I recently returned from a journey to Northen Kenya, to Samburu country. It is a beautiful land, the birthplace of Humanity, peopled by friendly tribes. Nothing much had changed here for thousands of years, until the missionaries arrived. We travelled for hours along remote tracks until we came to small, dusty villages where there never failed to be a church of some sort. Catholics, Methodists, Mormons, Muslims and Jehovas Witnesses, all vying for the souls of these 'lost' people. They bring bibles and charity, second hand clothes in exchange for obedience. No more topless tribeswomen, no more tribal names (they are all now Samuels and Josephs). Every year that passes you are less likely to meet a true Samburu warrior like this:
More and more they are being dragged into the twenty first century, like it or not, and now what we find is this:
They are offered water and education, but the price demanded, loss of identity and heritage, is too high to pay.
Progress will continue, and no people should be turned into a kind of human museum, but this destruction of a way of life that has been successful for millenia is not the way forward. The missions will talk of poverty and paganism, but what they offer is not altruistic. They do not bring health and education without expecting something in return. There is an enormous disrespect in all this soul saving and do gooding.
I have had the privelege to see the Samburu tribe as it still is, but I fear that I will be among the last of those fortunate enough to have witnessed it.
Help, by all means, but above all let us respect their way of life.
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