Ogiek Rights in the Mau Forest

Interviewee

Rose Kipsiget

Ogiek Headmistress, Ogiek Mariashoni Primary School

Joseph Lokorio

Teacher, Ogiek Mariashoni Primary School

Jane

Local Ogiek resident

Interviewers

Alison M. Jones

NWNL Director and Photographer

Alison M Fast

Videographer

Mariashoni, Mau Forest, Kenya, on September 21, 2009

Introductory Note

A serendipitous meeting with staff at an Ogiek school was very helpful in explaining the dire quandary between needs of a forest, its traditional community, and others downstream – all in distress. Our discussion highlighted that there are no easy solutions to supporting both a critical water source and a tribal homeland – but it revealed awareness, concern and willingness to find solutions..

As the headmistress noted, “The Ogiek are indigenous people who live here, and have always lived here, for as long as I can remember. They used to be hunter-gatherers living in the forest amongst themselves. Now, with our modern life, these people are settling down. They are building schools. They are multiplying.”

The pressure to protect a decimated forest that has severely reduced the flow of water downstream conflicts with the growing needs of the Ogiek for more water and more space as their population increases. Additionally, the Ogiek ask why they have no reserved lands as do the Maasai, Samburu and other tribes.

Outline

A SCHOOL for INDIGENOUS OGIEK CHILDREN
MAU FOREST: ENDANGERED HEADWATERS
HOW TO RESTORE THE FOREST
JUDGING CAUSES & SOLUTIONS
DEFINING “OGIEK”
HOW TO SAVE the FOREST

Key Quotes The issue of [the Ogiek] still being in a forest that no longer holds any water is a problem. It’s a big deal however to change their lives. – Rose Kipsiget, School Headmistress

Let those from the government who have been coming to look for the best and alternative ways on how to conserve the environment – but only after resettling the indigenous people. – Joseph Lokorio, School Teacher

The government should recognize us as it does other communities within certain districts and provinces. We already know where we are to live, where to conserve a forest, how to live with wildlife. We will protect the water catchment. — Jane, an Ogiek resident in Mau Forest

A SCHOOL for INDIGENOUS OGIEK CHILDREN

NWNL Hello and thank you for chatting with us. We are very interested to learn more about both education and the Ogiek culture and history here in the Mau Forest.

ROSE KIPSIGET Yes, the Ogiek are indigenous people who live here, and have always lived here, for as long as I can remember. They used to be hunter-gatherers, hunters, living in the forest amongst themselves. Now, with our modern life, these people are settling down. They are building schools. They are multiplying.

So, the issue of them still being in a forest that no longer holds any water is a problem. It’s a big deal however to change their lives. They’re multiplying. These students will need their own homes. Eventually, if we let the Ogiek stay here, with the time the forest will also disappear – like the streams.

NWNL Indeed, we have heard that if the Ogiek community today was still the small group like it used to be, their presence would be sustainable. However, their population has increased many, many fold in the last few years. So that means that they just can’t afford that same lifestyle. This is a school that used to cater to forest workers.

JOSEPH LOKORIO Now this is a community of people that believe that they are being marginalized, in way, since that there are so many communities in this Mara River Basin. But they have their own problem.

ROSE KIPSIGET Now the issue is the number of children here are increasing, and they are not going to stay young. They’ll be grown-ups in 10 to 15 years, and then they’ll need their own land. Do you think if you kept this growing community of people here that these forests will survive?

JOSEPH LOKORIO I think it’s up to the government now to study these indigenous communities. By doing so, they will better understand them. And, if the government is going to conserve the forest as a natural resource, it will be better if the government works with the people who live here.

ROSE KIPSIGET But back to my question: if you have 800 children, in 15 years, they’ll be adults, married, and moving from their parents to their homes.

JOSEPH LOKORIO … or their settlement.

ROSE KIPSIGET Yes, well in that scenario, will the forest survive? Yes or no?

JOSEPH LOKORIO No. I don’t think it will survive.

ROSE KIPSIGET Okay, that’s one opinion. Another is that these people are indigenous and we have come and settled among the indigenous in their own areas. Trying to protect Mau Forest is for the national good — for the whole nation. But do you think it is wise to move out 500 people from the forest here when there are 1million people in Baringo. Should we wipe out the Ogiek community because the Mara River needs support? If we don’t support them and don’t give them water, what will they do?

MAU FOREST: ENDANGERED HEADWATERS

ROSE KIPSIGET Now, we have development along the Mara River, and we want to industrialize because we don’t want people to push bicycles piled with firewood like these guys.

We want our students to become teachers and escape this difficult life. If we don’t industrialize and have electricity, we’ll have a million illiterate people who aren’t producing any meaningful labor. If you go to school, will you be a computer engineer or will you repair this vehicle? Will we tax this population so a teacher can support their youth – or will their youth instead decide to leave for Nairobi, where they’re not going to survive. As a professional in this area, what do you think is the balance between the two? We’re not talking about individuals being affected. We’re trying to talk about a national good. We must not fight against long-term benefits.

JOSEPH LOKORIO I don’t think the government intends to conserve this forest and if they take almost 250,000 residents out of the Mau….

ROSE KIPSIGET The other thing I want to ask addresses the general members of society. To me, the challenges affecting Mau are mostly that of population pressures. We are bleeding so much since the number of approximately ten children per family can’t possibly be sustainable. Don’t you think environmental degradation has something to do with the population pressure?

JOSEPH LOKORIO Of course it does. Because when families increase in number, there are so many problems that occur where people are congested. They will also want to come into the forest and that environment will be affected, mainly negatively.

ROSE KIPSIGET So, what should we do?

JOSEPH LOKORIO I don’t know – but we must let the government do that.

ROSE KIPSIGET What do you – or can you – advise your brother or your sister?

JOSEPH LOKORIO For me, it is advisable for us to conserve the environment. But many are going to find it impossible to accept that.

ROSE KIPSIGET What do you think is the maximum number of children people should have, if the environment and labor is to be sustained?

JOSEPH LOKORIO Two or five; but now…?

ROSE KIPSIGET Two is the optimum number.

HOW TO RESTORE THE FOREST

ROSE KIPSIGET For the environment to go back the way it was, what should we do?

JOSEPH LOKORIO We should conserve environment because, indeed, we can now see the negative impacts from how people destroyed the land. We must work in collaboration with… maybe the entire community.. to conserve for ourselves, and future residents.

NWNL What can you best do to conserve the environment? It depends on you.

ROSE KIPSIGET We have a population of around 800 children. I think there’s a link between the population and the destruction of the environment. These children in 10 years will be grown-ups, needing their own land. Then, after 15 more years, another generation will grow up.

JANE I live here with my family. We are friendly to environment. We are friendly to trees – we don’t destroy trees. If you visit our homes, you will see there are trees everywhere. You can see our homes inside the forest. We don’t destroy the forest. We just feed from forest. We feed from the honey and some plants. We don’t grow too much – just some maize, cabbage and potatoes. That helps us to conserve the forest.

We’ve been talking about our community, the environment and the destruction of forest and they way we are growing. One, these trees are our resources to us. They help us in one way, but we also destroy them – we are growing. We need somewhere to grow. We need land – like all the communities in Kenya that have their homes and their reserves in Kenya. We each come from a certain community, a certain family – right?

ROSE KIPSIGET Yes, I come from eastern Kenya.

JANE We each should have our own reserve where we originated. We’ve heard about the Maasai community of Narok Town, at the edge of the Maasai Mara National Reserve, which supports the Maasai. But for us, the Ogiek, nobody has talked with us about our having a reserve. We are told we are supposed to be giving up our entire reserve.

Having always lived here, we know in which parts of our reserve we should live in. We know the forest is our resource that helps us survive as a community. The resources that come from the forest help us educate our children and help us with so many projects that we have. But, without the forest, we shall have nowhere to go. Here, there are lakes. There are falls. There are rivers. Those are resources we use to feed our community or educate our children.

So, if we are given our reserve, we know where we shall live and the places we’ll conserve for the forest and its water catchments. We shall protect wildlife; and once again, we know where we shall live. We shall all live in one place.

We hope we are given our own Ogiek Reserve as our home, since we’ve been here since time immemorial. The government should recognize us as it does other communities within certain districts and provinces. We already know where we are to live, where to conserve a forest, how to live with wildlife. We will protect the water catchment.

ROSE KIPSIGET For example, Lake Nakuru gives this country 100 million shillings per month on gate collection. That is the money government uses to pay teachers, to buy petrol in Europe, and import drugs which they give to people. If you look at Maasai Mara, which is a Reserve, not a national park, the money which comes in is used to finance the primary education.

What I’m trying to say is we live responsibly. It will be fantastic, if we as the Ogiek people can continue to live side by side with environment and conservation. We would be bush dwellers who live on government land – like the people in the Maasai communities who are settled, and their sons and daughters have moved to Narok to look for jobs.

We, who are the educated ones, tell our people why we are complaining, “Other communities are not like this. You want us to live with one leg in 1930 and another leg in today.” I’m trying to encourage my community that either we draw in our legs into the past, or we decide we want to live with a little status quo.

JUDGING CAUSES & SOLUTIONS

JANE Okay, before we do that, we shall have to know, “Why are we in this state now? Why are we facing Mau destruction? What’s happening?” There must by something that happened. There must be a place where we failed.

ROSE KIPSIGET We know something went wrong.

JOSEPH LOKORIOI I concur.

ROSE KIPSIGET I’m afraid if Mara River is dead, 60% of people in Lake Baringo district will suffer.

JANE We want to know where we failed, and what are the solutions? How shall we bring this place back to the way it was the time before, bearing in mind that there are more people here now.

ROSE KIPSIGET In simple words, “What we should do to reverse what’s happened?”

JANE Is the common man the destructor? Shall we fasten the problem to the common man as problem? Why was such destruction done here?

ROSE KIPSIGET If you had to summarize: The Mau Forest must be saved and the indigenous rights have to be respected. So what should we do? Let’s say you are the president of this country, and in the position to decide…. What should we do?

JOSEPH LOKORIOF I think it is advisable for the government to understand and to resettle the indigenous people first. After that, let those from the government who have been coming to look for the best and alternative ways on how to conserve the environment – but only after resettling the indigenous people, because indeed it is really very important to do that.

JANE I think we should formulate government policies that will determine the conservation of the environment. The environment must be conserved, and so there should be a policy to help us. Our government has forest guards. What are they doing? What is the Ministry of Environment doing to conserve environment? They have the best ways for us to conserve environment because they are professionals in the field of how to conserve environment.

JOSEPH LOKORIO And what about the industries? I do understand they pay taxes that contribute a lot to government tax. There are some industries that must listen and change, and I believe it will happen to them when they’re transporting that timber.

At what point will we admit what went wrong, what needs to be done and who should do it?

JANE Why do we have, a Ministry of Environment?

JOSEPH LOKORIO They should do something. If you were now the Minister of Environment, what would you say or do?

JANE People here are crying about the drought. The lakes and rivers are drying up. So, to answer this question, one needs time.

We need time to think, “What shall we do?” The people can’t sleep. They’re sleepless and crying about drought. They are asking, “Are we supposed to move from Mau? If you tell me right now to move from Mau, that is very difficult.” So, this indecision is quite difficult.

JOSEPH LOKORIO What do you think you should you do? How should you conserve environment?

JANE When I’m inside the forest, I think, “Give it us our reserve, and then we’ll protect our land inside the conserved environment. We shall decide where to plant trees, where the water catchments are.”

DEFINING “OGIEK”

NWNL If you have a reserve for the Ogiek, how will you define who is Ogiek? What if I came – well, obviously I’m not Ogiek… But if Joseph came and said, “I’m Ogiek, too. I want to be on the reserve, too.” How would you adjudicate that? How do you decide who is Ogiek?

ROSE KIPSIGET Who is an Ogiek and who is not? Everyone calls themselves an Ogiek.

JANE We cannot differentiate that. We are all Kenyans, and we can not differentiate. We are with Joseph right now standing here. We can not differentiate if he is Ogiek.

NWNL Then, what keeps the Ogiek Reserve you envision from becoming overpopulated because you have more rains than anywhere else in Kenya, and you can grow better crops than anywhere else in Kenya. What would stop everybody from wanting to come here and be on your Ogiek Reserve? It seems you could end up with a slum because you have too many people?

JOSEPH LOKORIO You are right, but our land has been sweet and good.

ROSE KIPSIGET When it comes to who is an Ogiek, I understand that the Ogiek know themselves due to their dialect. For instance, if I went to Nakuru or Nairobi, and I meet a Ogiek and I’m an Ogiek, we could communicate fully between ouselves. The Ogiek have their own other ways to identify themselves.

HOW TO SAVE the FOREST

JANE So, how shall we help ourselves? How can you help us?

ROSE KIPSIGET Seed planting is my business. Forest is my business. I’ll send somebody to come here to help from within the course of a week.

JANE So, we can plant some trees?

ROSE KIPSIGET Oh yes, oh yes.

JANE We also want our children to be exposed to conservation. Can they join in? We want to be friends. Expose us because we care.

ROSE KIPSIGET We must fix the dry lands.

JANE Would you like to visit and see our dry lands? We feel that we are destroying Lake Nakuru and River Mara; but we don’t know. We don’t know what’s happening. So, if you take maybe 20 people to see what’s happening, I’d be very happy. Maybe then we shall develop them into being environment conservers.

ROSE KIPSIGET Okay.

NWNL Brilliant. That’s just what we wanted to hear – a new partnership working together. That’s where solutions come from.

ROSE KIPSIGET “Together we will,” the President was saying when he was campaigning.

NWNL Similarly, “Yes, we can.” is what President Obama, who is part Kenyan, said in the US. Thank you each for your time and patience in explaining and brainstorming these difficult issues Kenya is facing. We wish you peace in the forest and plenty of water for all.

Posted by NWNL on June 6, 2024.
Transcription edited and condensed for clarity by Alison M. Jones.

Ogiek Rights in the Mau Forest Mara River Basin