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Ahead on the dusty road a mirage appeared, shimmering in the Kenyan heat: brightly dressed women dancing, jumping, singing a single hypnotic line repeated over and over. We had come to visit them, the Tomwo Women's Group, and suddenly they were singing all around us, in traditional Pokot beads and bright blue shirts, placing small tree boughs on the windshield, the bumper, all over the van as a sign of peace and welcome.
The Tomwo Women's Group is working to preserve traditional Pokot culture, as expressed in songs, dance, beadwork, and most importantly, through the collection and preparation of traditional foods. In the semi-arid climate of this part of Kenya the dry season hits hard and very little cultivation is possible. As the men take the herds to more fertile grazing land, the women and children are left to fend for themselves with few resources. Children and adults alike suffer from the nutritional consequences of poverty and an unbalanced diet. The inexpensive staple foods available in the market, such as maize and cabbage, are low in nutritional value, yet there seem to be few other affordable options.
But even in the dry season, when our camera crew visited West Pokot with ethnobotanist Patrick Maundu of the National Museums of Kenya, we discovered that an abundance of nutritional foods can be collected in what at first seems to be a barren environment. "They are living in an environment that is really rich with foods," commented Maundu after the women of the Tomwo group took us on a walk to sample the fruits, leaves and roots of several local plants. Through the use of song and dance, the Tomwo group is gradually educating their community about the importance of collecting and using these traditional foods as part of their diet, and their work is having an impact. People are beginning to re-incorporate these local leaves and fruits into the meals they prepare for their families, and they are even appearing for sale in the market, alongside the cabbage and maize. An interview with the local nurse confirmed the impact of this change: she sees a significant improvement in the nutritional status of community members who begin to reintegrate these traditional foods into their diet.
The segment in West Pokot was filmed as a part of a video CHC is producing with the support of the Ford Foundation, on the relationship between culture and health as illustrated by the work of several community-based groups in Kenya. We'll be announcing screening dates for the video after it is completed in June, 2003.
   
  
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