Origin, migration and settlement of the Taita community

Hi Cliff.

During the December holiday my cousin came home to visit my grandparents. His name is Aggry Mtalaki.  He schools at Pwani University, 4th year now. He later sent me this report about the Taita. I hope you will like it.

Margy

By Aggriey Mtalaki Pwani University, Kenya   The Taita people are a coastal Bantu tribe living in the Taita hills near the border between Tanzania and Kenya. The Taita consist of 3 tribes ·        Wadawida ·        Wasaghala ·        Wataveta The Taita hills consist of 3 main hills: Dawida, Sagalla and Kasighau. Dawida is the most fertile and densely populated area of the Taita community. The Wadawida living on the slopes of this hill practice different forms of agriculture, selling the bulk of the food they produce to the residents of coast province living in Mombasa. Origin of the Taita community There are three versions explaining the migration of the Taita. ·         The first version asserts that that the taita came from west Africa around Cameroon highlands and bauchi plateau of Nigeria; therefore this points to the Niger basin as the possible cradle land of the Taita. ·         The second version points that the taita came from the Katanga region in south eastern Congo. They spread east ward of the forest edge near the lower Congo or Zaire and lower Kasai. ·         The third version points that the taita came from a place called Misiri around Southern Sudan  moved into Turkana area then into Mt Elgon then moved into Nyanza and later into central and eastern regions Taita movement The Taitas are believed to have migrated from central Africa along side other other coastal Bantu tribes. Arriving in present day Kenya from the south through Shungwaya. The settlement at shungwaya but with the attacks from the Cushitic communities (the Oromo/galla), the taita migrated back to the Taita hills. The hills provided the taita with refuge from raids and attacks by the neighboring communities such as Maasai tribe Today the Taita have settled on the Taita hills and they mostly depend on Agriculture. Taita dialects In dialects Taita people have very many dialects. The Mbololo Taita have their own, Bura Taita have onother, Wisu, Kidaya, Mghange, Chawia, Mwanda, Kishamba, Weruga, Wundanyi. These are the so called Dawida Kisaghalla and the Kikasaghau are rather independent dialects. Reasons for the Taita migration ·         Drought and famine- climate in their cradle land had become unreliable/ unpredicted. ·         Population increases which resulted into overcrowding – It led to scarcity of grazing and agriculture land. ·         The constant attacks (external pressure). They moved due to external pressure, especially due to the migration of the Arabs into West Africa and the migration of the cushites into the East Africa. ·         Internal conflicts – internal misunderstandings/ conflicts between the different clans. These conflicts concerned the ownership of Agriculture area, shortage of grazing land and watering areas. ·         Epidemics and diseases/ natural calamities. They moved due to natural disasters e.g.  earth quakes, over flooding of rivers like river Niger, sickness diseases such as Nagana. ·         Search for fertile land for Agriculture. ·         Love for adventure – The Taita wanted to find out what was happening in other areas. ·         Group influence they had seen their relatives and friends move. ·          The need for water and pasture. ·          To export their Iron working culture. Effects of the migration and settlement of the Taita The migration of the Taita had both positive and Negative impact. Positive ·         Introduction of Iron working into East Africa. ·         Introduction of new crops e.g.  Yams, bananas. ·         They absorbed other tribe’s e.g. the gatherers. ·         They introduced centralized advanced station. ·         Introduced substance Agriculture Negative ·         Led to depopulation due to frequent attacks. ·         Loss of culture due to cultural absorption.  Bantu intermarrying with the non Bantu people, whom they came across.

Kileva Eastfield School Report : Problems with the Water Tank

From:  Margaret Kiriro
             Kileva Eastfield Primary School
             Mwakoma, Kenya

24th January 2012

Hi Cliff

Iam doing well here at school just trying hard to improve educational perfomance as the school has grow now to be big village

As you know we have reached class five and we have just 3 classes short for the school to be a full primary by 2015,we will producing our first batch of class eight candidates who will be sitting for KCPE [Kenya Certificate of Primary Education]examinations.  May God help me live to see the outcomes of their perfomances in 2015.  As iam seeing it might perform very well if we maintain the tempo under the same morale we have.

Also there is a problem which has just happened with the gate valve of our water tank here in school. We  cannot get water until one climb climb on to top of tank to get water so the children a getting problems. We need to repair the tap by puting on some other including new tap and a small water pipe. Attached are the photos too.

.
Update from Cliff
17th Feb 2012

You’ll no doubt be pleased to know that we’ve now fixed the problems by purcashing and installing the following parts so  the kids no longer have to climb up onto the tank to get water!

Item	Unit Price (Ksh)	#	Total (Ksh)
Gatevalve-3”	1,050	1	1,050
Union	330	1	330
Socket	240	1	240
Elbows	150	3	450
Bends	150	3	450
Taps	980	2	1,960
metal pipes	1,250	2	2,500
Labour	1,800	1	1,800

Kileva Centre Appeal : New Furniture

Since the 2012 Kileva Centre Appeal began I’m delighted to say that £450 has been raised to buy furniture and equipment for the centre and to help local people pay for the medical help they desperately need.  Many thanks to the people who’ve contributed.

Here’s a letter from the Assistant Chief of the Ndara region thanking us for providing furniture for the centre from the Kileva Centre Appeal funds:

To: Cliff Evans, Kileva Foundation Chairman From: Alex Mwambingu, Assistant Chief Ndara region Date: 29th Jan 2012 Hallo sir. Thanks for the 10 benches 2 tables and one chair for the Kileva Centre. I got them yesterday 28th. The baraza [meeting] was good in Kirumbi, I gave madam Margaret of Kileva the minutes and agenda. God bless you!  Alex

I’ll post the agenda and minutes that Alex mentions soon together with some ‘photos from the event.  Meanwhile here’s a couple of photos of the shiny new benches ..

New benches at the Kileva Centre

Benches in use

Photos & certificates received by Kirumbi Primary School

Kirumbi Primary School is only a few minutes walk from the Kileva Dispensary & Community Centre, and is one of the first schools Jane and I visited when we first went to Sagalla back in 2006.

Here’s a letter I received recently from the Headteacher at the school:

The certificates mentioned by Mr Maghanga had to be replaced as there were spelling mistakes in the originals that were handed out to the top 3 pupils in each of the eight year groups when we attended the school prizegiving event last November. 

The following slideshow shows some of the ‘photos taken at the event.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Community Support Grant for Kileva Eastfield Pre-School

Good news!  The Kileva Eastfield Pre-School was recently allocated a Community Suffort Grant by the District Education Office as outlined in the letter below.

 

 

The following note is from Margaret explaining how the grant (18,368 Kenyan shillings, about £140) will be allocated.

 

“About the money,the pre school should have its own account and the money will be used to buy anything as long as it has been discussed by the school committee, like some schools have decided to buy furniture,others they have renovated their schools and so on. We are going to sit and decide what we are doing with the money.i will send you the minutes of the discussed budget“

The Kileva Foundation Board of Trustees would like to thank the DEO office for the grant.

Regards,

Cliff

Kileva Eastfield Pre-school and Staff Room

Running for Kileva

Mauro (on left)

A friend of mine (Mauro) lives in Italy but will be coming to Reading on 1st April to run the Reading Half Marathon on behalf of Kileva. 

Below is an email he sent out recently asking for help with sponsorship.

“Dear friends,I decided for the first time in my life to run for charity.  On first of April I will run Reading Half Marathon and I will do for Kileva.  Kileva is a small foundation created by a friend of mine (Cliff) that takes care of under priviledged children of a small village in South of Kenya. My request to you is, today, skip some useless expenses (too many coffes, or candies, or …) and what you save,  donate to this foundation.To make donation use this link. http://www.justgiving.com/mauro-carobeneFeel free also to forward this emailThanks and have fun!!!!!!!Mauro“

If you too would like to support Mauro and of course Kileva please go to http://www.justgiving.com/mauro-carobene.

Thanks and good luck Mauro!

Cliff

Mauro & I on an outward bound event (hence the paint on our faces!)

Do you recognise this knife?

A friend of mine has had the knife in the ‘photo below for about 50 years. An aunt of his brought it back after a visit to Kenya in the early 1960s.

 

Click on the photo to get an enlarged image

 

He’s now interested to find out more about its origins.  The hilt seems to be made of ivory (in those days acceptable but of course nowadays illegal) and the finial, if that’s the right word, is silver.  It balances perfectly on the brass band between the blade and the hilt, so could it be a throwing knife ?

 

It was given to the family just after the conflict that took place in Kenya between 1952 and 1960, where the Kikuyu-dominated Mau Mau tribe fought against an alliance between of the British Army, auxiliaries and anti-Mau Mau Kikuyu.  My friend seems to remember talk of the Kikuyu at the time, so wonders if it may be linked to that in some way.

 

Anyway if anyone recognises the knife (or this type of knife) please let me know.

 

Thanks,

 

Cliff

Making a difference

Since Kileva began back in 2006 the number of people supporting the projects we run in the Sagalla region of Kenya has gradually grown. I often hear that one of the main reasons they support us is that they know that every single penny contributed goes to supporting children and their families in Kenya.

A recent example of this was when Steve Taylor (who came on the recent Kileva 2011 trip with us) received the following note from Rachel Errington a long-time Kileva supporter:

“‘Thank you [Steve] very much for the Kileva CD and updates that I’m now getting. Kenya must be amazing – very pleased to see that these donations are making a real difference. That’s the attraction of small charities; the money goes where it should.“

Thanks again to Rachel and to all you other Kileva supporters who together really are making a difference to the lives of many Sagallan children and their families.

Best wishes

Cliff

Additional uniform at Kileva Eastfield Primary School

Below is a selection of the photos that Mr Mrata refers to in his letter.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Providing inspiration at Mwamunga Primary School

One of the schools we visited when we were last in Kenya was the Mwamunga Primary School in Voi. 

In the Head Teacher's Office

As a momento of the visit I sent some ‘photos of the Kileva Awards Ceremony to the head teacher, and then recently received the following note in return:

Hapy new year Mr Cliff !  We want to thank you once again 1st for having spared your valuable time having visited us, and for the medals you gave our pupils. I want to assure you that the medals have actualy been an inspiration to our leaners. They enabled us to register improved quality marks. Be blessed. Also we received the photos you sent. The one of you holdin the elephant carving reminds us of your visit to our school. We appreciate you. God bless you.Grantone MwalikoHead Teacher, Mwamunga Primary School, Voi

This slideshow requires JavaScript.