Sebei Nation

THE SABAOT The Sabaot sub-ethnic of the Kalenjin group (tribe) in Mount Elgon , Trans-Nzoia and Sebei Districts, occupy over half of Mount Elgon and its surrounding areas. They are to be found not only in Kenya , but also in Eastern Uganda and beyond. The language spoken by the Sabaot is one of the Southern Nilotic (Kalenjin) languages. Their history of immigration dates back to the spread of the Kalenjin people a thousand of years from a place called Misri in the north to Kitale Plateau, Sebei and Bungoma Districts. The Sabaot clans make a ring around the mountain.The spread of Sabaot around the mountain partly explains the resilience of their culture, despite the immense in-migration of the Bantu tribes (Bagisu and Bukusu) and European white settlers and eventual eviction from their homelands in Bungoma and Kitale Plateau. The later was renamed Trans-Nzoia District by the Colonial Government. . The Sabaot people have traditionally kept animals (cattle goats and sheep ) which ar...

Originally our favorite food is kimnyeet (ugali) with either meat or cheeko especially mukunik (sour milk). Meat can be chicken, mutton or beef. This is the standard Sabaot cuisine. This is a complete balance diet and we had no trouble looking for fruits or those other "nonsense" foods. If one needed fruits there were plenty of wild berries : takamaamik, mintiliilak, siroonik/siryeek, komolik, tunguruurak and takurkurook. Yes you remember those fruits which when you ate you tongue turn navy blue like you galloped ink? Yes lemeyoonik that is. Do not forget mtangule. So we had mburik, our local fashion of carrots. I wonder if your generation knows these! There were different ways of preparing meat. Roasting was one way. As I can there's "wataneet" - roasted dry meat. To preserve such meat it was cut into a child's fist size tgen immersed deep in pure honey. Such meat could stay for a year or as long it need be. When served with such meat you enjoy...