Tobiko donates 15,000 trees for Maasai rite of passage

 

Environment CS Keriako Tobiko has donated 15,000 tree seedlings for the 15,000 graduating elders (ilpayiani) of the Matapato community on Wednesday.

Tobiko said on Sunday each of them will plant a tree to commemorate the historic rite of passage of young Maasai men to senior elders.

He received a hero's welcome when he visited the site of the of the olng’esher, meaning "meat-eating" event.

It will last five days and Maasais from around Kenya, Tanzania and elsewhere are expected. Some estimates place the number of guests at 300,000. 

The rite of passage takes place every 15 years among all Maasai communities.

The world-renowned cultural event is the third ritual a Maasai male must go through before he is given the power to run his affairs as a family man.

The first one is the initiation of the Maasai boy into circumcision (enkipaata); eight or 10 years later they go through shaving of their dreadlocks (eunoto). The last and final rite is olng’esherr.

The next meat-eating event is expected to take place in 2035.

The young men who will participate in the rite of passage on Wednesday turned up to welcome Tobiko.

Tobiko expressed the need to protect the environment.

He attributed the rising water levels in major Rift Valley lakes to reclamation and agricultural activities in water catchment areas. Runoff increases siltation, making the lakes shallower and prone to flooding.

The CS said progress in the reclamation of the Kirisia Forest in Samburu is evident as daily rainfall has increased.

He urged the men graduating to senior elders to plant one tree each to increase the forest cover to 10 per cent.

The CS was accompanied by Devolution Principal Secretary Charles Ole Sunkuli and Nema board chairman John Konchellah.