We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God but our
very lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
(I Thessalonians 2:8)
SI Headquarters
Dr. Sammy Murimi, Director
207 N. Service Rd. East
Ruston, LA 71270
(318) 513-2535
share123@bellsouth.net
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ABOUT TURKANA
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In the lunar semi-desert of north-west Kenya temperatures can soar to unbearable levels during the day with little change at night. Wind and dust storms blast across the arid land incessantly. Lying scarcely 1200 feet above sea level is Lake Turkana, a true desert lake seething with forty thousand Nile river crocodiles, and surrounded by barren, inhospitable land and denuded lava hills.
It is in this remote and hallucinatory corner of the earth that the Turkana tribe live. Their life is dominated, in almost all its aspects by the environment. The social and economic organisation of this tribe is adapted to extract the maximum potential from all available resources. Any understanding of Turkana culture must therefore begin with an appreciation of their environment.
Turkana District occupies the whole of north-west Kenya. It lies just north of the equator, within the Great Rift Valley, the world’s most formidable geological fault, a great scar that runs north-south for 2000 miles through eastern and central Africa. Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda form international boundaries to the north and west. Comprising an area of approximately 60,824 sq. km. (12% of Kenya’s land mass) the District is sparsely inhabited by the Turkana, an ethnic group of the Karamojong (or alternatively Teso) cluster, a group of languages which belong to the Eastern branch of Nilotic languages. Numbering roughly 300,000 the Turkana are one of the last truly nomadic peoples of Africa.
Two-thirds of north-western Kenya is inhospitable semi-desert. The plains are largely blanketed by arid sands and mantles of stones, ranging in size from large boulders to fine gravels. Soils are not well developed due to aridity and constant erosion by water and wind. In some areas thorn bushes grow well although vegetation is usually sparse desert scrub. Trees are few and form a dusty green fringe along the main seasonal water courses (luggas). Permanent homesteads are scattered and stock is constantly on the move in search of pasture.
During the day the extremely high temperatures are accompanied by strong easterly winds sweeping across the largely barren countryside, carrying large quantities of dust and sand. Distribution of rainfall is very irregular and averages less than 6 inches a year. Rain usually comes in sharp thunderstorms in late afternoon or at night, in the months of April to August, with minor rains usually in late November. The Turkana refer to the rainy season as agiporo and the rest of the year, the dry season, as akamu.
Lake Turkana forms the eastern boundary of Turkana District. It is Kenya’s biggest lake and the sixth largest in Africa. Tinged emerald green the lake is surrounded by barren, windswept land and yet is breathtakingly beautiful, exerting an almost primordial attraction. The beautiful jade colour of the water occurs where large amounts of green algae with high chlorophyll concentrations develop. The colour of the water is so unique in the blazing light that there is good reason for calling this lake the Jade Sea.
Two large seasonal rivers, the Turkwell and the Kerio, both originating in the highlands, form a lifeline which supports an ever-increasing static population. The Suguta river originates in the south-east and is the only permanent watercourse in the District. The flow of the Tarach river, originating in the north-west, is restricted to periodic floods. There are two major drainage basins, Lake Turkana and the Lotigipi plains to the north. The Suguta valley also forms a minor drainage basin to the south of Lake Turkana.
Water supplies for human and animal populations are based mainly on watercourses, ponds, rock-pools and springs immediately after rain and water-holes (akar) dug progressively deeper in the river beds as the dry season continues.
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