Rendille People

The Rendille People live in the Kaisut desert east of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. They are pastoral people, with mostly goats and camels that are valued above all other positions. They are divided into many small groups that travel together. The number and names of these differed with many of the sources I could find. Two of the more prominent subgroups are the Ilturia and Ariaal in the southern part of the Kaisut desert. These tribes also herd some cattle.

Historically the Rendille people are from southern Ethiopia, they were forced out in the sixteenth century after a long series of conflicts with Somalia peoples. They allied with the Borana (Gabbra) people for protection and still have close ties to them. Now they are closely allied with the Samburu people to the south. The Samburu of the rift valley are currently absorbing Rendille people, they have more water on their lands and there are more of them then the 30.000 total Rendille. The rift valley paranilotic language is also taking over the Rendille Cushitic. The Rendille people travel from place to place, constantly searching for water and new grazing, the poor soil can’t take much before its overgrazed and finding enough water is difficult. Their huts can be dismantled and packed onto camels. They live mostly off of what they can get from their animals. Camels are especially important to them, more so in the north then the south. A traveling group will decide the location of a campsite by watching the lead camel’s reactions to an area.

The Rendille were not directly impacted by colonization. This was because the British didn’t want their desert land. They are very nomadic and had little sustained contact with any other people because they would not –could not because of their environment- stay in one place. They stayed out of sight out of mind until the 1970s and 80s when a series of droughts caused massive loss of livestock. Because they survived off their animals this was catastrophic. This famine brought the Rendille to the attention of missionary relief organizations and NGO’s. The problem with trying to support these people was that they could not stay in one place and survive on their own, there was no land that could support them. This has created towns that survive entirely off of aid from the government to survive. Aid organizations stared these towns so they could educate and feed these people, but even now only about 10% are literate and the towns can’t survive without help.