Memories from Turkana

Kenya – Nairobi, Karen – 10 February 2019. Lukuitan Alim, born in Turkana Central in “Ngamia one”, now called Lokichar. He was been in the war between 1981 and 1988 in the Turwel Gorge area. War was based on cattle rustling, and he has lost uncountable people over this fight. From 1981 and 1983 was the hardest years. during this time he killing so many people and losing 20 family members in just one day. Alim said “whoever dies, dies, and whoever lives, lives. This is the lifestyle of pokot and turkana community”. Now he is married and father of 3 kids. He works as a security guard close to Nairobi. Migration to urban centers has been on the rise in search of alternative sources of livelihood because pastoralism is becoming unsustainable. The dominant push factor to move in urban centers is violent conflicts.

[what follows is fictional text, not real]

Alim described the shores of lake turkana in 1980. At that time he was a sharped and fishing was still little as sheep farming was a source of may wealth. The lake was wider and the shores were not dry and did not host groups of men who have since moved to the shores to fish…

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