Samburu
The Samburu are a Nilotic people in northern Kenya . They are cattle breeders and mostly keep herds of cattle. Their language, like that of their close relatives, is the Maasai , Maa . The name of the people is said to be derived from the Maa word "o-sampurumpuri", which means butterfly. Others believe, however, that it comes from the word samburr , the traditional leather pouch that the Samburu carry on their backs to carry meat and honey.
territory
The Samburu immigrated to what is now Kenya from the north in the 16th century. There they live mainly in the central Kenyan plateau in the Laikipia district . Interrupted by some rocky hills, the landscape is characterized by open grass and thorn bush savannah. The life line of the area is the Uaso Nyiro .
The Samburu National Reserve, which covers an area of 165 square kilometers, is also located on the Samburu tribal territory .
Economy and nutrition
The Samburu used to live nomadically in order to adapt to the needs of their animals at any time as shepherds. For this you need enough space, but the people are being robbed of their homeland more and more. Initially, white farmers settled in the 1920s and 1930s, today the Samburu fight directly against the government for their land rights. Most of them now live in small settlements consisting of 4 to 10 cattle owners and their families. There they live in small huts made from a network of bars covered with clay, animal skins or grass mats. The huts of the few nomadic Samburu are made of mud and dung or skins and grass mats that are supported by stakes.
Their livelihood is cattle: cattle, goats and sheep, as well as some camels . The most important food is the milk of their animals mixed with blood, the so-called saroi . Sheep, goats or cattle are only slaughtered on special occasions. Since livestock farming is often no longer sufficient for maintenance due to the shrinking habitat, many have started to grow grain and vegetables.
The Samburu cook rice, potatoes and kidney beans. Tomatoes, carrots, and onions are also used in cooking. In addition, roots and bark are cooked into soups. Pork and fish are completely spurned. Occasionally, chickens are also kept, although hardly anyone eats eggs. The chickens are almost exclusively intended for sale. The Samburu do not know salad and would probably not eat it either, since everything edible has to be cooked. They do not hunt for wild animals, which is why, in contrast to the areas of the neighboring peoples, a lot of game still lives in their habitat. By and large, the Samburu live in harmony with nature and their creatures, as long as they or their herds are not seriously attacked by wild animals. Since they surround their settlements with fences made of thorn bushes, attacks are very rare.
Chai (black tea with lots of milk and sugar) is drunk several times a day and served to every visitor. Coffee or other drinks, on the other hand, are consumed less.
Culture and society
Respect for the elders is central to their culture . The older you get, the more power you gain, although this mostly only applies to men. Each age group is also assigned specific tasks. Children look after the goats and sheep, circumcised young men belonging to the age group of warriors ( moran ) (between the ages of 12 and 19) look after the herds of cattle and married men look after the community. The women are responsible for the huts, the dairy cows and also for collecting wood and water. Men usually have several wives, so they live polygamously . However, every woman usually has her own hut. Girls are married to men they do not know when they are around 15 years old. The elders decide who it should be, but it has to be a man from another clan. The girl then moves in with the husband's family. Female genital mutilation is an obligatory part of the marriage ceremony.
Her traditional garb consists of red capes. Unmarried men of the moran age class wear their hair braided. Then their hair, like that of the children and women, is clipped short. Women sometimes wear necklaces weighing up to ten kilograms and their heads are often decorated with pearl necklaces and a cross-shaped forehead ornament. These necklaces are given by men and it is said that as soon as they reach their chin, they are old enough to get married.
Because women are less respected, abuse and rape occur again and again. For protection, 15 Samburu women built the village of Umoja for women in 1990 , which has been growing steadily to this day.
The pearl jewelry that girls wear around their necks is a gift from young Samburu warriors to reserve for themselves. The men are allowed to have sex with the girls whenever they want. The pearls mark the woman as the possession of the man. A 'moran' (warrior) buys around ten kilograms of pearls and uses them to make pearl necklaces for girls who are usually between nine and 15 years old. As a result of unprotected sex, the girls eventually get pregnant. The sexual relations are considered to be incestuous, as both belong to the same clan. Pregnant girls are being forced to have abortions, according to a report.
Climatic conditions
In 2011, many Samburu were evicted from their settlements after two environmental organizations, the US organization The Nature Conservancy and the African Wildlife Foundation , bought around 70 square kilometers to create a nature reserve. Since then, many families have lived in makeshift huts on the edge of the area, while others have been driven out of the area completely. The land was donated to the government shortly thereafter by the two organizations that see tourism as more profitable and more important than the Samburu's land rights. The state demands that the Samburu adopt a sedentary way of life and no longer roam the nature reserves with their herds of cattle. However, this request is illegal.
The area is being hit by global warming with long and repetitive periods of drought that destroy crops and dry up rivers. This increasingly leads to the starvation of cattle and the Samburu themselves. During the great famine of 2011 , most Samburu were simply forgotten, no promised emergency aid was received.
literature
- Elisabeth Ott: Nkanyit and violence. Domestic violence against women in Samburu between tradition and arbitrariness . Weißensee-Verlag, ISBN 3-89998-022-0
- Paul Spencer: The Samburu. A Study of Gerontocracy in a Nomadic Tribe. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1965 (New edition: Routledge, 2004)
- Christina Hachfeld-Tapukai: With the love of a lioness - How I became the wife of a Samburu warrior. Ehrenwirth, ISBN 3-431-03619-8
Web links
- Elliot Fratkin: ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Traditional Medicine and Concepts of Healing among Samburu Pastoralists of Kenya. In: Journal of Ethnobiology 16 (1), 1996, pp. 63–97 )
Individual evidence
- ↑ International Work Group for indigenous Affairs ( Memento from July 19, 2017 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved April 14, 2018
- ↑ a b The world - tourism puts the Samburu people in danger. Accessed August 19, 2013
- ↑ World Database on Protected Areas - Samburu National Reserve (English)
- ↑ a b c d Indigenous Knowledge Project ( Memento of October 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved on April 14, 2018
- ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: irinnews: female genital mutilation )
- ↑ https://www.daserste.de/information/politik-weltgeschehen/weltspiegel/kenia-die-perlenmaedchen-102.html
- ↑ https://afrika.info/newsroom/kenia-hirtent Jungs-wird-zur-aufklaererin /
- ^ Just Conservation - a personal message to the AWF.Retrieved August 19, 2013
- ↑ Tourism Watch - Cattle vs Gold Ass. Accessed August 19, 2013
- ↑ Africa Info.Retrieved August 19, 2013
- ↑ Samburu Watch ( Memento from December 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved April 14, 2018