F ish are strange creatures. Ask any fisherman. But whoever ex pected to find fish in a desert? In Kenya's northern frontier lies Lake Rudolph. Over 100 miles long and 20 miles wide, it creases a land as sandy and dry as the Sa hara. Its pale blue, slightly salty waters are subject to sudden vi cious storms. Its shoreline is the habitat of hordes of huge crocodiles so satiated with fish that they can almost be petted. In the lake there are among others, inedible tiger fish with sharp teeth and too many bones, tilapia, a prolific fish of ex cellent eating quality and N ile perch, fresh water giants weighing up to two hundred pounds. The long lake is virtually a fish tank and until recently was unharvested because there were no fishermen. On the eastern shore lives a small and diminishing tribe known as the El Moro, now less than 100 in number. On the western side live the Turkana people with a population of over 100,000. They live far from the lake shore. They never eat fish; they fear the storms and crocodiles, and generally shun the lake, living instead on the rocky, shrubby hillsides. There they build temporary huts and herd th e ir goats and camels. They move from water hole to water hole, never far from death by thirst or starvation. To reach the Turkana with the gospel has been a discouraging task only undertaken seriously dur ing the last decade when the air plane, radio and 4-wheel drive vehicles have broken the desert barrier. But even so it has been difficult to reach these nomads who plant no gardens, build no villages and move with the happenstance rains. But in 1964 even the sporadic rains stopped entirely. The best water holes dried up and the sandy river beds failed to give drink no matter how deeply the Turkana dug. 3 0
Camels lay down and died and goats found no browse and col lapsed. Famine camps for feeding the starving populace were set up in various places by the government. One of the camps was placed near Lake Rudolph at Ferguson’s Gulf at a place called Kalokol. Linder the direction of the Christian Coun cil of Kenya it undertook the task of feeding the people who began to filter down to the lake shore. They were housed in a village of huts built from palm fronds. Each day the village grew until 5,000 Turkana were living in an orderly little town. An African missionary, the Rev. Peter Mwaluko of the Africa Inland Church, was posted there to care for the spiritual needs of the peo ple. Then missionaries of the Africa Inland Mission moved in to help, dragging a house trailer over the nearly impassable track. Thus a work began with this large village of Turkana— an oppor tunity never experienced before. A church was built and used for a school during the week. A medical work was started by the missionary nurse. A small orphanage was set up for children whose parents had died. Then a new idea— why not teach the men to fish? They didn't have anything else to do except quarrel with each other. So a fishery pro gram was put into motion. Boats were brought in. The men were taught to make nets and shown how to use them. They were taught to clean the fish and cure them in the sun. It didn’t take long for the starv ing people to realize that fish were edible. It was a welcome addition to the small tin of corn flour which was their daily ration. Before many months they were catching more fish than they could use so a fish cooperative was or ganized. A large building was put THE KING’S BUSINESS
FISH, FAMINE and FIVE THOUSAND TURKANA b y E dw a r d H . A ren sen
Fisherman with small Nile perch. Famine Camp, all that are left from 5,000.
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