Early Warning Survey in Northern Kenya

After a couple of weeks back in Washington, I was off again. First stop: Marsabit District in Northern Kenya to work with the Food for the Hungry team on an Early Warning (EW) survey for food shortages. This area is drought prone, making life periodically difficult for the nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists as well as for the farmers. The purpose of our EW system is to detect signs that people's food security is getting worse in time to plan interventions so as to prevent or mitigate food crises. My survey team was assigned to North Horr and Kalacha areas, not far from the Ethiopian border. We covered about 700 km in 5 days. Oh, the joys of being bounced for hours on dusty, bumpy roads! (I hope those for whom English is not a native language caught the sarcasm in that comment).

First a couple of survival tips:
They say a hot cup of tea is the best way to cool off in the desert heat. Here we are having tea with camel milk, which is the staple for the Gabra.
Wearing a headscarf is often thought to have religious significance, but in this area women who are Muslims, Christians and those who practice traditional religions all tend to cover their head. I tried to probe on the reasons for this and didn't get farther than that oft-quoted line from Fiddler on the Roof - "Tradition!" Nevertheless, I can also see that there are very practical reasons for wearing a head covering: it protects your hair, neck and ears from dust and sun. Furthermore, though the landscape looks deceptively calm, in many places there is a very strong wind, and the headscarf keeps your hair from becoming hopelessly tangled from the wind. So you will see many pictures of Fatouma, Mary and myself with our heads covered.

The population here is mainly Gabra, and almost all of them are pastoralists. They keep shoats (sheep and goats) and camels, and some also keep cows. Typically it is the children who look after the herds. The Gabra live in round huts made with a frame of sticks and covered with animal hides, cloth, cardboard and anything else they can find,and topped with a thatch roof.

Note: I was told these women were not wearing a headscarf probably because they had just oiled their hair and didn't want to stain the cloth.

Women are the ones responsible for building the houses.









The man in this picture is taking a pinch of tobacco mixed with salt from a small pouch to chew on. The small stick in his turban is a traditional toothbrush; the twig of a particular tree that is rubbed against the teeth to clean them. It is quite effective!


Our stay in North Horr coincided with the New Moon festival, during which the Gabra and neighboring tribes have a number of rituals, which have some striking similarities to the original Jewish passover, including the killing and roasting of a goat (and the stipulation that is has to be all cooked that day) and putting blood from the goat on the doorposts. The eldest son gets a special mark on his forehead, such the one sported by one of our staff who is from this area.


People often ask me where I stay when I travel. Answer: it depends. In the capital cities I often stay in a hotel or with friends if I happen to have some that live there. In rural areas, the accommodations range considerably. In North Horr for instance, we stayed a lodge on the edge of Chalbi desert. It was simple, clean, with a dirt floor.In all these places it is imperative to sleep under a mosquito net, unless you want to be eaten alive. It was tempting to sleep outside because the rooms were hot and stuffy, but the sightings of scorpions and a couple poisonous spiders dissuaded us from pursuing that option.

The shower here (pictured left) was quite clever, I thought - an oil drum with a spigot mounted on a platform. The open ceiling offered a great view of Orion, Taurus and the Seven Sisters as you showered. The small building you see in back to the right of the shower is the pit latrine we used.

The survey was pretty grueling. Fortunately the questionnaire was relatively short, and people were generally friendly. For most of the interviews we looked for a slightly shady spot alongside the houses. On a few occasions we were invited inside, and other interviews took place under trees or at the well. I mostly observed, but also gave guidance on the questionnaire as needed.

Most of the Gabras we encountered really don't like to have their pictures taken, and they also get upset if you photograph their animals. The believe that taking a picture reduces their blood. But I did find a few people who were more than willing to have their picture taken, as long as showed them the pictures on the camera screen.

One thing I'm often curious about is what children play with in different places. This interest probably stems from a project I worked on in graduate school that considered the psycho-social environment in which children live as they develop. I was delighted to find kids in one village playing with blocks of wood. Given that wood is not a common construction material (aside from branches), I was surprised to find them. Here they are showing me how they make a house from them.

I saw very few animals besides the above-mentioned livestock. But we did chance upon a couple of ostriches and some pretty birds. However, the most interesting sighting on the animal front was a pair of camels mating by the side of the road!