Turkana Desert

After only 24 hours in Kotido I was swept away for a short weekend vacation on Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. The trip involved a long journey from the semi-arid pasture lands of Kotido, over the Rift Valley Escarpment and then through the Turkana desert which surrounds the lake. During our journey through the desert we would frequently “make our own roads” on the smooth sand, merely watching to follow the general direction of the road. I was completely fascinated by the empty landscape and enjoyed the hot air blowing through the car as we raced through nothingness.

It was in one of these vacant spaces that our land cruiser became helplessly stuck in deep, loose sand. After our driver’s numerous attempts to drive us from the pit he asked us to get out of the vehicle while he dug it loose. While we had been driving through the desert I had noticed a few small villages (manyattas) but I had not seen any close by when our vehicle became stuck. However, before we could even pile out of the cruiser women and grandmothers were walking towards us through the desert with their children and babies.

Along with our driver the women worked on our vehicle for two hours. They would lay palm tree branches before and behind the tires, and dig out the tires after failed attempts to drive it out. Between the pushing and digging I sat under a grove of palm trees with the kids, grandmothers and babies. We used the branches, leaves, and stones to build miniature manyattas. What amazed me most about the two hours was the extravagant hospitality of the Turkana women and children. They began moving towards us before we even knew we needed help and did not stop serving us until our car had been pushed from the sand. In that final triumphant moment they all threw their arms in the air, fingers apart and palms wide open shouting, “Alakara Akuj “ meaning, “Thanks be to God.”

What a lesson in hospitality and service. As we were all piling back into the cruiser we gave them our empty water bottles, it seemed strange to be giving away our trash to women who had just served us untiringly for two hours but they were overjoyed with the gifts. They will use them to store many things such as water, honey, milk and other household items, and they can be made into toys for the children.

 During one of the waiting periods under the tree I had braided some palm branches together and wrapped it around one young girl’s wrist. Before leaving she stopped me and tied one around my wrist that she had made. It made me wonder, if people from different communities and languages can unite to push a car from the sand, how much more can be done within our own familiar communities for the greater good.