In Lokichar, the old gives way to the new
School-going children have been major beneficiaries of Tullow Oil’s social responsibility projects. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- For those with money, it is a good time to be in Lokichar. The oil fields have attracted many people with disposable incomes and the accommodation and entertainment industry is growing rapidly
Until two months ago, 24-year-old Stephen Ikai was taking care of his parents’ animals and doing some farming in the Kaleng’orok area in Turkana County one of the few in the region with plenty of water and good soil.
Long used to depending on livestock that is often wiped out by cyclical droughts, Ikai and fellow villagers had turned to agriculture, not just for extra income, but also to be assured of enough food.
But Ikai is no longer in Kaleng’orok, displaced by persistent raids by cattle rustlers. Many of his relatives have been killed in the raids in which all their livestock have been stolen. And so he travelled to Lokichar. The sun-baked dusty town has a special pull. Oil.
There is no job for Ikai. The oil fields can only employ so many people. It’s tough being in Lokichar, tougher when you are broke. The prices of most commodities have shot through the roof, raising the cost of living.
Every now and then, Ikai gets a casual job, mostly on trucks supplying water to the town or cleaning hotel rooms. Demand for such jobs is high so he is not always lucky. On a good day, he will make Sh150.
“It is difficult to afford a decent meal with this kind of money. A simple meal of rice and green grams costs Sh80, more than half of my earnings,” he laments.
Samuel Samal has been running a small grocery shop for the last one year. It is true there is more money since the oil was discovered, but his business is just making enough to get him by. “In this town, you need a lot of money to be able to get goods at better prices in Kitale. But the road is so bad we have to depend on local wholesalers. We make very little profit,” he says.
For those with money, however, it is a good time to be in Lokichar. The oil fields have attracted many people with disposable incomes and the accommodation and entertainment industry is growing rapidly.
There are only two new guest houses which are sometimes fully booked for months. A single room averages Sh2,500 a night. Lokichar is in the grips of rapid social change. Many young people now attend school. Life has changed and, with it, culture. The young man in saggy jeans and young woman in skin tights are rapidly replacing the ekicholong-carrying elder.
