El Barta has seen many years of ethnic conflict between the Samburu and Turkana communities, a rivalry which has sadly led to poverty and the loss of lives on both sides, as well as having a detrimental impact on wildlife in the region. Grevy’s zebra are often caught in the crossfire, quite literally when killed by stray bullets, or used for target practice.
To address this issue, GZT conceived the idea of the “We Are One” Peace Festival, aimed at bringing the two tribes together to promote peace and stability through shared identity experiences. This three-day festival took place in December 2017, and involved 300 community members – almost double the amount of people originally targeted, as everyone wanted to be involved! Fourteen village locations from across El Barta were represented.
Over three days the participants, who were joined by the GZT team and various dignitaries, including the Deputy Governor of Samburu County, took part in dancing, story-telling, discussions and oath ceremonies, all aimed at reinforcing the message of “Oneness”. The first day saw Turkana and Samburu elders sharing their family histories, which demonstrated that although they might belong to one tribe now, their descendants were originally from different tribes. A Turkana elder was of Samburu origin, and another elder from Samburu had Turkana and Rendille descendants. This was quite an emotional moment for everyone, who were left asking, “Who is fighting who?”, and realising that they are fighting with and stealing from their own brothers.
Days Two and Three saw a number of oath ceremonies taking place, where the women from both tribes exchanged milk gourds, and the elders exchanged tobacco holders, as tobacco is an integral part of all ceremonies in both tribes. These oath-swearing ceremonies were extremely powerful because they involved strong cultural traditions which are taken very seriously by all members of the community and are symbolic of a commitment to peace. After speeches by the dignitaries, the warriors danced and sang to signify the unity and friendship between the two tribes. Soon everyone had joined in, with more than 100 people celebrating through Samburu and Turkana dancing.
The end of the festival was signified with the Samburu and Turkana warriors making a commitment to end the conflict and work towards peace in the area.
