Context & Partners
Sauti Moja works among several pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in some of the most remote communities of Northern Kenya.  Our partners include volunteering professionals in Marsabit as well as the Pastoral Education and Training Institute (PETI) in Logologo.

Context
Sauti Moja’s development activities are based in Marsabit District, which borders on Ethiopia to the north and extends to the east from Lake Turkana.  The two centers for operations are Marsabit town and Logologo village, which is 40 kms to the south.  Our programs focus on the most vulnerable people – often those who have been ignored by other development agencies.  Often, these people are in some of the most remote and hard-to-reach areas of the District.  With the exception of Marsabit town, the communities in this District are very isolated with very poor road infrastructure and few services.  The communities we serve represent the most under-developed in Kenya.

The environment of Marsabit District varies from a small moderately-productive area around Marsabit Mountain, that is suitable for small-scale agriculture, to semi-arid and arid savannah in the “low lands”.  (Within this District, there is the Chalbi Desert, which is the largest one south of the Sahara Desert.)  The District is vulnerable to increasingly frequent and severe droughts, which destroy crops and starve livestock.  Drought remains one of the biggest detriments to the communities’ well-being, hence this District has been the target of much food relief over the past few decades. 

Marsabit District represents an area of incredible ethnic tension and violent clashes between the different pastoral groups that inhabit the area.  These clashes are rooted in historical customs of ‘livestock raiding’ and inherent distrust of each other, but this have been exacerbated by contemporary politics, small arms trading, ease of marketing stolen animals, and competition for grazing land and water.  Government and non-government peace initiatives are an on-going component of Marsabit District.

Our programs in Marsabit focus on the Borana, Samburu, and Rendille Indigenous People groups, and we plan to enhance support for the most vulnerable Gabbra, Turkana and Burgi.  The Borana that we support are agro-pastoralists inhabiting an area around Marsabit Mountain.  In the desert to the West and South of Marsabit, we support Samburu and Rendille pastoralists who depend on camels, cows, goats and sheep for their survival.  All the groups are semi-nomadic - many household members travel large distances in search for grazing land and water for livestock.
HIGHLIGHT:

Pastoralists living in the remote arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya are marginalized by government and have less access to health, education, and agriculture services, because these people are considered to contribute little to the economy, population density is low, and communities are remote. 

The other factor characterizing these areas is drought of increasing frequency and severity.  This contributes to destruction of crops and death of livestock, which results in widespread poverty and hunger.

Ethnic tension and violent clashes characterize the interface of tribal groups with a history of resource conflict and livestock raiding.   Peace initiatives are sometimes secondary to exploitation of tension for political gain.

Those whom we support in Marsabit District are not only marginalized, subject to the effects of global warming, and live amidst conflict, but are the most vulnerable within these communities, ie. the widows and single mothers who have no livestock and the child mothers who have been ostracized due to out-of-wedlock pregnancy.
 

Partners
Sauti Moja collaborates with three ‘teams’ in Marsabit town and one non-government organization in Logologo village.  Each of these parties, works with and through community leaders and in collaboration with local government to ensure appropriate interventions.  With a few exceptions, the work in Kenya is indebted to the volunteerism of the Donkey and Goat Team (Bokku Wario and Abdub Boru), the Camel Team (Charles Lesingiran, Aaron Lesiantam and Paul Galmagar) and the Child Mother Team (Martha Bone and Clara Robe).
Sauti Moja's most recent partner agency is the Pastoral Education and Training Initiative (PETI) in Logologo. PETI is a newly-registered non-government organization started by local leaders and professionals who want to assist their community.  Sauti Moja is excited with their dedication to efficiency and effectiveness and with this opportunity to participate in and contribute to its service to vulnerable community members. 

Did you know?

Sauti Moja (Canada) Director, Tim Wright, resided and worked in Marsabit from 1998-2001, when he managed a large food security and child health program for another agency.  The relationships developed during that time have been integral to our programming.  Those currently engaged in facilitating Sauti Moja programs are long-term friends and previous staff who are committed to assisting their communities.

  • Join the LECHE Project which is affordable, supports healthy development of Maasai preschoolers, and helps educate your children.
  • 1000 Widows Initiative – We’ve helped 161 vulnerable women become self-sufficient, so now we are targeting another 839 over the next three years!  More
  • Sponsors for child mothers are desperately needed!  More
  • Read about Sauti Moja’s role in famine recovery here.
  • Read about Sauti Moja’s response to global warming here.