Dying Voice

Preface

Preface I should like to pay my special gratitude to many Kony, Maasai and Nandi elders for their willing participation in my research and freely sharing and discussing with me many issues highlighted in this book. I felt deeply moved when I realized that inside the minds of our elders is a hidden treasure of knowledge that needs tapping for future generations as it will improve the cultural values of our people. Research is a rigorous discipline that consumes a lot of time in patiently obtaining and evaluating information. The whole project has taken me over eleven years to complete it. During this period I interviewed many resourceful elders and leaders in authority either individually or through group discussions. I also read many books and manuals related to the Kalenjin people. I also took into account many oral stories as told by grandmothers. I paid special attention to songs, poems and proverbs used by the people, without which the project could have remained incomplete. While researching on this book, I encountered many obstacles. On one occasion I was almost beaten when the Kapkwambisi saga came up in my discussion with the Kony elders. They shed tears as they recalled many deaths and sufferings brought about by the Nandi warriors. The question they asked loudly was: “If the Nandi people are really our relatives, why did they massacre our people?” One other problem I came upon was that some elders were very uncooperative and at times demanded money for giving information. At times I was called names and chased away. But with patience and persistence I won in the end. My greatest challenge, however, Dying Voice was finances. I depended on my own meager resources apart from a little assistance that I received from friends and relatives. The purposes of writing this book are many. I had in mind the idea of bringing to light the original relevance of cattle raid and their consequences. The book also reflects on the actions of our people that brought havoc later in life. Another purpose of this book is to revisit the old way of life including traditional norms. These norms can be helpful in guiding the lives of the people of today. This book is also meant to serve as a healing touch to the most affected people in cattle-raids, especially the Kony community. I hope that young readers of this book will use their own strength and talents in generating their own incomes rather than causing other people to suffer. The final purpose of this book was to collect primary data on the Nandi traditional life, to weave the data together in the form of a narrative, and to make the same available to students and teachers of cultural anthropology. I hope that readers, both academic and non-academic, will find this book useful. Andrew K. Tanui Kitale, Kenya September 2006 10 ...