can only give an indication of the Waso Borana perceptions:- Of the 14 spokesmen who had children old enough to go out with the animals only seven had children engaged in that work.
Two men had three children employed as herders, two men had two children and three men had one child each engaged in that work. This made a total of 13 children employed in the pastoral economy out of a number of approximately 100 who could be said to be of suitable age for the task. The total number of all children of the spokesmen and women was 110.
Of those 13 children presently employed as pastoralists only one man said that he did not expect his two sons to continue in that work, meaning that only 10 per cent of the total number of children are expected by their fathers to remain as herdsmen. This figure does not include all who will remain in the pastoral sector as some of their daughters will presumably marry men who are herdsmen. This proportion is probably considerably lower than would be found in other pastoral communities where opportunities for education and relatively easy access to alternative employment are not so available as they are to the Waso Borana.
Muslim or Christian education.
In recent years Muslims from wealthier parts of Kenya and from overseas have been realising the influence of education and have started opening some officially recognised primary schools. They have put considerable pressure on the secondary school at Garba Tula to have a Muslim teacher and a permanent mosque installed in the school. This has been resisted by the school governors so far as most of them are non Muslim officials or church leaders as originally established when the school was first built by a German Christian donor organization. The headmaster has allowed a small area under some trees beside the boys dormitories to be set aside as an outdoor place for Muslim prayers. It is well used, particularly during the month of Ramadan when many of the Muslim students compete to show their religious zeal by public displays of prayers and fasting during the hours between sunrise and sunset. As the month of Ramadan happens to occur in East Africa during what is usually the hottest and driest period of the year the fasting requires no small degree of discomfort and sacrifice. It is unfortunately also accompanied by the inevitable manifestations of irritability, over-zealous intolerance and even open hostility between Muslims and non Muslims who normally live together with no problems. The Muslim students are still very much in the minority but as seems to be often the case in such situations, they are exceedingly vocal in demanding full recognition and equal rights to practice their religion, regardless of school timetables and meal times.. In Kenya all students are required to take Religious Instruction as part of the government-stipulated curriculum. At Garba Tula they are offered the choice of doing either Christian or Muslim studies. As the text books and examinations in Christian education are much more attractive and easier to understand nearly all students choose the Christian stream. This may change if there was a qualified and capable Muslim teacher on the staff.
Madrassa schools and their effect.
The influence and understanding of Islam is certainly spreading amongst the Borana as every settlement and semi permanent camp now has a Madrassa or grass roots Muslim school to which the children of professing Muslims are required to go every day for two hours. In communities where there is a government primary school the students go directly from that to the Madrassa school. The teachers are usually inadequately trained, knowing only how to make the children chant verses from the Koran without understanding the Arabic, as the teacher himself is unlikely to understand the letters and words he is teaching. This might be expected to alienate young minds or to inoculate them against Islam but there seems to be little evidence of this. Several of the Borana fathers stated that they wanted one or more of their sons to become full time Muslim teachers. It is apparently seen as another source of employment and income as well as giving access to power and influence for those who want it. There are several Borana young men who have been taken overseas for Muslim training. The first of these have started to return and make their presence felt in very militant terms. This will be described later in this chapter in section 6.6. covering religious issues.
Employment which seems most useful to the Borana.
Concerning which training the Borana felt would be most useful to equip their children for the future their answers reflected (1.) the broad range of Government employment they have seen and (2.) the relative size of the salary they would obtain. When questioned further about the perceived relative value of different types of work to their people they stated that both a useful job and a good wage were needed for a son to be successful. It was clearly not considered something to be proud of if the son or daughter went away for work and did nothing to help their people "back in the bush". The preferred professions mentioned by the spokesperson with prompting from other interested fathers in the group are shown in table 6.1. The numbers exceed the number of spokesmen as most people gave several different choices:-
Table 6.1. Employment preferences for the pastoralists' children
This subject proved to be a source of fruitful discussion amongst the Borana pastoralists - also revealing some unexpected insights.
A high value on education.
The Waso Borana have an unusually high view of the possibilities and advantages of education probably because of certain features not found in most other areas where pastoralism predominates.
Firstly, they have the close proximity of a well equipped and established secondary boarding school for both boys and girls at Garba Tula referred to in Chapter 2. In recent years the school has been obliged to add an additional stream intended primarily for the local children of the Borana. This was 'forced upon' the school authorities by local officials and elders because of the large proportion of non-pastoralists students who were filling the school under the government competitive entrance procedures into secondary education. Garba Tula secondary school had been opened and operated as one of the top class national schools so it had the benefit of well trained graduate teachers as well as the expensive facilities built by foreign funds.
Declining morale at Garba Tula high school.
There had been a good number of expatriate teachers in the early years but this steadily declined until in 1993 there were none. The Kenyan teachers were well qualified but their motivation was often questionable as most of them were not happy to be working at such a hot and isolated place as Garba Tula. They received extra "hardship" pay for serving there but the lack of transport and conflicts with the head master led to teachers doing as little as possible and abandoning all the extra curricular clubs and voluntary societies which were popular during the early days of the school.
The compulsory addition of another stream for local boys and girls, meaning Borana or Somali, did little to help the smooth operation or academic success of the school as some of these were inevitably below the usual standard accepted into the school. and were not so highly motivated to succeed scholastically.
N.G.O. sponsorship for students and school buildings.
The second influence on the Waso Borana which has probably given them an atypical view of educational opportunities is the presence of the Roman Catholic mission at Garba Tula and Merti which provides financial aid to many local young people - mostly boys. Father Pius could not recount the number of young men he has sent to Garba Tula and onwards through higher education but it certainly came to several hundreds over the last 20 years. This is on top of the costs of building and operating the Roman Catholic primary schools not only at Garba Tula and Merti but also at several other emerging towns such as Bulessa.
He has exercised considerable influence over the appointment of nearly all the teachers in his parish. Most of the schools required some sort of boarding facility for the students beyond walking distance, the food usually being supplied by various donor organisations, primarily the Roman Catholic agencies.
The government operates 27 primary schools in all the main population centres of the district with secondary schools at Isiolo, and Garba Tula. New secondary schools were being constructed with foreign donor assistance at Mado Gashe and at Merti. He said that he was giving so much money to the government secondary schools for students and teachers over which he had no control that he decided to "do it his way". There is no doubt that he has a remarkable ability to make things happen, in spite of all the difficulties of getting supplies and skilled labour to Merti. Nobody questions his desire and ability to assist the Borana, but the criticism that is heard about him, mostly from students whom he used to sponsor, was that he wanted to control their lives. It is understandable that he should feel that those who enjoyed the benefit of financial sponsorship should be willing to listen to his advice about what training they should take. Father Pius made no secret of the fact that he felt that Borana young men and women who got the opportunity to go on to higher education should study subjects useful to their own people - teachers, nurses, veterinary assistants, water engineers and technicians. This well intentioned pressure from Father Pius was resented especially by those who chose to reject his concept of Roman Catholic Christianity and joined the Muslim side of the feud which constantly simmers under the surface at Merti.
The historic evidence of the advantages of education.
The third attraction for the Borana towards education as a good option for their children is the evident benefits it has brought to some families.
There is one individual who has set a well-known precedent for Borana educational advancement, namely Dabaso Wabera who had been appointed the first Borana District Commissioner in 1963, before independence. He had been sponsored through his education by a Roman Catholic priest in Marsabit. The priest adopted the young man when he found a poor Borana woman cutting meat from a dead elephant to feed her young son. The advances this first educated Borana had made, introducing forms of development most appreciated by pastoralists, are still remembered. Tragically he was killed at the start of the shifta wars, together with the Garba Tula chief, Haji Garba Dida, who at that time was another very influential leader encouraging appropriate development and cooperation with the national Government. They were killed in an ambush near to Mado Gashe in the nearest place to Somalia to which the killers fled. The killers were never found but this was given as the primary reason why the extremely harsh policy was adopted by the Government of putting all the Borana into the three concentration camps. Chief Dida who gave most of this information was one of the strongest opponents to the alliance between the Somalis and Borana which led to the shifta Wars.
More recent exemplary successes are the advancement of Borana to key positions such as Member of Parliament, doctors and the even more lucrative profession of registered pharmacist in the nearby town of Meru.
How many children will continue as pastoralists?
Useful insights regarding the Borana view of the future for their people came from the two questions: How many of your children work as herdsmen and how many will stay as herders? The responses to these questions were only recorded from the answers of the spokesman chosen from each group but they clearly reflected the views of all the others whom he represented. There were considerable variations in the replies from groups in different representative locations, such as those in the semi settled towns, those starting to cultivate and those out with the animals at the grazing camps and water holes. There seemed to be a large degree of consensus between the individuals within the groups at each of the various locations as they were usually all in the same employment or at a similar stage of transition from nomadic pastoralism to agro-pastoralism.
Recognising the limitations of such a small sample group the following figures can only give an indication of the Waso Borana perceptions:- Of the 14 spokesmen who had children old enough to go out with the animals only seven had children engaged in that work.
Two men had three children employed as herders, two men had two children and three men had one child each engaged in that work. This made a total of 13 children employed in the pastoral economy out of a number of approximately 100 who could be said to be of suitable age for the task. The total number of all children of the spokesmen and women was 110.
Of those 13 children presently employed as pastoralists only one man said that he did not expect his two sons to continue in that work, meaning that only 10 per cent of the total number of children are expected by their fathers to remain as herdsmen. This figure does not include all who will remain in the pastoral sector as some of their daughters will presumably marry men who are herdsmen. This proportion is probably considerably lower than would be found in other pastoral communities where opportunities for education and relatively easy access to alternative employment are not so available as they are to the Waso Borana.
Muslim or Christian education.
In recent years Muslims from wealthier parts of Kenya and from overseas have been realising the influence of education and have started opening some officially recognised primary schools. They have put considerable pressure on the secondary school at Garba Tula to have a Muslim teacher and a permanent mosque installed in the school. This has been resisted by the school governors so far as most of them are non Muslim officials or church leaders as originally established when the school was first built by a German Christian donor organization. The headmaster has allowed a small area under some trees beside the boys dormitories to be set aside as an outdoor place for Muslim prayers. It is well used, particularly during the month of Ramadan when many of the Muslim students compete to show their religious zeal by public displays of prayers and fasting during the hours between sunrise and sunset. As the month of Ramadan happens to occur in East Africa during what is usually the hottest and driest period of the year the fasting requires no small degree of discomfort and sacrifice. It is unfortunately also accompanied by the inevitable manifestations of irritability, over-zealous intolerance and even open hostility between Muslims and non Muslims who normally live together with no problems. The Muslim students are still very much in the minority but as seems to be often the case in such situations, they are exceedingly vocal in demanding full recognition and equal rights to practice their religion, regardless of school timetables and meal times.. In Kenya all students are required to take Religious Instruction as part of the government-stipulated curriculum. At Garba Tula they are offered the choice of doing either Christian or Muslim studies. As the text books and examinations in Christian education are much more attractive and easier to understand nearly all students choose the Christian stream. This may change if there was a qualified and capable Muslim teacher on the staff.
Madrassa schools and their effect.
The influence and understanding of Islam is certainly spreading amongst the Borana as every settlement and semi permanent camp now has a Madrassa or grass roots Muslim school to which the children of professing Muslims are required to go every day for two hours. In communities where there is a government primary school the students go directly from that to the Madrassa school. The teachers are usually inadequately trained, knowing only how to make the children chant verses from the Koran without understanding the Arabic, as the teacher himself is unlikely to understand the letters and words he is teaching. This might be expected to alienate young minds or to inoculate them against Islam but there seems to be little evidence of this. Several of the Borana fathers stated that they wanted one or more of their sons to become full time Muslim teachers. It is apparently seen as another source of employment and income as well as giving access to power and influence for those who want it. There are several Borana young men who have been taken overseas for Muslim training. The first of these have started to return and make their presence felt in very militant terms. This will be described later in this chapter in section 6.6. covering religious issues.
Employment which seems most useful to the Borana.
Concerning which training the Borana felt would be most useful to equip their children for the future their answers reflected (1.) the broad range of Government employment they have seen and (2.) the relative size of the salary they would obtain. When questioned further about the perceived relative value of different types of work to their people they stated that both a useful job and a good wage were needed for a son to be successful. It was clearly not considered something to be proud of if the son or daughter went away for work and did nothing to help their people "back in the bush". The preferred professions mentioned by the spokesperson with prompting from other interested fathers in the group are shown in table 6.1. The numbers exceed the number of spokesmen as most people gave several different choices:-
Table 6.1. Employment preferences for the pastoralists' children
These figures only give an indication of the range of possible options. Again, the differences in preferred employment mentioned in different interview locations largely reflects the main interests and activities of that group. The low number given for cultivation shows that most fathers do not want their sons to go that way, especially if they are given the opportunity for education. Several times the groups stated their awareness that very few of their young people would ever go far enough in the education system to have a chance to choose one of the salaried professions. Realistically, they recognised that for the children who do not remain with the animals, the most likely choice is between cultivation or casual labour in towns.
High value of education as an escape from reality.
There are some exceptional cases of families making great sacrifices to enable their sons to be educated. The parents of several boys in the Garba Tula high school had made a deliberate choice to invest everything in the hope that education would open doors to a new way of life. One young man, the only son of a widow, took us to his family camp where two unmarried sisters were looking after the house and the small stock. His mother was away with the cattle at distant grazing. She had apparently been doing this for four years since her husband died. As it was a drought time that year she had been away for several months and was not expected back until the rain and the grass returned. This gives some indication of the high value education commands amongst some of the Borana. [1]
High value of education as an escape from reality.
There are some exceptional cases of families making great sacrifices to enable their sons to be educated. The parents of several boys in the Garba Tula high school had made a deliberate choice to invest everything in the hope that education would open doors to a new way of life. One young man, the only son of a widow, took us to his family camp where two unmarried sisters were looking after the house and the small stock. His mother was away with the cattle at distant grazing. She had apparently been doing this for four years since her husband died. As it was a drought time that year she had been away for several months and was not expected back until the rain and the grass returned. This gives some indication of the high value education commands amongst some of the Borana. [1]
6.4. Cultivation and irrigation.
As already reported, cultivation rates low in the choice of employment and alternative livelihoods for the Borana. In reality, however, it is becoming increasingly common. It is the only alternative which allows them to stay near their animals and hopefully supplement the food and cash obtained from pastoralism.
A considerable proportion of the time spent in field interviews in both survey periods was given to visiting and listening to people who were entering the agricultural sector - some trying to survive entirely on cultivation as all their animals had died or been stolen, others doing it as a secondary activity. [2]
The beginning of cultivation on the Ewaso Nyiro river.
The Waso Borana in Eastern Isiolo have the possibility of an alternative or supplementary means of acquiring food from the Ewaso Nyiro river which runs periodically from West to East through the heart of Isiolo District. Unfortunately, the timing and quantity of water that will flow is highly erratic and unpredictable, usually several times a year, sometimes for six to eight months, occasionally running for a whole year without stopping but at great variations in volume.
Before the river enters the Lorian swamp at the eastern end of the Borana territory, there are several large areas on both sides of the river bed which can be used for cultivation as it flows through relatively flat land, very close to ground level. These areas appear to be flood plains where the river has frequently changed its course, moving laterally many kilometers. The soil is fertile being mostly alluvial deposit but also therefore highly unstable and easily eroded. The water is often heavily laden with silt and contains high quantities of salt and other minerals which have caused considerable problems on some early irrigation projects
The information gathered during the field research indicates that the Borana first began to practice cultivation between the years 1968 -74, . This suggests that the change was an aftermath of the shifta wars, when the Borana in Isiolo District lost so many of their cattle, at least 90 percent. (See chapter 4.6)
There were a few respondents who stated that their fathers and grandfathers had attempted cultivation in Ethiopia before they came to Isiolo. These were the first to attempt riverine cultivation. Their efforts usually consist of a hand dug irrigation channel taking water from a suitable point of the river to the communal gardens which were typically cleared out of thick bush. The thorn scrub is used to form a fence to keep the animals out. Usually some larger trees and branches are placed in the river bed to direct the water from the falling river into the irrigation canal for as long as possible.
The destruction caused by the river flooding.
The major problem with this crude form of irrigation system is that when the full flood comes down the river, which can occur several times a year, the irrigation canal can quickly turn into the main river course. This means not only that the shambas (gardens) can be swept away by flooding or rapid erosion but the course of the river itself can shift several kilometres in a very short time, the riverine plain consisting mostly of sand with small areas of alluvial soil which has been deposited by previous floods. As the cultivators naturally like to choose the patches of relatively fertile soil as close to their settlements as possible these shifts in the river course have led to some of the settlements having to be moved several times in the past ten years. This was a minor inconvenience as long as the Borana were using their traditional type of portable houses constructed of laminated stick beams and grass mats. The major upheaval and losses have come as the government and N.G.O.s have been trying to encourage the people to build permanent townships with tin roofs and mud walls. Schools and clinics have been built of cement block or prefabricated wooden walls or concrete foundations. There have obviously been some poorly sited projects but it is chiefly the shambas and the irrigation canals which have caused the loss of modern facilities and physical capital in this way.
An expensive clinic complex provided by the British Government only two years before had been abandoned and not replaced. School buildings in two places had been moved three times in five years. This is particularly discouraging for the people who had to construct those buildings with community labour and resources. [3]
The district development plans for cultivation
The District Development Plan for the period 1989-1993 proposes that one of the primary resources is the potential of the four perennial rivers in Isiolo District . In fact three of these are just small spring fed streams, which rapidly disappear into the lowlands. The only large river is the Ewaso Nyiro which is very unpredictable. It seems to cause almost as much damage in flood as it does in drought.
The Development Plan suggests that "the potential of these rivers could be tapped for economic development by constructing dams and pans to store excess surface water when the rivers flood." This is technically possible but the prohibitive costs of construction and maintenance should have precluded serious consideration. Most of the attempts made in the last 15 years to harness or even just to bridge the Ewaso river at its eastern end have failed except to provide expensive examples of inappropriate development. (See section 4.8.)
The current District Development Plan 1989-1993 states that the agricultural "strategy over the plan period will be towards increasing agricultural output....To achieve this,...funds will be mobilised to provide irrigation facilities along the few rivers." It states that to date "minor irrigation schemes on the whole have not been very successful. Hence the low crop production within the District". This statement needs to be critically examined. In reality what is manifestly obvious is that the minor and unofficial schemes are still functioning whilst the one large Government planned administered irrigation project has collapsed spectacularly. (See section 2.5.)
Small scale and informal irrigated cultivation.
Besides these official and unofficial irrigation schemes along the Ewaso Nyiro river the Borana have moved more extensively into cultivation in the extreme south of their territory at Kinna. There is a permanent spring just outside the boundary of Meru National Park which has been properly controlled by a dam for piped water as well as remitting the use of excess run off for irrigation. There are also several small rivers which have their source in the National Park but which flow to fertile areas outside it - including a considerable amount of black cotton soil around Kinna. This area is not considered good for grazing due to the diseases caused by ticks which are prevalent in the more verdant vegetation. This has meant that many Borana who lost all their animals or who did not have enough for survival moved to Kinna to try their hand at cultivation.
The collapse of a successful scheme due to insecurity.
About 13 years ago the N.C.C.K began a new venture at a very suitable place called Rapsu about 10 kms from Kinna. This was a proper resettlement scheme for destitute Borana families who were given about one acre of good land and the essential assistance to get started. As Rapsu was so close to the Game Park considerable investment was needed to try to construct an elephant-proof fence around the well watered scheme. Two hundred families were doing well making enough money to build their own tin roofed houses when a serious shifta attack in 1988 took 10 lives. This caused all the people to flee, abandoning their homes and gardens; nobody had been willing to go back by 1993. Not only are 200 families again rendered destitute but also a serious reduction has occurred of food sold in the Kinna market.
The buildings on the Rapsu scheme (schools, stores and offices) are now being destroyed by white ants and thieves taking the roof sheeting, doors and windows. It would be tragic if this scheme is totally lost because of a lack of adequate security. It is indicative of the value placed upon security in eastern Isiolo that this otherwise successful scheme has remained abandoned for at least five years.
As already reported, cultivation rates low in the choice of employment and alternative livelihoods for the Borana. In reality, however, it is becoming increasingly common. It is the only alternative which allows them to stay near their animals and hopefully supplement the food and cash obtained from pastoralism.
A considerable proportion of the time spent in field interviews in both survey periods was given to visiting and listening to people who were entering the agricultural sector - some trying to survive entirely on cultivation as all their animals had died or been stolen, others doing it as a secondary activity. [2]
The beginning of cultivation on the Ewaso Nyiro river.
The Waso Borana in Eastern Isiolo have the possibility of an alternative or supplementary means of acquiring food from the Ewaso Nyiro river which runs periodically from West to East through the heart of Isiolo District. Unfortunately, the timing and quantity of water that will flow is highly erratic and unpredictable, usually several times a year, sometimes for six to eight months, occasionally running for a whole year without stopping but at great variations in volume.
Before the river enters the Lorian swamp at the eastern end of the Borana territory, there are several large areas on both sides of the river bed which can be used for cultivation as it flows through relatively flat land, very close to ground level. These areas appear to be flood plains where the river has frequently changed its course, moving laterally many kilometers. The soil is fertile being mostly alluvial deposit but also therefore highly unstable and easily eroded. The water is often heavily laden with silt and contains high quantities of salt and other minerals which have caused considerable problems on some early irrigation projects
The information gathered during the field research indicates that the Borana first began to practice cultivation between the years 1968 -74, . This suggests that the change was an aftermath of the shifta wars, when the Borana in Isiolo District lost so many of their cattle, at least 90 percent. (See chapter 4.6)
There were a few respondents who stated that their fathers and grandfathers had attempted cultivation in Ethiopia before they came to Isiolo. These were the first to attempt riverine cultivation. Their efforts usually consist of a hand dug irrigation channel taking water from a suitable point of the river to the communal gardens which were typically cleared out of thick bush. The thorn scrub is used to form a fence to keep the animals out. Usually some larger trees and branches are placed in the river bed to direct the water from the falling river into the irrigation canal for as long as possible.
The destruction caused by the river flooding.
The major problem with this crude form of irrigation system is that when the full flood comes down the river, which can occur several times a year, the irrigation canal can quickly turn into the main river course. This means not only that the shambas (gardens) can be swept away by flooding or rapid erosion but the course of the river itself can shift several kilometres in a very short time, the riverine plain consisting mostly of sand with small areas of alluvial soil which has been deposited by previous floods. As the cultivators naturally like to choose the patches of relatively fertile soil as close to their settlements as possible these shifts in the river course have led to some of the settlements having to be moved several times in the past ten years. This was a minor inconvenience as long as the Borana were using their traditional type of portable houses constructed of laminated stick beams and grass mats. The major upheaval and losses have come as the government and N.G.O.s have been trying to encourage the people to build permanent townships with tin roofs and mud walls. Schools and clinics have been built of cement block or prefabricated wooden walls or concrete foundations. There have obviously been some poorly sited projects but it is chiefly the shambas and the irrigation canals which have caused the loss of modern facilities and physical capital in this way.
An expensive clinic complex provided by the British Government only two years before had been abandoned and not replaced. School buildings in two places had been moved three times in five years. This is particularly discouraging for the people who had to construct those buildings with community labour and resources. [3]
The district development plans for cultivation
The District Development Plan for the period 1989-1993 proposes that one of the primary resources is the potential of the four perennial rivers in Isiolo District . In fact three of these are just small spring fed streams, which rapidly disappear into the lowlands. The only large river is the Ewaso Nyiro which is very unpredictable. It seems to cause almost as much damage in flood as it does in drought.
The Development Plan suggests that "the potential of these rivers could be tapped for economic development by constructing dams and pans to store excess surface water when the rivers flood." This is technically possible but the prohibitive costs of construction and maintenance should have precluded serious consideration. Most of the attempts made in the last 15 years to harness or even just to bridge the Ewaso river at its eastern end have failed except to provide expensive examples of inappropriate development. (See section 4.8.)
The current District Development Plan 1989-1993 states that the agricultural "strategy over the plan period will be towards increasing agricultural output....To achieve this,...funds will be mobilised to provide irrigation facilities along the few rivers." It states that to date "minor irrigation schemes on the whole have not been very successful. Hence the low crop production within the District". This statement needs to be critically examined. In reality what is manifestly obvious is that the minor and unofficial schemes are still functioning whilst the one large Government planned administered irrigation project has collapsed spectacularly. (See section 2.5.)
Small scale and informal irrigated cultivation.
Besides these official and unofficial irrigation schemes along the Ewaso Nyiro river the Borana have moved more extensively into cultivation in the extreme south of their territory at Kinna. There is a permanent spring just outside the boundary of Meru National Park which has been properly controlled by a dam for piped water as well as remitting the use of excess run off for irrigation. There are also several small rivers which have their source in the National Park but which flow to fertile areas outside it - including a considerable amount of black cotton soil around Kinna. This area is not considered good for grazing due to the diseases caused by ticks which are prevalent in the more verdant vegetation. This has meant that many Borana who lost all their animals or who did not have enough for survival moved to Kinna to try their hand at cultivation.
The collapse of a successful scheme due to insecurity.
About 13 years ago the N.C.C.K began a new venture at a very suitable place called Rapsu about 10 kms from Kinna. This was a proper resettlement scheme for destitute Borana families who were given about one acre of good land and the essential assistance to get started. As Rapsu was so close to the Game Park considerable investment was needed to try to construct an elephant-proof fence around the well watered scheme. Two hundred families were doing well making enough money to build their own tin roofed houses when a serious shifta attack in 1988 took 10 lives. This caused all the people to flee, abandoning their homes and gardens; nobody had been willing to go back by 1993. Not only are 200 families again rendered destitute but also a serious reduction has occurred of food sold in the Kinna market.
The buildings on the Rapsu scheme (schools, stores and offices) are now being destroyed by white ants and thieves taking the roof sheeting, doors and windows. It would be tragic if this scheme is totally lost because of a lack of adequate security. It is indicative of the value placed upon security in eastern Isiolo that this otherwise successful scheme has remained abandoned for at least five years.
6.5. Other livelihood options.
In eastern Isiolo group discussion indicated that the number of immediate family members who had left that areas to look for other work was surprisingly small. There were only four sons who had gone to other places to find work. Two were watchmen in Nairobi, one was a policeman and another was a trader. Another five interviewees said that they had brothers working in town but as 'brother' can mean many things to the Borana this line of questioning was not pursued.
The long search for training and a job..
The summary of biographical and educationally related responses indicates that 72 children of the interviewees had been given some primary education out of a total of approximately 100 of school age. Of these 20 had gone on to secondary schools and only two, so far, to higher education. The fact that only one of these children at the time of questioning had obtained a job with a government salary is not as drastic as it seems as approximately one quarter of the children referred to were either still in school or still waiting for the ministry of education to call them for some type of higher education. This waiting period can last for several years before the student gives up hope of getting further training and during those years they are usually reluctant to go back with the animals and even more opposed to count themselves as cultivators. If no further training opportunity is offered to them these young Borana have to choose either to go back to life in the bush - probably as agro-pastoralists or to drift into the towns and look for casual work.
The miraa trade and its social problems.
One of the common consequences of moving to a town is the increased exposure to miraa and the risk of addiction which renders a high proportion of young Kenyans impoverished, malnourished and eventually unemployable. Some become traders in the drug to provide for their addiction but tragically many turn to crime and die violently.
Miraa is a mildly addictive alkaloid which is obtained from chewing the leaves of the tree Cathaedulis. These trees grow most abundantly on the Nyambene hills immediately to the south of the Borana territory. The tertiary branches and leaves of the miraa tree are collected in the early mornings wrapped into bundles and sold in markets within walking distance of the most southerly Borana town of Kinna. It is taken in bulk by fast pick-up trucks to all the towns of Kenya and by desert roads to Somalia. The best quality is taken from the Nyambane hills to the airports in Nairobi to be flown immediately to Mogadishu and other Muslim cities along the Red Sea. The practice of chewing miraa is not limited only to Muslims but it has become an almost concomitant behaviour for those who adhere to Islam as it is alleged to help them in their prayers.
The drug usually causes malnourishment and extreme weakness because it takes away the desire to eat for several days at a time. When people are hungry in times of drought and famine the drug appears to be even more desirable as it takes away the hunger pains. The wealthy people in towns do not chew the leaves, just the fresh green twigs from which the leaves have been plucked, sometimes dipped in sugar and usually whilst drinking Coca Cola. This apparently gives the most stimulative effect. The poor people do not exercise such selective fastidiousness but devour the whole branch with much spitting of the masticated remains.
Miraa and Muslim practices.
There are many Borana men and women whose lives are dominated not only by chewing miraa but also by the money gained from trading it or from bringing it from the markets in Meru. The trade also provides an exceedingly profitable business for growers transporters and exporters but these are very unlikely to be Borana.
The economic costs of miraa.
The economic and social costs of this drug miraa are substantial, in many parts of Kenya and Somalia. Some idea of the financial flows involved were gained from talking with one of the most successful traders and truck owners in Merti. He was a Goan by extraction but had lived in Kenya for many years, marrying a Samburu wife. He said that for several years he made a lot of money bringing miraa from the markets in Meru to the new towns that were emerging in the Borana lowlands. He would leave Garba Tula early in the morning with a truck full of people, mostly women, going to buy the miraa by the sack full in Kangeta market. Then they would return in the afternoon fully loaded with people sitting on top of the miraa sacks which were then dropped off at Kinna, Garba Tula, Malka Daka, Merti and sometimes along to the other small towns coming into being along the Ewaso Nyiro river. He said that he gave up that business when the Somali raiders started attacking vehicles going from Garba Tula to Kinna as they knew that there was a lot of money going out to buy the miraa. He estimated from the cost of the sacks he was paid to haul three times per week that between two and three million shillings per month was being spent on miraa.
This same Goan trucker also knew approximately how much money was being spent on the cash-bought foods being sold in these same towns as he and his brother brought most if it in. He said that in some months more money was being spent on miraa than was spent on food. He also knew how much money was given by relief agencies to feed starving Borana during sustained periods of drought. He was sure that more was spent on miraa than on famine relief.
The social costs of miraa.
Apart from the financial cost of miraa chewing the social costs are also substantial - probably incalculable. A large percentage of the Borana who have gone to Isiolo or other towns to look for work have become utterly impoverished and demoralised by that addiction. Maybe they go to the towns because the drug is more easily available. Money to sustain their addiction is also more likely to be found from prostitution in these towns where there are many government salaried people who can pay for the services of Borana women. In Isiolo town there are reckoned to be several thousand destitute former pastoralists, mostly Boran, who spend their days sitting under the verandahs outside the shops that line both sides of the streets. Many will be sleeping or disconsolately begging with the only sign of life being a sudden animation that greets the arrival of the daily run of the miraa trucks. Some of these apparently destitute people will produce money to buy a few bundles off the trucks and then sell a few sprigs to other apparently destitute people for small coins made from begging or petty employment. Even the smaller bush towns like Garba Tula and Merti have their assortment of "verandah dwellers" who seem to arouse themselves only with the arrival of the miraa truck, possibly every other day.
Social acceptance of miraa chewing.
During the interviews the impression was clearly given that most Borana who are cattle owners and herders do not like what miraa is doing to their people. Very few would admit readily to chewing it themselves although a few men were challenged good humouredly when they claimed that they never chewed. Only two of the spokesmen admitted that people in their immediate family indulged and nobody was prepared to say that they or anyone in their family have engaged in trading miraa. Amongst the rural pastoralists (amongst whom most of the interviews were conducted) miraa chewing was classified and accepted like divorce: "something that is not good but we learned it from the Muslims". "It has become acceptable now we are all Muslims". The long term effects of miraa chewing is a problem to be faced not just for the Borana but for most of Kenya. The aggravating position for the Waso Borana is that they live so geographically close to the source that it seems to be relatively easy to acquire the drug at a price which may be quite small initially. It is the long term cost of demoralised and debilitated lives that they can ill afford to add to the other hardships of their beleaguered pastoral way of life. If the addiction takes hold the temptation to sell a goat or sheep in order to indulge the habit seems to be too much for many of them.
In eastern Isiolo group discussion indicated that the number of immediate family members who had left that areas to look for other work was surprisingly small. There were only four sons who had gone to other places to find work. Two were watchmen in Nairobi, one was a policeman and another was a trader. Another five interviewees said that they had brothers working in town but as 'brother' can mean many things to the Borana this line of questioning was not pursued.
The long search for training and a job..
The summary of biographical and educationally related responses indicates that 72 children of the interviewees had been given some primary education out of a total of approximately 100 of school age. Of these 20 had gone on to secondary schools and only two, so far, to higher education. The fact that only one of these children at the time of questioning had obtained a job with a government salary is not as drastic as it seems as approximately one quarter of the children referred to were either still in school or still waiting for the ministry of education to call them for some type of higher education. This waiting period can last for several years before the student gives up hope of getting further training and during those years they are usually reluctant to go back with the animals and even more opposed to count themselves as cultivators. If no further training opportunity is offered to them these young Borana have to choose either to go back to life in the bush - probably as agro-pastoralists or to drift into the towns and look for casual work.
The miraa trade and its social problems.
One of the common consequences of moving to a town is the increased exposure to miraa and the risk of addiction which renders a high proportion of young Kenyans impoverished, malnourished and eventually unemployable. Some become traders in the drug to provide for their addiction but tragically many turn to crime and die violently.
Miraa is a mildly addictive alkaloid which is obtained from chewing the leaves of the tree Cathaedulis. These trees grow most abundantly on the Nyambene hills immediately to the south of the Borana territory. The tertiary branches and leaves of the miraa tree are collected in the early mornings wrapped into bundles and sold in markets within walking distance of the most southerly Borana town of Kinna. It is taken in bulk by fast pick-up trucks to all the towns of Kenya and by desert roads to Somalia. The best quality is taken from the Nyambane hills to the airports in Nairobi to be flown immediately to Mogadishu and other Muslim cities along the Red Sea. The practice of chewing miraa is not limited only to Muslims but it has become an almost concomitant behaviour for those who adhere to Islam as it is alleged to help them in their prayers.
The drug usually causes malnourishment and extreme weakness because it takes away the desire to eat for several days at a time. When people are hungry in times of drought and famine the drug appears to be even more desirable as it takes away the hunger pains. The wealthy people in towns do not chew the leaves, just the fresh green twigs from which the leaves have been plucked, sometimes dipped in sugar and usually whilst drinking Coca Cola. This apparently gives the most stimulative effect. The poor people do not exercise such selective fastidiousness but devour the whole branch with much spitting of the masticated remains.
Miraa and Muslim practices.
There are many Borana men and women whose lives are dominated not only by chewing miraa but also by the money gained from trading it or from bringing it from the markets in Meru. The trade also provides an exceedingly profitable business for growers transporters and exporters but these are very unlikely to be Borana.
The economic costs of miraa.
The economic and social costs of this drug miraa are substantial, in many parts of Kenya and Somalia. Some idea of the financial flows involved were gained from talking with one of the most successful traders and truck owners in Merti. He was a Goan by extraction but had lived in Kenya for many years, marrying a Samburu wife. He said that for several years he made a lot of money bringing miraa from the markets in Meru to the new towns that were emerging in the Borana lowlands. He would leave Garba Tula early in the morning with a truck full of people, mostly women, going to buy the miraa by the sack full in Kangeta market. Then they would return in the afternoon fully loaded with people sitting on top of the miraa sacks which were then dropped off at Kinna, Garba Tula, Malka Daka, Merti and sometimes along to the other small towns coming into being along the Ewaso Nyiro river. He said that he gave up that business when the Somali raiders started attacking vehicles going from Garba Tula to Kinna as they knew that there was a lot of money going out to buy the miraa. He estimated from the cost of the sacks he was paid to haul three times per week that between two and three million shillings per month was being spent on miraa.
This same Goan trucker also knew approximately how much money was being spent on the cash-bought foods being sold in these same towns as he and his brother brought most if it in. He said that in some months more money was being spent on miraa than was spent on food. He also knew how much money was given by relief agencies to feed starving Borana during sustained periods of drought. He was sure that more was spent on miraa than on famine relief.
The social costs of miraa.
Apart from the financial cost of miraa chewing the social costs are also substantial - probably incalculable. A large percentage of the Borana who have gone to Isiolo or other towns to look for work have become utterly impoverished and demoralised by that addiction. Maybe they go to the towns because the drug is more easily available. Money to sustain their addiction is also more likely to be found from prostitution in these towns where there are many government salaried people who can pay for the services of Borana women. In Isiolo town there are reckoned to be several thousand destitute former pastoralists, mostly Boran, who spend their days sitting under the verandahs outside the shops that line both sides of the streets. Many will be sleeping or disconsolately begging with the only sign of life being a sudden animation that greets the arrival of the daily run of the miraa trucks. Some of these apparently destitute people will produce money to buy a few bundles off the trucks and then sell a few sprigs to other apparently destitute people for small coins made from begging or petty employment. Even the smaller bush towns like Garba Tula and Merti have their assortment of "verandah dwellers" who seem to arouse themselves only with the arrival of the miraa truck, possibly every other day.
Social acceptance of miraa chewing.
During the interviews the impression was clearly given that most Borana who are cattle owners and herders do not like what miraa is doing to their people. Very few would admit readily to chewing it themselves although a few men were challenged good humouredly when they claimed that they never chewed. Only two of the spokesmen admitted that people in their immediate family indulged and nobody was prepared to say that they or anyone in their family have engaged in trading miraa. Amongst the rural pastoralists (amongst whom most of the interviews were conducted) miraa chewing was classified and accepted like divorce: "something that is not good but we learned it from the Muslims". "It has become acceptable now we are all Muslims". The long term effects of miraa chewing is a problem to be faced not just for the Borana but for most of Kenya. The aggravating position for the Waso Borana is that they live so geographically close to the source that it seems to be relatively easy to acquire the drug at a price which may be quite small initially. It is the long term cost of demoralised and debilitated lives that they can ill afford to add to the other hardships of their beleaguered pastoral way of life. If the addiction takes hold the temptation to sell a goat or sheep in order to indulge the habit seems to be too much for many of them.
6.6. Religious dimensions.
The questions on this page of the questionnaire (no. 9) were prepared in the knowledge that most of the interviewees, if not all, would be Muslims.
Islam and the Waso Borana.
Previous experience amongst the Waso Borana had shown that at least 95 percent would call themselves Muslims even if few are practicing. In actual fact only one of the designated spokesmen was a Christian - an old man from Merti who lived quite dependent on the Catholic mission welfare available there. The remaining 19 men and women all claimed allegiance to Islam with obviously varying degrees of understanding. The group discussions suggested that the number of professing Christians was considerably less than five percent of the Waso Borana population. The first question regarding how long their family had been Muslims revealed that in most cases it was the preceding generation who had adopted Islam as their religion. Five men said their grandfathers had made that change from traditional religion, two men thought it was their grandfathers who took that decision. One young man from Moyale said that he only became a Muslim in 1980 when the Protestant church in his town "began to disappear". He did not want to be left alone. He was the only first generation Muslim amongst those interviewed.
In answer to the question "Why did your family become Muslims?" most were able to give a standard answer such as "It is a good religion and teaches us what is good and what is bad". Two said that they learned that religion from the Muslim teachers in Debel or Somalia before they came to Isiolo. One said that his family did not want to be pagans but several said that they had no idea why or "they just found themselves that way" implying they were born into a Muslim family.
As the interview period included the month of Ramadan it was not surprising that all the Muslims unhesitatingly claimed that they prayed five times a day and had kept the fast since they were 12, 15 or 17 years old. This seemed highly improbable but nobody bothered to challenge their claims. There was one particularly respected elder in Kinna who admitted that he had missed keeping the fast many times and only occasionally prayed five times a day. Interestingly he was probably the most devout and honest man amongst all the spokesmen, as he had to ask for a break in the middle of his session to go to pray and then to rest as he was weak from fasting!
Traditional religion amongst the Waso Borana.
It would seem that there are none amongst the Waso Borana who are still prepared to admit that they follow the traditional Borana religion. This emerged not just from the responses of the spokespeople but no one in the large groups knew of any who did not claim to be either Muslim or Christian. There were two interesting replies to the question. "Do you believe that the Borana have lost anything since leaving their traditional religion?" One man said that they had lost their age groups ("luba") and their sense of belonging to that particular group of men. The respected elder at Kinna said that "In the old days the woman belonged to the man only when she was on the bed. In Islam she is the personal property of the man at all times."
The Sakuye cultivator, also from Kinna, demonstrated again his divergence from the usual Borana response that nothing had been lost through leaving their traditional religion by saying that he thought "Many things had got worse for the Borana. Their history and culture is gone. They never used to seduce girls; premarital sex was unknown. In the old days women used to respect men and men used to respect women. The council of elders is becoming powerless because the young men no longer respect their elders or the traditions of the true Borana."
The impoverished Wata man from Garba Tula also agreed that many things had been lost. "The Borana, the Sakuye and the Wata all used to do sacrifices of male goats. Since they stopped they have been defeated in war".
The professing Christian man from Merti also said that if the Borana believed like they did in the old days they would not have the present problems. He recalled that "in the old days before the shifta wars, all the Borana knew their traditions well but since those terrible days there are only two choices. You have to choose whether to be a Christian or a Muslim." He chose Christianity as it is a "path that brings you close to God." When asked what Islam meant to him he replied that "it is also a religion but the things they do are not good for the Borana".
What does Islam mean to the Muslim Borana?
To all the other interviewees the answers were of course rather different as they were all Muslims. A sample of their answers were "Total obedience to God" "It is the words of God." "A pure religion leading to life after death." "The teaching of Mohammed" "Helps to know the good things and the bad things." "It is a religion for all whether they choose it or not." Other less erudite answers included "It gives peace but I don't know much about it so I sent all my children to Koranic school." and "It is a religion we learned from the Somalis but they are not true Muslims because they keep on killing us."
Christianity and the Muslim Borana.
The responses here were naturally rather different but never negative. Most said they knew nothing about it or that "it is just another religion." Several said they appreciated the development projects and the food they bring. Only one slightly educated man said that "it was a religion he had heard about which had a prophet called Jesus who can save people from sin." What was most significant was that all the responses were identical to the last two questions. The first:- "Do you think it is possible for Christians and Muslims to live together in peace? was uniformly positive - even suggesting surprise that somebody should raise that question. The second, "Do you think that all Borana should be Muslim?" received a unanimous negative reply, even from the brother of the Muslim Sheikh Abdullhai who has tried hard to radicalise the Borana to become more militant Muslims.
The overall impression of religion amongst the Borana, which means primarily Islam, is that they want to live in peace and not have to worry too much about the strict demands of its practices. They are, like all pastoralists, a people who totally accept the need for God and a religion which meets their spiritual needs. Some in the large group discussions admitted that there were many Borana who still believed in the old traditional ways but they could not follow that religion now they were cut off from the spiritual leaders in Ethiopia. Nobody in the discussions acknowledged that they followed any traditional practices to keep away sickness or evil but "there were still plenty of those who did''
Perceptions of the contributions of the religious leaders.
The only other significant issue regarding religion to arise was from the questions that asked "How is the Muslim Sheikh Abdullahi helping the Borana and how is Father Pius and the Catholics helping them?" Both men are seen as great activists and often in competition and antagonistic. Some of these conflicts will be mentioned in the following descriptive narrative but both men were seen to be trying to help feed the poor, build schools, pay school fees and give medical help. The only differences mentioned was that the Sheikh wanted to build mosques everywhere whereas the Father doesn't seem interested in building churches outside Merti. There was also a great difference in the financial and technological resources that the two religious leaders could bring to the Borana.
A new irrigation scheme at Merti produces a religious reaction
At the time of the second research period in 1993 Father Pius was playing host to a French technical team who were building a large commercial irrigation project being constructed just upstream on the Ewaso Nyiro river. It was a multi- million shilling scheme that was already proving considerably more expensive than the original estimate. Vast amounts of cement had been trucked over that tortuous road to Merti to build a supposedly permanent concrete intake and lined canal for 5 kms. to the cleared and levelled area of 200 hectares. This land was expected to be given to all the poor people of Merti who were willing to cultivate a 1/2 hectare plot. Apart from the huge destruction of riverside forest there was little to show for all the money and effort that had been invested by the time of the 1993 survey. The expensive metal lined, enclosed canal had "floated" upwards in some places and silted up inside the covered portion, requiring it to be cut open to clean out the silt. Even before this scheme was operating there had been some very disturbing conflicts created in Merti due to the bitter resentment of the Muslim Sheikh against the project which he saw as being solely the result of Father Pius' money and influence overseas. He had stirred up his Muslim faithful to protest that they were not getting enough jobs on the project as labourers, watchmen and tractor drivers. The project director from Italy had to come personally to assure the Muslims that this was not a religious project or a clever plot of Father Pius to benefit only his followers. It was a commercial project which was open to all. It was not clear how a community operated irrigation scheme could be a commercially viable business but the expatriate personnel had shown great tenacity and endurance in battling against all the opposition and obstacles to bring the project almost to completion.
This latest irrigation scheme appears to have learned the lessons from the previous attempts of large scale projects at Malka Daka and Gafarsa by allowing the people to operate their own plots instead of employing them to work on a government owned farm.(See section 2.5) The project engineers have also tried to design and construct an intake and delivery system which can withstand the destructive power of the Ewaso Nyiro river in full spate. Whether they have succeeded in this objective looked somewhat dubious in May 1993. The flooding of the previous good rainy season in northern Kenya had already swept over the top of the concrete abutments that were intended to control and guide the water into the main delivery canal. Only desperate efforts had prevented a major disaster when the river was starting to break through the retaining banks and was about to carve a new course through the middle of the land cleared for cultivation. The stone filled gabions on the outside of the bend of the river appeared to be quite inadequate to resists the power of the river in flood even though they were piled up five metres high. If the height and length of this restraining system is not greatly increased it would seem inevitable that it would go the same way as the gabions on the outside curve of the river at the Malka Daka bridge - being eroded from behind so that the river digs itself a new bed away from they irrigation project intake. There are certainly peculiar problems for civil engineers trying to work in alluvial sand river valleys to harness seasonal rivers subject to violent flooding.
The pastoralists' perception of those who attend church
Probably even more inappropriate and unattractive to the pastoralist peoples who observe these physical complexes is the sort of people who attend these churches. If it is anywhere near an administrative centre or police post then every Sunday some of the government officials, soldiers, policemen, school teachers and sundry other workers from the south of Kenya will attend the morning service, occasionally at least. There is nothing much else to do in those remote parts so going to church on Sundays is one way of passing the time and meeting your fellow non-Muslim neighbours, even if your personal beliefs and behaviour may not be quite according to Christian principles. It is this last point of inconsistency which has made the greatest impression on many of the pastoralists who are looking for a reason why they should be Muslims and not Christians. "We see those same people who sit in the church on Sunday roaring drunk and chasing our women on Saturday" was one comment which arose in the group discussions of the relevance of Christianity to the Borana. "Some of those policemen even beat us and rob us, the government teachers in the schools despise and abuse our children, the workers in the clinics cheat and insult our wives, and the big ministers and officials try to take our best land to make farms for themselves." These were admitted to be the extreme examples which usually came from the most zealous Muslims but they are the sort of stories that give Christianity a rather odious name amongst pastoralists. It seems to escape their notice that their fellow Muslim Somali brothers are doing much worse things to them without causing any to reject Islam.
The difference in attitude towards Somali offenses and abuse from southern Kenyans can possibly be accounted for in that the Muslim attackers from the east are fellow pastoralists fighting to get animals and grazing, whereas those supposedly Christian southerners are government employees who are paid to protect them and serve their needs for medicine, education and veterinary care for their animals.
Christianity is perceived as being not for nomadic pastoralists.
Another cause of offense amongst many pastoralists, is that it is often the Christian missionaries who are at the forefront of schemes to get them to give up pastoralism and take up cultivation. Some may acknowledge that this trend for many is inevitable, but it is when Christianity is presented as synonymous with settling down that an obvious and unnecessary barrier to believing the message is created. Certainly in Kenya, nearly all development projects amongst pastoralists operated by Christians are primarily concerned with cultivation and sedentarization.
Catholic/Muslim conflict
Father Pius told of a confrontation which arose about five years ago when a recently installed Muslim preacher, Sheikh Abdullahi, tried to build a mosque directly across the street from the Catholic church. The land he claimed was already occupied by several private dwellings - all belonging to Catholic church members. When they asked Father Pius what they should do about the boundary marker pegs planted by Sheikh Abdullahi he did not hesitate in advising them to pull them out. Sheikh Abdullahi persisted with his efforts to plant his marker pegs, even trying to arouse his Muslim followers to take aggressive action against the Catholics.
Eventually the government had to intervene with a bevy of officials from the district level who ordered Sheikh Abdullahi to withdraw his challenge and avoid further unnecessary confrontation. He did give up the struggle for his mosque to be built as close as possible to the Catholic church but he chose the next nearest piece of empty land he could find, building not only a mosque but a large well constructed primary school. This is only a couple of hundred metres from the even larger Catholic primary school and health centre. This means that both primary schools are in the heart of the Western end of Merti town usually known as the Catholic end. In between that and the larger Muslim eastern end are strategically located the sprawling government offices and police compound. These are built very close to the main flood drainage gully which forms what is sometimes referred to as "the green line" between Christian and Muslim sections of Merti.
This is more than just a symbolic or imaginary line; it represents a very real attitude divide within the Borana community. In terms of numbers the Muslims are definitely the largest force, but in terms of money, education and all other development activities the Catholics are the most powerful. How long the Christian community would survive without the commanding presence of Father Pius is uncertain. There are a few young Borana who have been trained as catechists and the first indigenous priest from Isiolo had just arrived in Merti in 1993.
A Christian church that is not appropriate for pastoralists
The situation at Merti points out as clearly as anywhere else seen in Africa, the problems of trying to introduce a form of Christianity that is totally alien and insupportable in a nomadic pastoral society. Father Pius has shown amazing courage and tenacity in pouring so much of his life and the resources of his wealthy Italian Catholic supporters into his Merti mission. The buildings are superb and impressive - even in his attempts to make them resemble Arab/Muslim architecture. Father Pius has also tried for years to incorporate some of the traditional Boran religious practices into his celebration of the mass. He still has some time in the service for old men to recite Borana style prayers in which the congregation all make a repetitive response. He was rather sad that recently some of the young educated Catholics had forced him to drop the ceremonies which he was trying to include involving Borana blood sacrifices. The young men, mostly school teachers told him that if they were going to be Christians it was unnecessary to continue following the old Borana religion: the two were incompatible and attempts to combine them were only adding confusion. That seemed to show a surprising degree of insight and courage on the part of the educated generation of Borana to oppose the Catholic father's good intentions at synchretisation of worship form.
On the other hand we found other school teachers working in remote areas who complained that they could not have any Christian services as Father Pius never came around on a Sunday. They obviously had no idea of the possibility of having a Christian gathering which did not involve the presence of a Catholic father to celebrate the mass.
The other Merti priest, Father Luciano, is a close relative of Father Pius' who is clearly more interested in the musical advancement of Merti Borana than in any other sort of development. His brass band is a surprise to hear in the northern deserts of East Africa but that would presumably last as long as Father Pius's giant T.V. screen if the white fathers were to leave.
Even the educated Borana who can read the Bible in three different languages including their own mother tongue seemed to have no practical experience in reading the scriptures or any other Christian literature. When asked why they had little apparent interest in such reading they replied that the father did not encourage them to read the Bible and had few Christian books.
It may be a particular problem with the Italian form of Roman Catholicism that seems to require extensive use of robes, rituals and religious chanting. The masses we observed required extensive use of music with electric organ and/or brass band, burning of incense and sacred elements moving out of and into elaborate highly ornamented mystical boxes. It would be hard to imagine an expression of religious worship less likely to be replicated in rural areas amongst people for whom permanent buildings of any size are low priority.
The questions on this page of the questionnaire (no. 9) were prepared in the knowledge that most of the interviewees, if not all, would be Muslims.
Islam and the Waso Borana.
Previous experience amongst the Waso Borana had shown that at least 95 percent would call themselves Muslims even if few are practicing. In actual fact only one of the designated spokesmen was a Christian - an old man from Merti who lived quite dependent on the Catholic mission welfare available there. The remaining 19 men and women all claimed allegiance to Islam with obviously varying degrees of understanding. The group discussions suggested that the number of professing Christians was considerably less than five percent of the Waso Borana population. The first question regarding how long their family had been Muslims revealed that in most cases it was the preceding generation who had adopted Islam as their religion. Five men said their grandfathers had made that change from traditional religion, two men thought it was their grandfathers who took that decision. One young man from Moyale said that he only became a Muslim in 1980 when the Protestant church in his town "began to disappear". He did not want to be left alone. He was the only first generation Muslim amongst those interviewed.
In answer to the question "Why did your family become Muslims?" most were able to give a standard answer such as "It is a good religion and teaches us what is good and what is bad". Two said that they learned that religion from the Muslim teachers in Debel or Somalia before they came to Isiolo. One said that his family did not want to be pagans but several said that they had no idea why or "they just found themselves that way" implying they were born into a Muslim family.
As the interview period included the month of Ramadan it was not surprising that all the Muslims unhesitatingly claimed that they prayed five times a day and had kept the fast since they were 12, 15 or 17 years old. This seemed highly improbable but nobody bothered to challenge their claims. There was one particularly respected elder in Kinna who admitted that he had missed keeping the fast many times and only occasionally prayed five times a day. Interestingly he was probably the most devout and honest man amongst all the spokesmen, as he had to ask for a break in the middle of his session to go to pray and then to rest as he was weak from fasting!
Traditional religion amongst the Waso Borana.
It would seem that there are none amongst the Waso Borana who are still prepared to admit that they follow the traditional Borana religion. This emerged not just from the responses of the spokespeople but no one in the large groups knew of any who did not claim to be either Muslim or Christian. There were two interesting replies to the question. "Do you believe that the Borana have lost anything since leaving their traditional religion?" One man said that they had lost their age groups ("luba") and their sense of belonging to that particular group of men. The respected elder at Kinna said that "In the old days the woman belonged to the man only when she was on the bed. In Islam she is the personal property of the man at all times."
The Sakuye cultivator, also from Kinna, demonstrated again his divergence from the usual Borana response that nothing had been lost through leaving their traditional religion by saying that he thought "Many things had got worse for the Borana. Their history and culture is gone. They never used to seduce girls; premarital sex was unknown. In the old days women used to respect men and men used to respect women. The council of elders is becoming powerless because the young men no longer respect their elders or the traditions of the true Borana."
The impoverished Wata man from Garba Tula also agreed that many things had been lost. "The Borana, the Sakuye and the Wata all used to do sacrifices of male goats. Since they stopped they have been defeated in war".
The professing Christian man from Merti also said that if the Borana believed like they did in the old days they would not have the present problems. He recalled that "in the old days before the shifta wars, all the Borana knew their traditions well but since those terrible days there are only two choices. You have to choose whether to be a Christian or a Muslim." He chose Christianity as it is a "path that brings you close to God." When asked what Islam meant to him he replied that "it is also a religion but the things they do are not good for the Borana".
What does Islam mean to the Muslim Borana?
To all the other interviewees the answers were of course rather different as they were all Muslims. A sample of their answers were "Total obedience to God" "It is the words of God." "A pure religion leading to life after death." "The teaching of Mohammed" "Helps to know the good things and the bad things." "It is a religion for all whether they choose it or not." Other less erudite answers included "It gives peace but I don't know much about it so I sent all my children to Koranic school." and "It is a religion we learned from the Somalis but they are not true Muslims because they keep on killing us."
Christianity and the Muslim Borana.
The responses here were naturally rather different but never negative. Most said they knew nothing about it or that "it is just another religion." Several said they appreciated the development projects and the food they bring. Only one slightly educated man said that "it was a religion he had heard about which had a prophet called Jesus who can save people from sin." What was most significant was that all the responses were identical to the last two questions. The first:- "Do you think it is possible for Christians and Muslims to live together in peace? was uniformly positive - even suggesting surprise that somebody should raise that question. The second, "Do you think that all Borana should be Muslim?" received a unanimous negative reply, even from the brother of the Muslim Sheikh Abdullhai who has tried hard to radicalise the Borana to become more militant Muslims.
The overall impression of religion amongst the Borana, which means primarily Islam, is that they want to live in peace and not have to worry too much about the strict demands of its practices. They are, like all pastoralists, a people who totally accept the need for God and a religion which meets their spiritual needs. Some in the large group discussions admitted that there were many Borana who still believed in the old traditional ways but they could not follow that religion now they were cut off from the spiritual leaders in Ethiopia. Nobody in the discussions acknowledged that they followed any traditional practices to keep away sickness or evil but "there were still plenty of those who did''
Perceptions of the contributions of the religious leaders.
The only other significant issue regarding religion to arise was from the questions that asked "How is the Muslim Sheikh Abdullahi helping the Borana and how is Father Pius and the Catholics helping them?" Both men are seen as great activists and often in competition and antagonistic. Some of these conflicts will be mentioned in the following descriptive narrative but both men were seen to be trying to help feed the poor, build schools, pay school fees and give medical help. The only differences mentioned was that the Sheikh wanted to build mosques everywhere whereas the Father doesn't seem interested in building churches outside Merti. There was also a great difference in the financial and technological resources that the two religious leaders could bring to the Borana.
A new irrigation scheme at Merti produces a religious reaction
At the time of the second research period in 1993 Father Pius was playing host to a French technical team who were building a large commercial irrigation project being constructed just upstream on the Ewaso Nyiro river. It was a multi- million shilling scheme that was already proving considerably more expensive than the original estimate. Vast amounts of cement had been trucked over that tortuous road to Merti to build a supposedly permanent concrete intake and lined canal for 5 kms. to the cleared and levelled area of 200 hectares. This land was expected to be given to all the poor people of Merti who were willing to cultivate a 1/2 hectare plot. Apart from the huge destruction of riverside forest there was little to show for all the money and effort that had been invested by the time of the 1993 survey. The expensive metal lined, enclosed canal had "floated" upwards in some places and silted up inside the covered portion, requiring it to be cut open to clean out the silt. Even before this scheme was operating there had been some very disturbing conflicts created in Merti due to the bitter resentment of the Muslim Sheikh against the project which he saw as being solely the result of Father Pius' money and influence overseas. He had stirred up his Muslim faithful to protest that they were not getting enough jobs on the project as labourers, watchmen and tractor drivers. The project director from Italy had to come personally to assure the Muslims that this was not a religious project or a clever plot of Father Pius to benefit only his followers. It was a commercial project which was open to all. It was not clear how a community operated irrigation scheme could be a commercially viable business but the expatriate personnel had shown great tenacity and endurance in battling against all the opposition and obstacles to bring the project almost to completion.
This latest irrigation scheme appears to have learned the lessons from the previous attempts of large scale projects at Malka Daka and Gafarsa by allowing the people to operate their own plots instead of employing them to work on a government owned farm.(See section 2.5) The project engineers have also tried to design and construct an intake and delivery system which can withstand the destructive power of the Ewaso Nyiro river in full spate. Whether they have succeeded in this objective looked somewhat dubious in May 1993. The flooding of the previous good rainy season in northern Kenya had already swept over the top of the concrete abutments that were intended to control and guide the water into the main delivery canal. Only desperate efforts had prevented a major disaster when the river was starting to break through the retaining banks and was about to carve a new course through the middle of the land cleared for cultivation. The stone filled gabions on the outside of the bend of the river appeared to be quite inadequate to resists the power of the river in flood even though they were piled up five metres high. If the height and length of this restraining system is not greatly increased it would seem inevitable that it would go the same way as the gabions on the outside curve of the river at the Malka Daka bridge - being eroded from behind so that the river digs itself a new bed away from they irrigation project intake. There are certainly peculiar problems for civil engineers trying to work in alluvial sand river valleys to harness seasonal rivers subject to violent flooding.
The pastoralists' perception of those who attend church
Probably even more inappropriate and unattractive to the pastoralist peoples who observe these physical complexes is the sort of people who attend these churches. If it is anywhere near an administrative centre or police post then every Sunday some of the government officials, soldiers, policemen, school teachers and sundry other workers from the south of Kenya will attend the morning service, occasionally at least. There is nothing much else to do in those remote parts so going to church on Sundays is one way of passing the time and meeting your fellow non-Muslim neighbours, even if your personal beliefs and behaviour may not be quite according to Christian principles. It is this last point of inconsistency which has made the greatest impression on many of the pastoralists who are looking for a reason why they should be Muslims and not Christians. "We see those same people who sit in the church on Sunday roaring drunk and chasing our women on Saturday" was one comment which arose in the group discussions of the relevance of Christianity to the Borana. "Some of those policemen even beat us and rob us, the government teachers in the schools despise and abuse our children, the workers in the clinics cheat and insult our wives, and the big ministers and officials try to take our best land to make farms for themselves." These were admitted to be the extreme examples which usually came from the most zealous Muslims but they are the sort of stories that give Christianity a rather odious name amongst pastoralists. It seems to escape their notice that their fellow Muslim Somali brothers are doing much worse things to them without causing any to reject Islam.
The difference in attitude towards Somali offenses and abuse from southern Kenyans can possibly be accounted for in that the Muslim attackers from the east are fellow pastoralists fighting to get animals and grazing, whereas those supposedly Christian southerners are government employees who are paid to protect them and serve their needs for medicine, education and veterinary care for their animals.
Christianity is perceived as being not for nomadic pastoralists.
Another cause of offense amongst many pastoralists, is that it is often the Christian missionaries who are at the forefront of schemes to get them to give up pastoralism and take up cultivation. Some may acknowledge that this trend for many is inevitable, but it is when Christianity is presented as synonymous with settling down that an obvious and unnecessary barrier to believing the message is created. Certainly in Kenya, nearly all development projects amongst pastoralists operated by Christians are primarily concerned with cultivation and sedentarization.
Catholic/Muslim conflict
Father Pius told of a confrontation which arose about five years ago when a recently installed Muslim preacher, Sheikh Abdullahi, tried to build a mosque directly across the street from the Catholic church. The land he claimed was already occupied by several private dwellings - all belonging to Catholic church members. When they asked Father Pius what they should do about the boundary marker pegs planted by Sheikh Abdullahi he did not hesitate in advising them to pull them out. Sheikh Abdullahi persisted with his efforts to plant his marker pegs, even trying to arouse his Muslim followers to take aggressive action against the Catholics.
Eventually the government had to intervene with a bevy of officials from the district level who ordered Sheikh Abdullahi to withdraw his challenge and avoid further unnecessary confrontation. He did give up the struggle for his mosque to be built as close as possible to the Catholic church but he chose the next nearest piece of empty land he could find, building not only a mosque but a large well constructed primary school. This is only a couple of hundred metres from the even larger Catholic primary school and health centre. This means that both primary schools are in the heart of the Western end of Merti town usually known as the Catholic end. In between that and the larger Muslim eastern end are strategically located the sprawling government offices and police compound. These are built very close to the main flood drainage gully which forms what is sometimes referred to as "the green line" between Christian and Muslim sections of Merti.
This is more than just a symbolic or imaginary line; it represents a very real attitude divide within the Borana community. In terms of numbers the Muslims are definitely the largest force, but in terms of money, education and all other development activities the Catholics are the most powerful. How long the Christian community would survive without the commanding presence of Father Pius is uncertain. There are a few young Borana who have been trained as catechists and the first indigenous priest from Isiolo had just arrived in Merti in 1993.
A Christian church that is not appropriate for pastoralists
The situation at Merti points out as clearly as anywhere else seen in Africa, the problems of trying to introduce a form of Christianity that is totally alien and insupportable in a nomadic pastoral society. Father Pius has shown amazing courage and tenacity in pouring so much of his life and the resources of his wealthy Italian Catholic supporters into his Merti mission. The buildings are superb and impressive - even in his attempts to make them resemble Arab/Muslim architecture. Father Pius has also tried for years to incorporate some of the traditional Boran religious practices into his celebration of the mass. He still has some time in the service for old men to recite Borana style prayers in which the congregation all make a repetitive response. He was rather sad that recently some of the young educated Catholics had forced him to drop the ceremonies which he was trying to include involving Borana blood sacrifices. The young men, mostly school teachers told him that if they were going to be Christians it was unnecessary to continue following the old Borana religion: the two were incompatible and attempts to combine them were only adding confusion. That seemed to show a surprising degree of insight and courage on the part of the educated generation of Borana to oppose the Catholic father's good intentions at synchretisation of worship form.
On the other hand we found other school teachers working in remote areas who complained that they could not have any Christian services as Father Pius never came around on a Sunday. They obviously had no idea of the possibility of having a Christian gathering which did not involve the presence of a Catholic father to celebrate the mass.
The other Merti priest, Father Luciano, is a close relative of Father Pius' who is clearly more interested in the musical advancement of Merti Borana than in any other sort of development. His brass band is a surprise to hear in the northern deserts of East Africa but that would presumably last as long as Father Pius's giant T.V. screen if the white fathers were to leave.
Even the educated Borana who can read the Bible in three different languages including their own mother tongue seemed to have no practical experience in reading the scriptures or any other Christian literature. When asked why they had little apparent interest in such reading they replied that the father did not encourage them to read the Bible and had few Christian books.
It may be a particular problem with the Italian form of Roman Catholicism that seems to require extensive use of robes, rituals and religious chanting. The masses we observed required extensive use of music with electric organ and/or brass band, burning of incense and sacred elements moving out of and into elaborate highly ornamented mystical boxes. It would be hard to imagine an expression of religious worship less likely to be replicated in rural areas amongst people for whom permanent buildings of any size are low priority.
[1] Unfortunately in this instance the young man happened to be one of the poorest students in his class. His motivation was apparently as great as his mother's but his academic ability put him in the category of the least likely to succeed.
[2] These observation were written up in the reports which followed these surveys.
a. The Reconnaissance report entitled Life amongst the Borana of Isiolo district of northern Kenya, May - July 1992 which will be found in Annex 3.
b. The Ewaso Borana situation report 1992 -1993 which is found in Annex 4.
[3] It is a measure of the value given by those communities to primary education that they were willing to make that much effort. In one place the women were having to bring water more than 5 kilometers by donkey to make mud to form the walls of the classroom. The Catholic Father Pius was providing food for work for those building the school. The teachers said that the present site was now safe from the danger of any further flooding as it was sufficiently elevated. Unfortunately they were now 17 kilometers from the place preferred by the people where water was always available.
[2] These observation were written up in the reports which followed these surveys.
a. The Reconnaissance report entitled Life amongst the Borana of Isiolo district of northern Kenya, May - July 1992 which will be found in Annex 3.
b. The Ewaso Borana situation report 1992 -1993 which is found in Annex 4.
[3] It is a measure of the value given by those communities to primary education that they were willing to make that much effort. In one place the women were having to bring water more than 5 kilometers by donkey to make mud to form the walls of the classroom. The Catholic Father Pius was providing food for work for those building the school. The teachers said that the present site was now safe from the danger of any further flooding as it was sufficiently elevated. Unfortunately they were now 17 kilometers from the place preferred by the people where water was always available.