A Turkana home

A Turkana home


This is an aki, the night-time house used for sleeping by the Turkana; the buildings used during the day (ekol) are the same except that they have no skins covering them. Both the aki and ekol are built within the awi or family compound, and you can see part of the protective thorn-bush enclosure at the right. The jug held by the little girl would be used for storing milk, blood or water.

Credit: photo scanned from a series of slides produced by KAS-Co (Nairobi, Kenya).

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Traditional Music & Cultures of Kenya
Copyright Jens Finke, 2000-2003

also by Jens Finke
Chasing the Lizard's Tail - across the Sahara by bicycle
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