Our Community
The people of Topernawi have deep roots.
We share a love of the land, the wildlife, and our culture.
Many traditional pastoralists in Turkana have had to trade what they love about their ancestral lifeways for an uncertain future in urban centers, cut off from the strong ties of family, friends, and their ancestral homeland. We don't want our children to have to go this route.
We are currently undertaking projects that we hope will be able to support the community sustainably into the distant future, and to lay a secure foundation for generations to come.​
The most important thing we need to figure out is which elements of traditional culture we can realistically maintain, and which need to change. We are relying on two main sources of wisdom -our elders, and trusted outsiders who have seen how other indigenous groups around the world have made the transition to a money economy, to piped water, to modern medicine, but managed to safeguard the essence of their culture.
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Projects
Clean Water
Bore-hole well project
In previous generations, water used to flow in the Topernawi river much more often. Now it is a sand river, called a laga, similar to an arroyo. When rain falls in the mountains, it runs into the river beds. At such time it is fairly easy to collect enough water in containers for days or weeks. When the water stops flowing, we used to be able to dig with our hands in the river bed and soon find water.
But climate change has brought droughts. The water rarely flows, and when it does it is often in torrents that violently flood areas for a short time but mostly flow over the top of the land, which has been dried out and baked hard in the sun. It doesn't sink into the sand where we can find it by digging, and it doesn't seep into the pasture land to give moisture to the plants our livestock need. Our goats and sheep are dying.
A community well is badly needed to supply clean water for drinking, for livestock, and for growing plants that can feed the community and livestock, and produce some surplus to sell. The additional problem is that because of the droughts and the way the water no longer seeps into the soil, the underground aquifers have become extremely salty. A hydrologist came out and analyzed many spots that give access to different aquifers. In all but one place, he said that the water he found was so salty even goats could not drink it! But eventually he found a source of sweet water. If we can raise the money, this is where we will drill our well. This will fundamentally change our lives, to prevent many deaths among our elderly, to minimize infant mortality from thirst and from disentery caused by contaminated water. To reduce malaria often caught from mosquitos while digging in the river beds. And to allow us to better wash cooking pots.
Money Economy
Shifting from a barter system
It's been said that we aren't poor, we just don't have any money! Until recently, Turkana people did not need money. People traded goods and services as need arose. A Turkana person's "bank account" was their livestock. A goat could be traded for significant expenses. Major expenses might require a donkey or camel. Small items were traded for other small items, such as nets and necklaces, baskets and mats, and wild fruit gathered from the mountains.
But as droughts have come more and more often, money is now needed to buy basic necessities. A dynamic with urban areas has been established. However, Topernawi is remote from such areas. We don't have motorized vehicles, and matatu buses are infrequent and very expensive. Transporting items such as baskets, mats, and charcoal is near impossible, and we have no nearby markets where we can sell these items.
In addition, most of us have trouble regarding cash as very valuable. If you have a goat or a camel, you can see its value in its presence, and it lives off the land and reproduces to supply more wealth. Cash does not produce more cash, it sits in non-interest-bearing accounts til it's used up. Some urban people are paying bride-price dowries in money, but to us, this is not as good as the traditional livestock gifts. Anyone giving money should later back it up with livestock. This has led to friction with people living in town. In addition, people who have moved to town are unable to maintain the sorts of coherent social relationship traditionally drawn on for material and emotional support. They have lost touch with their cultural roots.
Products
Diversifying our economy
In parallel with the shift to a money economy, we need to find a more diversified portfolio of ways to learn income -whether by money or barter. We can. no longer rely on livestock for subsistence as climate change has resulted in mass death of livestock during droughts and storms.
To do this we need both the opportunity to develop new products, and the economic network to supply these products to buyers.
Projects of interest include beekeeping, growing drought-resistant vegetables, and making goats' milk creams and lotions.
We are very open to new ideas that will help us preserve our culture while leading a sustainable economy. One idea is to work with architects who have developed special materials we can make ourselves from sand to build excellent small houses, similar in size to our current palm frond houses, but that will last much longer and offer ways to implement solar power for a few basic needs.
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Tourism
Sharing with outside people
Visitors to Topernawi can enjoy experiencing our culture and the unspoiled natural beauty of our land and wildlife. Young people can lead hiking tours. The hills are graceful, one doesn't need to be an expert mountaineer to experience the beauty of the landscape, to take gorgeous photos, to go wildlife spotting, to learn about the geology and visit the fossil sites.
Those less athletic can take in the view from several easy-to-access high points that look across the hills. And, they can enjoy learning about our traditional life ways. We enjoy looking like we "walked off the pages of National Geographic". We love to share the significance of each of our cultural practices and traditional adornments. We hope to build a community center to celebrate our culture and provide opportunities to the community.
Sharing our heritage with people who are genuinely interested is a special joy.
Education
Establishing schools
Formal education has not yet come to Topernawi. But with help from benefactors, we are moving rapidly in the right direction. It is expensive, but we must help our kids move confidently into the future with the skills they need.
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Health care
Accessing basic care
There are no doctors or nurses in Topernawi. On rare occasions, NGOs send providers through. But when someone falls ill, there are no options beyond traditional herbal and spiritual remedies. The only alternative is for the sick person to walk 20 kilometers to a small health outpost. This means people die, especially infants and the elderly.
We hope someday to have a birthing center and health clinic.