Imoni Lomosea comes to the homestead of Nakiru and stays for several hours mending her abwo skin with the help of Nakiru and Nakiru's two daughters.
Funding
Endangered Material Knowledge Programme
History
Session
C009
Rights owner
Samuel Frederick Derbyshire
Cultural group
Turkana
Participants
Imoni Ngimojeng Lomosia, Margaret Nakiru Lopwenya , Ayapan Loura
Country
Kenya
Place
Morusipo, Turkana
Item/object
skin (abwo)
Techniques of production
Sewn
Materials
Skin-goat skin
Materials alt
Eleu a akinei
Social group setting
Craftspeople working together
Location
Home
Temporality
The abwo was once worn ubiquitously by all married women across the Turkana region. Over the last few decades it has become increasingly less common. Instead, married women tend to wear synthetic fibre 'shuka' wraps (much like many men wear). Nevertheless, the abwo continues to be worn by some in the context of marriage ceremonies, where it continues to be a strong signal of a woman's marital status (and by extension her status in the broader community). In recent months (since May 2020) a prominent emuron (diviner/seer) began to recommend that women return to wearing abwo skins in order that the blessing of rain may return/remain in Turkana, and that they should do so especially when milking livestock. In response, many women have begun mending old skins and wearing them again.