About the Sebei(Sapiny)

The Sebei or Sabiny (Sapiny) are people of Kalenjin stock living on the Uganda side of Mt Elgon. They are estimated to number 230000 and speak a Kalenjin dialect known as Kubsapiny. The Sabiny, like the rest of the Kalenjin, circumcise teenage boys as a rite of passage.
About three-quarters of the population lives on the escarpment, an area that was originally characterized by thick forests, fast flowing rivers, including the well-known Sipi River with its three falls.
Much of the land has now been cleared for agricultural production, resulting in a change in rainfall pattern and warmer temperatures than was previously the case.
The change in temperatures has also resulted in increased incidences of malaria cases.
The Sebei are by tradition pastoralists, keeping cattle, goats and sheep but this occupation has today been seriously circumscribed because there is not much land on which to keep large stocks of animals.
Other problems that have hindered livestock rearing are constant cattle raids by neighbouring tribes to the northeast, particularly the Karamojong and the Pokot.
Much of the agricultural activities are carried out on the escarpment where the soils are quite fertile. The major food crops grown here include maize, potatoes, beans and plantains.
Arabica coffee is the main cash crop.
The plains are traditionally cattle grazing areas. They also border Karamoja districts and the district of Amudat where the Pokot are found.
The chaotic political atmosphere that Uganda experienced in the 70s and 80s led to the proliferation of guns in Uganda, which fell into the hands of wrong elements including cattle rustlers.
Sebei district became Kapchorwa district. Thus, the district and its headquarters became one. Kapchorwa district has now been divided into three districts: Kapchorwa, Kween and Bukwo.
The Sabiny are part of a larger ethnic group that numbers almost 4 million known as the Kalenjin, a term that means ‘I tell you’. That term groups together the Kipsigis, Nandi, Marakwet, Tuken, Pokot and Saboat. The Sabiny together with a number of smaller tribes found on the eastern slopes of Mt Elgon constitute the Saboat, people who use a common greeting ‘supai.’
The Saboat include the Bok, Kony (who gave Mt Elgon its name), the Sebei and Bongom. The term Saboat is credited to two prominent politicians of the 1960s, Daniel Moss of Kenya and Yovan Chemonges of Uganda.
Like the rest of the Kalenjin, the Sebei practice male and female circumcision as a rite of passage. Circumcision has recently been banned in Uganda.
It should be noted that the Sebei of Sudan (if they do exist) have nothing to do with the Sebei of Uganda who now occupy three districts-Kapch
orwa, Kween and Bukwo.