Author: William Rubel

Words preserve culture. I am writing a dictionary of culinary terms in Northern Maa. Here is an example of a draft definition.

Kebebek [adj]. Used to describe a thin mouthfeel or to milk diluted with water. The oppostie of keirucha. By nature, this is a relative term.  Comparing milk textures, camel is the most kebekek followed by cow, sheep, and goat. Milk texture changes seasonally. For example, cow milk, always less kebekek than camel milk, is  seasonally perceived as kebekek when rainy season fodder naturally dilutes its texture. The strongest diluting effect is felt from the Spring “little rain” that fosters strong growth of tender leaves in shrubs, rather than from the “big rain” in late autum and early winter which has a more immediate effect on the grasses. When new growth supports lots of milk, then that milk will be kebebek. Elders monitor the condition of forage from their manyatta homes in part through changes in milk texture as plants adjust to the natural wet and dry cycles of the Northern Kenyan interior climate. The first milk from the cow is kebebek compared with the more keirucha, thick milk, that follows in two to three weeks. Goat milk is made more kebebek for one or two milkings when, after one week on the lkees, range, they are finally taken to water. The diluted milk of unscrupulous market women is kebebek. Chai (tea, milk, water, and sugar) that is more dilute (1:4 milk to water) than the standard recipe (1:2) is kebekek. Ill people may ask for their tea kebekek; as may people who simply prefer it that way. 

The Samburu Lowlands Research Station, Lengusaka, is pleased to announce that we have come to an agreement with Boniface Nakori, headmaster of the Remot Primary School, for his teachers to use the Research Station as a natural history laboratory. The Station spans several distinct habitats, a forested riparian corridor with a colony of vervet monkeys. Part of the Station is fenced with a limited number of animals permitted to graze as a demonstration plot for land restoration. An unfenced portion denuded from overgrazing showing significant erosion, and a natural rock-lined ravine opening to the Lengusaka River that bounds the Research Station on two sides. Students will study the plants, placing labels on those they know, record botanical details, ethnobotanical information, and other cultural uses for the plants. They will study and describe the different ecologies at the Research Station, considering the question of sustainability of intensive grazing. We would like to build a library of science books for students from Primary 1 through High School, and provide basic equipment for students to use including magnifying glasses, rulers, and compound and stereo microscopes. If you have materials to donate to the Research Center or would like to contribute financially to this school project, please contact us via the contact form. Thank you.

Samburu Research has hosted individuals and small groups of researchers at Lengusaka in the past, but we have invested significantly in recent months to upgrade facilities to host larger groups. The new larger facility officially opens in the summer of 2019 when we welcome our inaugural university group.