EL MOLO GURAPAU, LOIYANGALANI, LAKE TURKANA, NORTHERN FRONTIER DISTRICT, KENYA
Of all our community group grantees, El Molo Gurapau is probably the most under pressure in their ability to simply be able to survive.
Photos Gallery of the El Molo Tribe Kenya, Africa
In addition to working to build a reliable potable water or filtration system, WildiZe funding has provided education on disease prevention, income generation, and, in general, working to keep the El Molo culture and community alive.
WildiZe has been assisting them through:
1. Building much needed structures to store fish, grain and water
2. Providing food and necessities in times of drought
3. Providing containers, donkeys and carts to fetch clean water (A half days walk)
4. Constructing a shelter for group meetings
5. Provide education on disease prevention and income generation
6. Assistance in sending their children to school and school supplies
7. Showing wildlife,cultural and entertainment films through our mobile film unit
8. Purchasing unique curios specific to the El Molo and their tradtions to sell through the WildiZe Market and ART FOR CONSERVATION
Who they are: The El Molo are one of the smallest tribes in Kenya, numbering just under 400 people, living in only two communities in Northern Kenya specific to Lake Turkana . Their culture is in jeopardy of being lost altogether due to constant pressure and stress from disease upon an already limited population.
What they do: The El Molo are fisherman and totally dependent upon Lake Turkana for their livlihood, unlike their pastoralist (cattle herding) neighbors in the area. They continue to live a very traditional and subsistence lifestyle relatively untouched by the western influences that surround them, continue making their fishnets by hand and fishing for Nile Perch, Tiger fish and crocodile in the old time honored ways. They are one of the few groups in the area that call themselves a community group, comprised of all members of their village, men, women and young adults. They sell fish to the larger Loiyangalani community and further abroad in Kenya as their main source of income but also make unique curios based upon their resources and envrironment of the lake, volcanic rocks, and fish bones and crystals found in the volcanic rock and soils in the hills in and around Loiyangalani.
How WildiZe helps: Since 1998 WildiZe has been working with the Gurapau group, helping them to build much needed structures in their village to store dried fish and grains, designed carts and donkeys to carry fresh water from Loiyangalani out to their village, half a days walk. We provide funding and materials to use in making their curios, in keeping with their traditions. As the El Molo are particularly susceptible to any type of disease outbreak we tested the water of the Lake and have been working to provide a continuous source of potable water and sanitation to improve their overall ability to withstand disease outbreaks, including food and funds in times of severe drought, educational supplies and bursary funds for students to attend the local school. We also show them wildlife and other films, both entertaining and educational which they love as a glimpse of the world around them
Why helping them helps conservation? Maintaining indigenous cultures, especially such a
marginalized population historically capable and able to function in such extreme conditions is important to the diversity of global resources and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Providing tools they request to continue and maintain their culture and lifestyle as they have chosen in a world that more and more pressures indiginous cultures to westernize where it is not the best nor most viable way forward.
Indigenous cultures are some of the best conservators of their natural resources with traditional ecological knowledge gained over hundreds of generations, understanding the ebb and flow of their tradtional grounds and area. Involving indigenous cultures and their knowledge in any conservation agenda will futher protect the biota and diverstiy of an area as they understand the value of protecting what they have.
Read more on the History of the El Molo...
El Molo Gurapau registration
The El Molo are the smallest ethnic group in Kenya, numbering about 300 people. They live on the lava rock outcropping spreading from the southeast shore of Lake Turkana at El Molo Bay, and another community on a small island within the lake.