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Kenya: Scientists in Rare Joint-Project With Traditional Rainmakers
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The Nation (Nairobi)
1 July 2008
Posted to the web 1 July 2008
Cosmas Butunyi
Nairobi
At first, they were described as backward and their shrines dismissed as laboratories of black magic. But, like the proverbial cornerstone that had been rejected by the builders, traditional African rain-makers are slowly gaining recognition.
The scientific world has began embracing them as partners in unravelling the never-ending mysteries of Mother Nature.
In fact, climate experts are looking up to indigenous African knowledge as a probable salvation to the devastating effects of climate change.
A plan has been mooted, where researchers from local universities, the Kenya Meteorological Department, the Kenya Industrial Property Institute and the National Museums of Kenya will join forces with the legendary rain making Nganyi community in Emuhaya constituency of Western Province.
Climate change
In the Sh18.8 million venture, the wealth of knowledge from the rainmakers' traditional weather forecasting is to be married with Western scientific forecasts to help local communities in adapting to climate change.
As part of the two-year project, funded by the International Development Research Centre, a disaster management institution, a museum will be set up at Nganyi shrine.
The project's team leader, Prof Laban Ogallo, who is also the head of the Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC), run by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad), says that the aim of the project is to demystify the knowledge of the Nganyi community as rainmakers.
"This will enrich Western methods to improve local communities' adaptation to climate change," he adds.
Prof Ogallo says that the Nganyi community was selected based on the results of a recent survey carried out by ICPAC and Unep.
"The study revealed that the community has a well-developed indigenous climate forecast system that could be integrated into Western climate forecasts," he explains.
Childhood days
The chancellor of the Great Lakes University of Kisumu, Prof David Wasawo, who also took part in the workshop, knows only too well the ability of the Nganyi community.
During the professor's childhood, a visit to the rainmakers' shrine was necessary when planning an event to avoid the problems of a sudden downpour.
In a shrine within a revered forest inhabited by a large snake that helped in feeling weather conditions, as well as a set of paraphernalia to aid in communicating with the departed ancestors, the rainmakers controlled rainfall patterns.
They did this by observing: changes in air currents, flowering and shedding of leaves of certain trees, change in behaviour of safari ants and the different songs of some birds, as well as croaking of frogs and toads.
"The timing and duration of the rainfall was important to the largely peasant farming community," he explains.
Prof Wasawo says that presently, Africa is faced with the danger of losing these traditional methods of weather forecasting.
He challenges researchers to investigate the scientific basis of the manifestations used in traditional forecasting.
"There is need to conduct ecological, genetic and physiological studies of these manifestations, as well as the local physical geography and astronomic conditions," he adds.
Growing up in the 1930s, an incident involving the community that lived at the foot of the Bunyore Hills, remains etched in his mind.
In the middle of a dry spell, a stranger arrived at his parents' home and introduced himself as an emissary of Nganyi, the famous rainmaker. He demanded a chicken as goodwill to make rain.
Decades later
The request was granted after consulting his mother, and a week later, the skies opened up for a heavy downpour.
Several decades later, after independence, the country would be hit by a drought. Emuhaya MP Wilson Mukuna offered to bring in rainmakers from his home. To the surprise of many, it rained.
The acceptance by the local community to collaborate with the scientific community is indeed a milestone.
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Previously, knowledge about rainmaking was hidden and only a preserve of the Abasiekwe clan of which the Nganyi community is part, according to Mr Bill Sango, a clan member.
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Did the Finance Minister's office forge signatures to hide a fraudulent sale of the Grand regency, did they (he) fake the amount due for the sale. The dignity of the important office has been erroded by jua-kali theft and a poor attenpt to hoodwink the citizens. Don't say that it is becuase you are Kikuyu because there are six million Kikuyus who cannot stomach what you have done.
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