The origin of Uganda’s Jie and Kenya’s Turkana-tribe

The origin of Uganda’s Jie and Kenya’s Turkana-tribe – At this rock, just east of Kotido Town, a great journey is traced – one that permanent links two great ethnicities! To this rock the Jie and Turkana periodically return in peace and harmony to trace the footsteps of Nayeche…

Some people say she left because of hunger, others say her brothers (or Ngipalajan) chased her away.

One morning, she just walked away from Daidai and started her journey towards the East.
In the evening, she was very tired and hungry, so she decided to rest at this rock. In the morning she gathered some wild fruits and prepared for her long journey ahead. It is at this point, very many years ago, that she started her mythical journey to start a cradle land.

Nayeche walked until she reached Nangolol Apolon, but she did not stop there. She continued her journey till she reached Koteen Hill and there she said,

“Let me continue my journey, this is where Ngijie graze their cattle.” But she was very thirsty. She saw footsteps of an animal and said, “Truly if I follow these footsteps, I may find water to drink.”

She followed the footsteps eastwards until Tarash river at the base of the escarpment -where she drank from Lokipoto well. She then saw a hill near the banks of the river and said, “This hill will be my home.” At that hill she made a home and would gather wild fruits to eat.

One evening, Nayeche made a fire before she went to sleep. The gray bull whose footsteps she had followed smelled the fire and climbed the hill. When she saw the bull, she recognised it and said, “Eeh, this is the gray bull of Orwakol which disappeared long ago.” She made a place for the gray Bull and they lived together.

Now it so happened that the people of Orwakol started looking for the lost gray bull and followed its footprints until they reached the hill where Nayeche lived. When they saw the bull and Nayeche sleeping, they said, “Eeh, this is the grey bull – and that is Nayeche who was chased away.”

Nayeche however recognized them and was good to them. She gave them wild fruits and let them stay for a few days. The men admired the fertile land stretching far and wide, and said to each other, “Why don’t we come and settle here with our families and animals!”

They left the grey bull and went back to tell Orwakol (the great Patriarch of Joe and first firemaker) about their decision. Orwakol and his people protested but the men were firm in their decision – they left with their wives, children and animalsfor the new cradle.

Orwakol was very angry, so he demanded that they return his grey bull together with other animals since they belonged to him, a demand they rejected. So he organised men to attack the people at Moru Anayeche but the young energetic men stood firm and defeated the Jie.

After that victory they named themselves Ngiturkana (the name comes from the caves (ngiturkanin) they hid their animals in when the Jie had come and in times when it rained heavily.)

After defeat, the Jie elders cursed them by saying, “May you never find a home for yourselves, may you always depend on the people of Jie.” As a result of the curse, a terrible drought came and wiped away their cattle – causing some people to migrate further east towards the lake.
They named this lake – Turkan – in memory of the caves back in the home they had left behind.

The Turkana women would come and gather fruits in the plains near Najie, they would gather until they reached the last Jie village to the east – and at that village they would decide to ‘go back as they came’ – so they called the village Watakau (or Wotakau).

This is the story of Nayeche – and why she is centrally revered as a symbol of the shared identity between the Jie of Uganda and Turkana of Kenya.

With excerpts from ‘Remembering Nayeche and the Gray Bull Engiro – Mustafa Kemal Mirzeler’

Source: Karamoja Herald