4. RESEARCH FINDINGS

4.1 Gender and the Division of Labour among the Turkana

The study has revealed that a broad division of labour exists along gender lines, dictating general social roles and distinct daily activities performed by members of the society. The roles are organized under four main sub-themes.

4.1.1 Home Management/Maintenance Roles

As with most societies in Kenya, women’s roles among the Turkana continue to be centred on the house. It is the general responsibility of Turkana women to provide food and comfort for the household. The specific roles given include:

• Fetching water for household use;

• Preparing food and gathering wild fruits for domestic consumption;

• Fetching firewood; and

• Cleaning the house and compound, which involves the construction of the animal kraals (anok), residence structures including the main house (akai), resting shelter (ekol) and sleeping/cooking area (atabo). Each structure is constructed independently to form a homestead.

Turkana men view themselves and are viewed by the general society as the head of their households. Their specific roles include:

• Husband and father: They play the roles of husband to their wives and that of father to their children that demand the related roles outlined below;

• Decision-making: The men are expected to make decisions on almost all issues in the home including decisions on when and where to live or migrate, which animals to slaughter or sell, who does what tasks and so on;

• Supervisory roles: These involve delegating duties to women and children;

• Ensuring discipline in the home by advising and counselling family members (wives and children); and

• Providing for the family: It is the responsibility of men to provide food, clothing and school fees and security for their family members.

4.1.2 Roles in Livestock Production

Turkana women play an active role in the livestock production. Their specific responsibilities include:

• Watering the livestock other than cattle (goats, donkeys and camels) by scooping water from the wells into a big calabash for the animals to drink from;

• Preparation for migration to new locations;

• Milking the stock and portioning it out into different uses for the household. Milk has to be set aside for the calves, for household consumption and for sale (where possible);

• Herding small stock (goats) while men are out in the fields with the cattle. This role is mostly performed by young girls;

• Care for weak animals that are left around the homestead when the men move with the other stock. These include weak and sick cattle, goats and camels and pregnant livestock that cannot cover the long distance in search for pasture and water; and

• Processing of hides and skins after the animals are slaughtered.

The Turkana men have the following related roles:

• Ensuring that the livestock get pasture;

• Exploration of good grazing land and water when the drought sets in;

• Providing health facilities for the animals in the form of traditional herbs or modern veterinary medicines when available;

• Making decisions on the slaughter and sale of animals or when and where to migrate; and

• Providing security to the animals and household members. This is because the area is prone to cattle raiding and bandit attacks from neighbouring ethnic communities.

4.1.3 Roles in Cultural Reproduction

Turkana women play the following roles in the cultural reproduction:

• Socialization: Women play the initial and crucial role of bringing forth children and nurturing them as they grow. They feed, cloth and educate both the male and female children. They socialize the children into the Turkana way of life. As the children grow older, women concentrate on guiding and counselling girls into responsible adults who can function effectively in the Turkana society;

• Supervision of marriage ceremonies: Women supervise the young adults (girls) when dowry is being paid and later prepare them as brides on their wedding days;

• Provision of specialized skills: This is especially for women who have skills/talents in midwifery and basket weaving;

• Clothing for women: Older women and even younger ones make skin clothes for girls and married women; and

• Rituals: Women prepare food and sing during rituals such as child-naming and weddings; they prepare young women for married life.

Turkana men make the following contributions to the cultural reproduction of their society:

• Organizing family meetings to deliberate on matters relating to the clan and family;

• Consultation with older men on various issues;

• Socialization of young boys into adult roles in the Turkana society. They teach them skills in herding (how to locate and identify good pasture/water source, herbs to cure diseases infecting the herd), social adult skills of being a good husband and father and protecting the herd and family; and

• Custodianship of cultural values and morals: Men make all decisions related to animal slaughter, migration, marriage and dowry payment and rituals and their performance.

4.1.4 Pastoral Supportive Activities

Over the years, pastoralist communities have had to employ other supportive activities to supplement pastoralism which has proved to be ineffective in meeting all their economic and social needs. The study had identified the following supportive activities:

• Agriculture: For the Turkana living along Turkwell River, agriculture was adopted. While the men plough, women plant, weed, and harvest;

• Fishing: It is done by those living on the shores of Lake Turkana. It is mostly done by men, while women process and sell the fish;

• Weaving: Weaving of mats, baskets and hats for sale is a common activity among all the three sampled areas. It is mostly done by women although a few men also do it; and

• Business: Both men and women start small business activities such as charcoal selling, kiosk ownership, etc.

4.2 The Impact of Drought on Gender Roles

4.2.1 Home Management/Livestock Production

Drought affects the performance of women’s tasks in the following ways:

• Obtaining water: The interviewees revealed that obtaining water for household use and for drinking purposes becomes very difficult during the drought period. Lack of rain means the rivers dry up. This creates competition for the available water sources that are usually so far that women and girls have to walk long distances to get to them. They walk up to 2-10 km in the Turkwell area and 30 km in the dry Kapua area. In order to beat the long queue at the water points, women have to start the trip before dawn. This poses security problems because they may be attacked by bandits or rapists on their way. To counteract this, women walk in groups. Transporting the water for long distances is also a problem because the women have to carry the water on their heads, making many trips. They have to carry the water in heavy traditional wooden troughs (ng'ageterin) that were originally meant to be carried by donkeys, before the drought killed them. The few people using boreholes/shallow wells face similar shortages because the wells dry up due to too many users. If they break down, they are not repaired because the majority cannot afford the maintenance costs.

• Provision of fuel: Women have to walk long distances to get firewood because the trees dry up during the dry season.

• Construction of houses: This task becomes tedious during the dry season. Women have to keep dismantling, loading and unloading and reconstructing new houses as the migrations become more frequent. The construction materials (twigs and leaves) are from a wild plant called egol (dumb palm).

• Provision of food for the family: Food becomes scarce during the drought period. Women have to rely on alternative sources of food since the usual foodstuffs (milk, meat and blood) are no longer easily available. Wild fruits are found in the fields while maize meal is bought at the markets or supplied by the famine relief agencies. Even those living near the river are not better off because it dries up. Farming activities are reduced to small plots along the river where water forms pools (amokolol). Alternatively, people use boreholes. Consequently, only vegetables are grown on a small-scale. Most women complained that cooking the “new” kinds of goods (maize and beans) is more time and fuel consuming compared to cooking milk, blood and meat.

• Provision / decision-making: Men felt that their role as heads of households is adversely affected during the drought period because of the reduction in the family resources. There is no money to provide food, clothing and even school fees for the family members. There are therefore fewer chores to distribute and delegate. Most of the men interviewed felt the “women” status in the family was uplifted as a result of the fact that they receive famine relief food. Many men interviewed however felt threatened by this because their role as providers was undervalued by the relief food controlled by women. This has brought conflict in some families.

• Provision of water: Women are responsible for the provision of water for the livestock left at the homestead, which they have to obtain from boreholes. During the dry period, the water table of the wells lowers and thus women have to scoop these wells almost on a daily basis. The wells are as deep as 10 metres. This task is laborious and dangerous because the wells may collapse. Apart from providing water for the stock left behind, women are faced with additional roles because most of the time men migrate in search of livelihood. Women have to perform the role of household heads.

• Procurement of pasture and water: This is a role performed by men. Water and pasture become scarce during the dry season. This necessitates migration to new locations, walking for long distances. The men’s role as security providers is intensified during this period because insecurity mounts as the movements become frequent and long especially from the neighbouring Pokots. Even in the homes, security needs intensifying during drought.

4.2.2 Cultural Activities

The women said that during the drought, less time is spent on socializing children because much of the time is taken up by activities that relate to the search of food, water and fuel. Similarly, since most of the cultural activities such as weddings, dowry payments and harvest ceremonies depend on livestock (animals are slaughtered as part of the celebration or given in case of dowry), the lack of livestock reduces the number of ceremonies and the roles that come with them.

The men stated that drought gave them a chance to spend a lot of time with boys in the grazing fields teaching them about herbs that cure various diseases and many other herding skills. However, they complained that drought denies them the chance to be “men” because they cannot visit friends and discuss issues since most people are too busy trying to make ends meet. Family meetings are rarely held because most family members have migrated in search of greener pastures.

4.2.3 Pastoral Supportive Activities

In general, most supportive activities suffer during the dry season with the exception of casual jobs for men. Many lorries flood the area bringing food supplies and men are employed to load and unload sacks of foodstuffs. Those living in the Turkwell area and who engage in fishing have to migrate and follow the fish that move during the dry season when there is no rain and thus no water in the lake.

Businesses for both men and women are also affected during the dry season because poverty increases among people, reducing the purchasing power. However, kiosk owners who concentrate on selling foodstuffs experience a boost in business because there is no other source of food. For women, drought makes balancing of activities extremely difficult since their working load increases during the dry season. For example, basket weaving which becomes an important source of livelihood during drought takes up most of the time, which was usually spent on performing household chores.

4.3 Adaptive Strategies

The various gender segregated adaptive strategies obtained from interviews and observations were as follows:

4.3.1 Obtaining Pasture/Livelihood

Migration is the most common way of dealing with lack of pasture and water and food for both humans and animals during the drought period. To escape the effects of drought and look for alternative livelihood, people move individually or as families to new locations. In the beginning, whole family units migrate, but as the draught continues to bite and people become weak, only younger men migrate. Older men, women and children are left behind near trading markets with a few goats that provide milk. The younger men are physically strong to withstand attacks from bandits, raiders and thieves, and stay long periods without food or water.

At the towns and major trading centres, men take up jobs as casual labourers on agricultural plantations mainly in Trans-Nzoia District by weeding maize or herding cattle. The few women who migrate to the towns work as housemaids. Young girls are also sent by their parents to do the same work to earn money for their families. The most common migration towns and centres mentioned were Kitale, Lodwar, Kakuma, Lokichogio, Turkwel and Kalokol. In addition to getting employment and medical facilities, movement to urban centres is done to obtain assistance from churches and humanitarian organizations. In relation to this, access to famine relief food centres was a major motive for migration.

Migration in search of water and pasture for the animals targets highlands, water points along river Turkwel and springs. The areas given during the interviews include Loima Hills, Lotere, Pelekech, Lapur and Moru Eris. For those who fish along the lake, migration follows the migration patterns of fish to Moru’-Aita, Nakwa’Kolia, Kotela and Moite Lakes.

Men employ herd splitting to cope with the diminishing resources for the livestock. It involves separating the herd into groups such that the younger stock migrate with the men to new destinations to get pasture while the older and lactating are left behind in the homestead with the women.

Some residents are able to afford commercially manufactured animal feeds from Lodwar Town, with money obtained from the sale of charcoal or operation of small businesses. Alternatively, most people use preserved animal feeds from wild fruits and nuts. Usually, it is the skin that is dried and stored for this purpose. In Turkwell where agriculture is practised, maize and sorghum stalks are dried and stored as hay for use in the dry season.

4.3.2 Obtaining and Preserving Water

The most commonly used strategy to obtain water during the dry period is walking long distances (up to 7 km) to rivers and springs. Instead of walking long distances daily to fetch water, some people prefer to migrate to the water points.

To ease the burden of making many long visits to get water, some residents use bicycles and wheel carts. This strategy is commonly used among those who get water for sale, near the urban centres. Those who can afford to transport water buy it from the local trading centres where tap water is available. Also within the villages, some people get water from the water points and sell it.

During the dry season, the wells dry up and thus are dug deeper to get to the water in addition to digging new wells to compliment the existing ones. The digging of these wells is dangerous because of their depth. The task is labour intensive, requiring many people using the pulley method. The bore-hole construction is done with assistance from non-government organizations.

Due to the scarcity of water during the dry season, water is rationed to make it last. Water is thus limited to drinking and even for this the number of times is reduced. Reduction in usage is also observed by not washing utensils or taking/giving baths (baths are taken after 5-10 days or when one visits the lake or river); hands are not washed before eating (most people use traditional wooden spoons for eating) although some residents said they use some little water for washing their eyes to avoid eye diseases.

After collecting water, it is stored for later use in wooden containers called ateere or the plastic Jerry cans acquired from relief food distribution. The water is put on a raised table (epem) where children and animals cannot reach. Storage of water was noted to be a problem by many residents because they could not afford to buy large expensive storage tanks. Majority of the people’s storage facility consisted of two twenty-litre Jerry cans. Very few well off residents (mostly in urban centres) own 100 litre tanks. In a few cases, they also have tap water in their homes.

Because water is scarce, it is bound to be dirty (muddy) and therefore needs to be purified before use especially for drinking purposes. Most residents interviewed said they only boil water when there is an alert of waterborne diseases. They, however, use traditional water purification processes. Water is decanted using the part of the dorm palm plant (egol) called Akaburkunyait. It is prepared by beating it with a stone until it looks like sisal. Water is then stirred with it. Dirt collects at the bottom leaving the water clean. Traditional herbs (etula) are also used disinfect water.

4.3.3. Alternative Ways of Obtaining Food

Various strategies to obtain and preserve food were cited by the interviewees. For instance, some of the residents belong to women/youth groups. Women from the Turkwell area belong to the Maendeleo ya Wanawake women’s group through which they organize to weave mats and make wooden carving. The items are sold and the proceeds shared among members, which are used to supplement food supplies. Similarly, the youth have also organized themselves by cutting makuti (bamboo) reeds and firewood and selling it to the refugee camps located in the area.

Some parents send their children to schools where they can access free lunch from the school-feeding programmes especially for pre-school children. A similar benefit is obtained by taking children to children’s homes where they obtain food in addition to other provisions.

The interviewees revealed that women heavily rely on wild fruits to supplement food sources. Seeds from acacia trees are pounded and the powder is chewed. Other edible wild fruits include: edung, erut, egol and edapal.

The social networks established over time come in handy during the dry season because they are utilized to obtain food. People borrow and beg from friends and neighbours.

Although animal blood forms part of the diet of the Turkana people, its use is more pronounced during the drought period because unlike milk production which relies on the availability of water and pasture, blood is always available.

During the drought period, many non-governmental organizations target famine-hit areas and Turkana is no exception. Organizations such as World Vision, Catholic Christian Fund (CCF) and OXFAM operate in this area. They give maize, beans and cooking fat to each family enlisted. Famine relief targets women except for single families because they are responsible for the family food preparation and provision. In addition, women are registered because they remain at campsites when migration takes place.

Before the food is distributed, word is sent out to the catchment area three days in advance for women to assemble to the distribution centres. Their names are called out by the food relief committees as each person picks their ration. In cases where one is not registered, they are forced to wait for remnants or beg from friends.

Women employ various preservation methods depending on the foods locally available. The presentation methods and periods for various foods are given in table 2.

Table 2. Food preservation methods used by Turkana women

Food item	Product	Preservation method	Storage duration
Milk	Dried milk (edodo)	The milk is poured in a wide surface container such as a big sufuria (pan) and then left to dry in the sun until it forms powder. The dried milk is stored in a leather sack. Alternatively, the milk is boiled until it evaporates and forms a solid mass. This is sun-dried and stored in leather sacks.	1 – 5 years
Milk	Fresh milk (akikwaun)	The milk is boiled to keep it fresh.	7 hours to 1 day
Milk	Butter/ghee	The milk is left in a gourd overnight or for up to four days. Water is added before it is shaken. It is then put in an open container. Butter forms at the top and ghee is left at the bottom. Butter is first scooped into a container.	2 months
Milk	Sour milk	The milk is covered and let to sour for three or more days	4 days to 1 week
Meat	Fried meat	Fatty and non-fatty meat is cut into small pieces and fried in its own oil for 20-30 minutes. The meat is then separated from the oil and put in locally made containers (made from wood and animal skin called ebur). The oil is then put in a separate container.	2 weeks
Meat	Dried meat	Meat from camels, cows and wild animals such as elephants and buffalos is stripped into strings and let to hang in shelves or low acacia bushes. It is dried by the sun, folded and stored in a container	10 days to 2 months
Fish	Dried fish	It is dried after harvest and cleaned and packed in sacks. They are dusted after every two months to keep them clean	1 year
Table 2. Contd.
Maize/ sorghum/ green grams (dengu)	Dried grains	The grains are dried after harvest and cleaned and packed in sacks. They are dusted after every two months to keep them clean	1 year
Dumb palm fruit (egol)	Powder	The skin is removed. The rest of the fruit is dried and crushed into powder	3-4 weeks

Economic activities: Generally, Turkana residents engage in economic activities that intensify in number and magnitude during the dry season as people struggle to survive. The study has revealed that the economic activities are gender segregated with women doing activities closely related to their roles as home managers and men doing activities related to herding.

Activities done by women include:

• Sale of food snacks at local market centres: uji (porridge), mandazi (buns), and wild fruit;

• Sale of woodcarvings especially in the Kalokol and Lodwar Towns;

• Preparation of fish for sale;

• Rendering services as housemaids for rich families;

• Fetching water for other people;

• Weaving of baskets, mats and hats from leaves of drought-resistant plant (called down palm);

• Selling firewood to urban dwellers;

• Buying and selling animals and animal skins; and

• Selling local brew.

Activities done by men include:

• Buying and selling of cows from rural to urban centres;

• Carpentry;

• Construction work;

• Long distance hawking: Men move to the mountainous areas to sell or exchange for food such items as salt, tobacco, blankets, bed sheets and veterinary medicines to people who have migrated there;

• Provide security to those migrating or when there is insecurity from other communities;

• Manual work in towns such as loading and unloading food from trucks;

• Working as security guards in towns such as Lodwar and Kalokol; and

• Fishing at the lake although it is hampered by lack of adequate facilities.

Activities done by both men and women include:

• Selling water where women carry it on their heads while men use wheel carts to get the water from sources for sale;

• Running kiosks; and

• Weaving mats, hats and baskets.

4.4 Factors Affecting How Residents Cope with Drought

4.4.1. Social Networks

Social networks assist people socially and economically to cope with the drought. The social networks are established in the following ways:

• In-laws and other relatives such as siblings, uncles and aunts provide food, clothes and even money to be used during the drought. However, the residents quickly pointed out that such support is only provided at the beginning of the drought period. As the effects of the drought persevere, such support diminishes as the resources reduce;

• Relatives residing and working in towns take care of children and old people, and provide money for use;

• Social networks are established with churches, schools and children’s homes and with such connections, children and mothers can get food and other material assistance to cope with the drought;

• Relatives and friends assist to get employment on farms and plantations and as security guards in the urban centres;

• The age sets provide moral support as well as team support in catching fish by providing boats to its members. It is within the age sets that men discuss ideas on how to cope with drought;

• Women’s associations: Women use milk and dairy products for exchange or marketing and thus building social networks by allowing other women the use of one of their own milking animals or by giving dairy products to other women to ensure the flow of food into the household during the drought; and

• Fishermen belong to groups where they cooperate to ensure security to one another in the hostile waters. Similarly, women belong to cooperatives that they use to make and sell woven items as well as firewood. Some young men also belong to youth groups for the same purposes.

4.4.2. Socio-economic Status

Socio-economic status among the Turkana is determined by the number of stock one owns. Since goats are the only surviving animals during the drought periods, the number of goats owned determines the availability of milk for family members and whether some can be sold to obtain cash. They also provide food when slaughtered. In addition, a family with many goats means, even when some die as a result of drought, that they have some left behind. This is a way of risk management. Thus, the number of goats was used to determine the status of individuals (table 3).

Table 3. Number of goats owned by sampled Turkana residents by location

No. of goats	Turkwell		Kapua		Kalokol		Total
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
None 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 20+	9 - - 7 5 4	- 7 - 10 - 7	20 15 - - - -	3 6 10 6 - -	3 5 11 6 - -	20 2 3 - - -	55 35 24 29 5 11
Total	25	24	35	25	25	25	159

From the table, thirty-five percent of the Turkana residents sampled owned no goats – an indicator of the poor socio-economic status negated by the drought situation. This position is confirmed by the low percentage (7%) observed of those owning twenty or more. The better status of these residents may be explained in terms of the agricultural activities that supplement pastoralism.

Apart from goats, families with businesses are able to provide food and other provisions from the proceeds of their businesses. Moreover, jobs provide additional income for families whether casual or permanent by supplementing food sources and basic need provision.

4.4.3. Proximity to Urban Centres

The study had two major towns, Lodwar and Kalokol, with many smaller market centres like Kakuma. The study has revealed that proximity to these urban centres was a major determinant of how well people coped with the effects of drought.

Kapua is a purely pastoralist area located 50 km from Lodwar town. Transport to Lodwar town is not reliable; thus; people have to walk to get supplies for their kiosks, timber for carpentry and veterinary medicine.

Proximity to an urban centre is beneficial to residents because they can easily access societal amenities like hospitals, water, electricity and schools that provide free lunch. Most charitable organizations are located in the urban centres and residents can benefit from their assistance especially food. Casual and permanent jobs are readily available at the urban centres. In addition, there is ready market to sell food stuffs and other things like charcoal and weaved items.

4.4.4. Proximity to Lake Turkwell

The pastoralists supplement resources by selling the fish. Many people who have settled around the lake provide ready market for small businesses like water, baskets, and kiosks. Weaving material is readily available from palm leaves that grow near the lake. Trees for firewood as well as the market are available near the lake.

4.4.5. Polygamy

Polygamy is a common practice among Turkana pastoralists. The drought has some effects on the practice. For instance, since polygamous families are labour-intensive, they enable members to cope with drought by dividing duties among themselves to lessen the workload. However, interviewees revealed that this cooperation only works at the beginning of the drought season. As the drought worsens, individual households become more independent.

Polygamous families are most affected by drought as food lessens. They depend in most cases on one breadwinner who cannot adequately provide for the many family members. Many of the interviewees reported that it is easier to manage monogamous families during the drought period. They said some families break up during this period with wives going back to their homes to survive the drought. Also, enmity between wives worsens during this season.