People & Places
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| RICH HERITAGE - Welcome to Turkana’s Planet Mars |
| Germany Ambassador Margit Hellwig-Boette and husband Gerd-Josef Boette hosted diplomats and locals to the annual Lake Turkana Cultural Festival at Loyangalani Village along with the local community. They recount the exotic journey up north
DAWN OF JUNE 17, 2010 - RUNDA, 7.30 AM
Samuel Kosgey, the Embassy’s expert off-road driver, picked us up at our residence. Suitcases, food, plenty of water, spare tyres, toilet paper, hats, cameras, a cooler box with cans of Tusker – everything went into the Toyota Prado. It looked like moving houses again.
The three of us, Kosgey, my husband Gerd, and I set out to join the convoy that was to drive to Loyangalani in the next two days. We wanted to participate in the Third Lake Turkana Cultural Festival, organised by the German Embassy and had decided to go by car instead of taking the easy way of flying.
We wanted to feel the distance between Nairobi and Loyangalani - geographically and culturally.
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| TURKANA FESTIVAL COMES OF AGE |
| The Lake Turkana Festival in Loyangalani has grown in leaps and bounds to become something of a national calendar from 2008 when it was first held.
The German Embassy organized the event for the first time then and the reasons are just as valid in 2010. The six tribes around Lake Turkana, the Rendille, El Molo, Gabbra, Turkana, Samburu and Pokot do not have a friendly relationship. They fight over livestock and water as resources are scarce in this remote part of Kenya.
The festival gives them an opportunity for co-operation by joining ranks for a positive and creative event, thanks to the initiative of the Mosaretu Women’s Group under chairlady Senteyo Baltor, the local driving force behind the festival.
For two days all tribes perform their traditional dances and other activities and attract a crowd of interested visitors from Nairobi. As accommodation is limited in Loyangalani and transport either difficult or expensive, the number of participants is limited to 100 for the time being. But the event may give a boost for tourism in the region because its cultural and geographical features are unique and deserve recognition from the region and outside Kenya.
Together with tourism, chances for more development, especially of infrastructure, might arise. The Lake Turkana Wind Park Project has the potential to provide an incentive. The Kenyan government, however must assume the responsibility to balance the need for economic development and the respect for cultural heritage. The Oromo Project in Ethiopia, the Gibe III Dam, may endanger Lake Turkana. If it results in a dropping of the water level and a complete disappearing of Lake Turkana, the special living conditions for these unique tribes will be threatened.
The festival may tell Kenyans a story about cross-cultural co-operation. As the question of tribalism is overriding many aspects of Kenyan politics, the Lake Turkana Festival shows that ethnic diversity is a cultural asset and not a political liability.
By MARGIT HELLWIG-BOETTE
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