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Intangible Cultural Heritage
Preservation in Kenya |
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A traditional hunter, gatherer and honey
collector culture, the Sengwer are an indigenous ethnic
group from Kenya's Rift Valley, who used to live in
small scattered groups spread over large areas in the
plains of Kapchepkoilel (Trans Nzoia) and part of Uasin
Gishu.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, the Europeans came
and occupied those lands. The Sengwer did not know that
their land had been divided by the colonial government
and given out from 1911 to the settlers. Around 1930,
the Europeans were well settled and started to chase
away the Sengwer and other ethnic groups, even burning
their houses. Little by little, the Sengwer came to
understand the situation, but it was too late. The
Sengwer were constrained to the Cherangany forests,
source of numerous streams, springs and rivers some of
which flow into river Nile waters and some to lake
Turkana. However, they were deprived of any right to the
land.
At independence in 1963, the Sengwer thought their land
was going to be given back, but assimilation started,
cultural practices were influenced and the social
economic status of the Sengwer did not improve like it
did for the other ethnic groups. So for the Sengwer
there was no difference between the colonial and the
Kenyan government.
The loss of their ancestral lands has forced them to
abandon many of their customs and livelihoods in favour
of participation in an economy in which they are
systematically discriminated against. Thirty-nine years
after Kenya became independent, the Sengwer are still
struggling for legal recognition by the government and
are one of the most marginalised ethnic groups in Kenya.
They are on the verge of extinction. Numbering around
60,000, many Sengwer were assimilated into other
communities in the region and only about 5,000 still
dwell in their original forest land of the Embobut
Forest in Marakwet. Losing their land have implied for
the Sengwer not only losing a place to live but a place
from where the community have benefited by collecting
honey, hunting and gathering fruits and roots as well as
collecting plants and herbs of medicinal value.
The Sengwer have little to no representation in local or
national government, and have not benefited from land
devolution policies in recent decades. The government
has taken part of the Sengwer ancestral land and
converted part of it into Tea Zones without the consent
of the community. Besides, the community does not
benefit from this, neither gets any percentage from the
proceedings of the produce nor has been compensated.
Furthermore, they have suffered the government's
disrespect to their identity in the official
recommendations that small communities be merged and
assimilated into the larger ones.
David Yator Kiptum, executive co-ordinator of the
Sengwer Indigenous Development Project (SIDP) --a
non-profit organisation devoted to protecting and
promoting the rights of the Sengwer-- paints a troubling
picture of his peoples' straits: "We are discriminated
against in any development project, recruitment for
training colleges, employment, [and] our ancestral land
taken away during the colonial period has since then
been given out to members from other communities, civil
servants, politicians, etc. without considering our
people." SIDP has a broad agenda, focusing on the
adoption of "profitable and sustainable projects that
will enhance education, socio-economic, family health
and human rights status (for example fight against wife
beating and general domestic violence)" and working "to
protect, preserve and revitalise the Sengwer language,
culture, traditions, herbal healing knowledge and
environment", as its mission statement reads.
Source: Kenya: The Sengwer, a traditional culture on the
verge of extinction, WRM's bulletin Nš 65, December
2002.
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