Page 80 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 11

COMMUNITY Reflection

The Sakuye People of Northern Kenya

Halyma Fatma
This article was first published on Wonderlust Diaries, a facebook group.
Used by permission of the author.
fter Mike Ndegwa Ajuran. Due to the places they have Sakuye Ilani
doing a whole thesis of passed through, they speak Borana, Sakuye Thele.
my cousins the Rendille which is the common language in
Apeople, I hereby intro- the area. Following Kenya's independence,
duce to you the Sakuye people. nearly all of their livestock died due
Often unheard and mistaken for The Sakuye now speak the Bora- to the Shifta War in 1963 between
the Borana, the Sakuye are a small, na-Oromo language and share the the Somalis and the Kenya govern-
semi-nomadic group of pastoralists. same Oromo clan identities with ment. The Sakuye were caught in
They were a group of the proto-So- other Borana-speaking peoples. the middle and most Sakuye became
mali peoples who separated from There are other sub tribes of the destitute. Some were able to rebuild
the Rendille. One group called the Sakuye which are: their herds, but many remain poor.
Sakuye Miigo came from the Garre Sakuye Matharba They survived by taking up agricul-
people. One group of the related Sakuye Warsuya ture. Their culture is undergoing
Gabbra are also called Miigo. They Sakuye Warfuraa basic changes as they strive to main-
are also related to Dagodia and Sakuye Harsuwa tain their identity. In some areas,

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