The Okiek of Mariashoni, Nakuru District, Mau Forest Complex, Kenya. A Sociolinguistic Report

Mariashoni lays on a wonderful green highland (ca 2800m on the sea level) in a region which is partly covered by the impressive vegetation of the Mau forest and partly declines in a very pleasant hilly area of pretty fields, generally cultivated with corn and potatoes, where hundreds of cute Scottish white sheep conveys to the visitor a vague sense of tranquillity and peace. Until some 30 years ago, when savage deforestation started, the vegetation was pervasive all around and, the Okiek (hunters and gatherers, speaking a Kalenjin - Nilo-Saharan language) lived as they had lived during the last 500 years or so, hunting with bow and arrows, gathering the roots and fruits that grew in the forest, and following the lifecycle and seasonal migrations of wild bees in order to collect their honey which was essential for the Okiek’s diet. Over the last 30 years, with the reduction and degradation of their original habitat, the Okiek, once living in isolation inside the forest, had to turn to farming to survive and their relations with their farmer-neighbors, who in this area are mainly Kipsigis and Kikuyu and not Maasai as in the case documented by C. KRATZ in Narok District in the ‘80s and ‘90s, became more and more frequent. Therefore the community leaders, recently involved in an important eco-farming project, funded by NECOFA (Network for Eco-farming in Kenya), Manitese Kenya Branch and the Province of Bolzano through Ethnorêma association (Italy), asked for a new component of the project focussing on the study and preservation of the local language, culture and traditional heritage. The present study, funded by Manitese, was conducted on 142 Okiek of Mariashoni in the months of January and February 2013 and represents a first answer to this specific request of the community leaders. After a brief overview of the country statistics, I describe the methods used for data collection and then my findings.