The Desert People

In early February of 2025 I travelled with two Kenyan pastors, Alfred Lukwa and Timothy Iganza to the far northern county of Kenya called Turkana. The people are nomadic people and live almost completely from their livestock. Every family (called awi) has goats, donkeys, and some camels. The tribe lives mostly in grass or mud huts. The land is so barren and offers only short rains seasons throughout the year. 

We stayed in the village of Lorugum and were hosted by the Bible Baptist Church. The late Pastor Moses Areng planted it. He die


d in an automobile accident less than two years ago. He was a pioneer and lover of the Turkana. Several men were trained by him a more than a few churches planted due to his efforts. 

We travelled to several villages in an hour and a half radius of Logurum and preached in schools. Many were of the poorest sort and offered very little education. The young people had a certain desperation in their eyes brought by hardship and a childhood of toil. Because of their work as pastoralists, we were unable to show the Jesus Film after sunset but had to wait until close to 9:30pm each night to begin. The people would stay until we left close to 11pm and would have gladly stayed into the early morning hours listening to songs and Bible stories. The adults would be just as interested as the children, and many would lay prostate on the desert sand watching the film.

The Turkana people migrated from a place called Karamojong in northeastern Uganda. Much like the Maasai they have rich traditions and colorful clothing and beads. They carry knives and walking sticks along with small wooden chairs they rest upon and even use for a pillow when they lay on the ground in the evenings. The women place layers of beads around their necks when they are, but teenagers and the top is enclosed with a ring when they marry. This is never removed as they sleep and wash while wearing it. It gives them a longer looking neck than most and changes the bone structure in their shoulders. The men often wear round shape top hats which would seem more like a Broadway production than a shepherd. 

We saw hundreds of souls saved while there and baptized at a nearby watering hole 16 new converts on Sunday morning. On a particular day we passed a well where herders
were giving their camels water. We gathered the people and children under a withered shade tree, and I preached from John 4 about Jesus at the Well. Twenty souls were saved at the well of Lokwatubwa.

The desert is a hard place, but it is ripe with longing souls. Like Philip in Acts 8 ran into the desert leading to Gaza to find one African soul, so should we be ready to run to places like Turkana and point thirsting men and women to the Water of Life.