DFID - UK Department for International Development
A senior rainmaker in the community instructs an apprentice on how to do the pot blowing
Obedi Osore Nganyi (right), instructs Reuben Asitwa Okonda on how to do the pot blowing. Reuben Asitwa Okonda, 34, is an apprentice of the senior rainmakers of Nganyi community.
The knowledge of rainmaking has been passed down the generations along family lines. The knowledge is normally passed to a son of one of the rainmakers.
Reuben explains that he was nominated by his late father who himself was a senior rainmaker in the community. "It’s an honour to be nominated for a respectable responsibility in the community."
When they start training, it is expected that rainmakers have already started families. "I now have a complete family with wives and children. Now it’s acceptable for me to take on this responsibility which is demanding."
Reuben has been an apprentice since 2006. Obedi explains that the learning process has an unlimited period of time. "He has to practice with us and learn in the process. He is only ready when we feel that he is committed to the responsibility and has a genuine feeling for it."
The apprentice in most of the learning period also acts as the assistant to the rainmakers. During the rainmaking activities in the shrines, the rainmakers sometimes stay for hours or even days in the shrines and at this point it is normally the work of the assistant to keep them supplied with food and water.
For more information on this project please visit:
collections.europarchive.org/tna/20100407190622/http:/www...
Photo credit: Department For International Development / International Development Research Centre /Thomas Omondi
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DFID is working to help more communities take a green path to development. As climate change threatens the livelihoods of the world’s poorest, we are helping people adapt and develop. Find out more at: collections.europarchive.org/tna/20091202075459/http:/www...
A senior rainmaker in the community instructs an apprentice on how to do the pot blowing
Obedi Osore Nganyi (right), instructs Reuben Asitwa Okonda on how to do the pot blowing. Reuben Asitwa Okonda, 34, is an apprentice of the senior rainmakers of Nganyi community.
The knowledge of rainmaking has been passed down the generations along family lines. The knowledge is normally passed to a son of one of the rainmakers.
Reuben explains that he was nominated by his late father who himself was a senior rainmaker in the community. "It’s an honour to be nominated for a respectable responsibility in the community."
When they start training, it is expected that rainmakers have already started families. "I now have a complete family with wives and children. Now it’s acceptable for me to take on this responsibility which is demanding."
Reuben has been an apprentice since 2006. Obedi explains that the learning process has an unlimited period of time. "He has to practice with us and learn in the process. He is only ready when we feel that he is committed to the responsibility and has a genuine feeling for it."
The apprentice in most of the learning period also acts as the assistant to the rainmakers. During the rainmaking activities in the shrines, the rainmakers sometimes stay for hours or even days in the shrines and at this point it is normally the work of the assistant to keep them supplied with food and water.
For more information on this project please visit:
collections.europarchive.org/tna/20100407190622/http:/www...
Photo credit: Department For International Development / International Development Research Centre /Thomas Omondi
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DFID is working to help more communities take a green path to development. As climate change threatens the livelihoods of the world’s poorest, we are helping people adapt and develop. Find out more at: collections.europarchive.org/tna/20091202075459/http:/www...