The Kalenjin History: An Interesting insight

Kalenjin, the Military Clan of Ancient Egyptians Between East Africa and Egypt By Weldon oriop Kirui, Radio Journalist in Nairobi. The Kalenjins of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania had the role of defending Egypt,up to the time of Herodotus. When Herodotus visited Egypt during the 5th century BCE, he encountered a sub-nation of Egypt known as Sebenitus. Until the 40s, all Kalenjin were known by fourth names namely Sebei, Sabaot, Miot and Midian. Scholars from the community coined the word, Kalenjin, meaning I tell you to unite all the sub-nations of the tribe. Sebei and Sabaot now live around Mt. Elgon in Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda. It is possible that Herodotus misspelled the word, Sebenitus, which should have been either Sebei or Sabaot. Even the Bible confirms the presence of the Sebei (Kalenjin). Job 1:5 says "...and the Sabeans fell upon and took them away." Ezekiel also wrote about the Kalenjins (Sabeans), a sub-tribe of Ancient Egyptians. Eze. 23:42 says, "... and a voice of multitude being at ease was with her, and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness which put bracelets upon their hands and beautiful crowns upon their heads." When Herodotus asked the Sebenitus people about where their aboriginal home was, they told him is/was a place called Nttr-the holy land of the God in the south. With the Benefit of Kalenjin language, we can learn that Ntrr was actually Tororo Hills in Eastern Uganda. Tororo means the exalted one, the high hill or even God. Hence Ntrr should be netoror-the exalted one! According to their own accounts, the Kalenjin believe that their ancestors aboriginal home was here in Kenya at a place called Tororo Hills in Eastern Uganda. From here they migrated to Misiri or Egypt, where they stayed for thousands of years, and then migrated back again to Kenya. Some remained in Egypt. Others are in Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea and many other places around the world. However not all Old Egyptians (Kalenjin) left for Egypt. The Ogiek or Dorobo who speak Kalenjin do not recall having migrated from elsewhere. They say that they have been living in Kenya since time immemorial. In 2001, I interviewed some oldmen as to why they left Egypt. They told me that they left Egypt after being attacked by a mysterious people called Kipyayamungeen. They said these people were white. (The term, "white", is a relative term, which means lighter skin color.) They say this was during the reign of Pharaoh Kipcheum. According to Dr Sambu, about 250,000 warriors left Egypt for East Africa as a result of this invasion. This event coincides with the first Persian invasion of Egypt, which occurred about 525 BCE. Because the Kalenjin tongue is basically a dialect of the Egyptian language, many Egyptian words and names are recognizable by the Kalenjin peoples, such as: 1. For thousands of years, Egypt was known to the entire ancient world as Kagypta, meaning the sanctuary of Pta. Pta, now known as Kiptaiyat in modern Kalenjin language, was the deity of Memphis. When the Greeks came to Egypt about 2500 years ago, they could not pronounce the word Kagypta. Instead, they pronounced it as Aigyptos or Aegyptus. They also referred to people of Egypt as Kiptaios (see the word Kiptaiyaat above!). 2. The word, kmt, which the Egyptians referred to as their country, is also traceable to the Kalenjin tongue. Kemet in Kalenjin means country. Some other Egyptians called their country Khemet, which historians used to coin the word Hamites. 3. Pharaoh in Kalenjin language means a massively built house, a leader or president. In fact, Pharaoh should be written as Parao, from the words Para (meaning big or vast) and ooh or woor, meaning the big one. Parao should mean the leader of the entire nation. I say it should be Parao because the English word Empire is derived from it. Em in Kalenjin and Ancient Egyptian means country, while para or pire means wide, big or vast. Hence, the Europeans coined the word Empire and its derivatives from the word Parao or Pharaoh! The Kalenjin people have produced some of the Egyptian Pharaohs. 4. Pharaoh Amasis in Kalenjin may mean the one loved by God, the one who loves God, the one who eats God or the one who is eaten by God. Am in Kalenjin means eat, while Asista means the sun. There are many other examples. The Kalenjin say that upon arrival in east Africa, they circumcised their boys in two places. They circumcised their boys near Mt Elgon at a hill called tulwop Kabiniet (ie the hill of Phallus).Around 1500 CE they circumcised their boys again at a hill called Tulwop Monyiseet (ie the hill of the foreskins). It is interesting to note that like their ancestors in Egypt, the Kalenjins gave functionally descriptive names to hills where circumcision rites have been performed. Remember God telling Jushua to circumcise his boys again in the hill of the foreskins (Joshua 5;3) in Gilgal area. Again the Kalenjin say that their ancestors used to circumcise their boys in Gilgil area which is 100 km west of nairobi. Gilgil is a corruption of Gilgal, which is the military base of the Kenyan Army. Kalenjin Dieties Like, Old Egyptians, Kalenjin was a monotheistic society. They believe in one God who has so many names. Asis is the deity of the Kalejin. This is Isis. Asis or Aset among the Barabaig of Tanzania was believed to be a woman. Other names we brought from Egypt include Illat-the God of Justice. Some other people later corrupted to Allah or Illay among the Somalis of Kenya and Ethiopia. Chebo-Amoni is another name of our deity which the Greeks corrupted to Amoni. The Kalenjin word osirun means to resurrect, to wake up from sleep or to cross a bridge. Apeso is also the name of our Deity, known as Apis. The Kalenjin used to refer to themselves as children of Miot or Myoot, known in Ancient Egypt as Ma-at, another deity of Old Egyptians. Kalenjin and Moses The Bible tells us that Moses married a lady from Midian people known as Zipporah. I am now convinced that Moses was a Kalenjin since Moso in our language means a child. Moses was said to have been a child rescued somewhere in Egypt. We have songs about Moses in kalnjin. After circumcising our girls, we sing a song called, Ndomo rireet ab Mugaika koto mokimi emoni, ie if it were not for the sea of Musaiga (Moses) we would be dead. The story about Moses crossing the sea with his people is common among many tribes in Kenya and Southern Africa. This confirms that Moses was an Egyptian. Midian is a clan of the Kalenjins of Baringo district of Kenya. Kalenjin and Sabeans Sebenitus also refers to the people known as Sabeans. In fact it was the Sabeans of South Arabia who established the first civilization in the Arabian peninsula-thousands of years before the emergence of the Bedouin Arabs. Through the Sabeans (Kalenjin) link, it is not difficult to explain the presence of Old Egyptians from remote antiquity, in the Malayan Peninsula, Indo-China, and the heavy concentration of Old Egyptians in India, the Angkor and Champa in Southeast Asia, the vast populations of the dark-skinned peoples in Southern China as far as Japan's Ainu people. It can be seen in retrospect that the Kalenjins are Old Egyptians what with more information coming to this site from me. Kalenjin history should now be rewritten by its free natives (and not by the colonial powers of European academia), and its great past reconciled with that of other Old Egyptians around the world.

The History of Keiyo

he name Keiyo or Elgeyo has been used interchangeably to describe the Keiyo people. The latter name being disputed as a corruption of the former true name, which resulted from the Uasin-Gishu Maasai who were the neighbours of the Keiyo in the mid 19th century at the western side of Eldoret, being a word coined by them.


The Keiyo are the part of the Kalenjin sub-tribe i.e. the 'Mnyoot' who remained in the Kerio Valley when other Kalenjin communities moved to their  present homelands.
The origin of the Keiyo people is mainly found relayed through oral traditions, the genealogy, which dates back to several generations, marked by a cycle of age groups. Keiyo, which is part of the Kalenjin ethnic group, believed to trace its ancestry to a forefather known as Kole, who lived around Mt. Elgon (i.e. Tolwop Kony). After moving southwards along wide valleys and a wide river (believed to be River Nile), the man had five sons and his first son was named Chemng'olin, who moved from the original with the aim of 'kondi' i.e. to inherit and conquer. The second son preferred the task of reproduction -Kosigis- meaning to "reproduce". This is the Kipsigis sub-tribe.

The third son wanted to go out and practice milking and hence bore the name Keisyo, which later revered to the Keiyo. The fourth son wanted to break off from his father and collect termites, as there was a severe drought then. The process entailed the pocking ('ketugen') of the ground for the termites to come out from the ground. The son said he is going ' this side' (kamase) and hence the present Kamasia or the Tugen. The fifth son chose to remain in the ancestral home and stay Kong-Kony', 'meaning to stay rooted'.
The first two sons followed the westerly direction along Lake Victoria, the third and forth sons followed the eastern direction, through Cherang'any hills, into the valley southwards along the Kerio River (Endo), taking them to their present occupation.
Each of them beget offsprings, through assimilation and reproduction which led to the Nyang'ori/Terik & Ogiek for the first and second sons; the Marakwet and Pokot(Suk)/ Njemps/Tchamus for the third and fourth sons respectively. The last son is associated with the emergence of the Sabaot, Pok and Bagomek .
The history of Keiyo appears to be troublesome - a series of raids by neighbours, especially the Elgon Maasai, Kipwopchek, who plundered their cows and women as well as famine and drought being outstanding. This led the Keiyo people to live settled on the foothills to avoid the wild animals occupying the forest of Uasin-Gishu and diseases such as malaria prevalent in the valley.
The Keiyo people probably settled in their current land not more than 300 years ago, and basically found the land inhabited by the hunting and gathering community, the Kapchegrot and the Kurut, who were respectively driven out of the land by an invasion of locusts. Some moved in the north-east joining the Pokot (Suk) as Kibomony section, while the Kurut were assimilated, as few of them survived the floods that came after the locust invasion which drove out of the caves they were hidden along the Endo Valley. They returned later, only to find their land already inhabited. This is found in one of the Keiyo myths, which talks of the valley sinking due to tectonic forces swallowing all people except a couple, who, on emerging from their hideout found people already living in the region. These were mainly the Tugen and joined by others mainly the Sebei, lumbwa-kipsigis and some Kisii people.
The various communities among the Keiyo divided their land into 16-east-west stretches to prevent inbreeding and displacement of a community by other individuals and a system of totems were acquired.
The land was divided so that each group had a shore of Kerio River andthus the totems ran perpendicular to the river. From the south to the north are Metkei, Kapkwoni, Maoi,Tumeiyo, Kowochi, Mwen, Sego, Chebior, Chang'ach, Rokocho, Mutei, Maam, Irong', Kaptany, Kapchemutwa. The land was sub-divided to members of the same clan marked by a series of stones referred to as Koiwek.
The Keiyo co-existed with their neighbours who consisted of the Tugen,'Kipwochek' Uasin-Gishu Maasai, the Kipchoi/Kisira i.e. the Karamojong' and later acted as labourers in the European farms, although they were potrayed as cattle thieves by the settlers. But for some who lived closely with the community like Massam, a colonial District Commissioner (1922-23), conceded the Agikuyu, Kamba, Kipsigis and Nandi were the actual thieves.
Around 1840, when the Sawe age-group were the warriors, the Keiyo community was afflicted by internal and external conflicts, which resulted from the arrogance and rudeness of the warriors to the advice of the elders. Following their over-indulgence in alcohol and dance to the extent of wearing ear bells on their lobes to shut them down, or pouring milk into beer pipes when elders were sucking beer from the gourds, brought a lax of duties and outrage to the elders. This age group has been considered since then to this day as a malicious and corrupt because of their actions.
The external aggression came from a sub-group of the Karamoja from Moiben to the northern part, and a Mr. Kapchoi from Baringo invaded the Keiyo from the south, while the Nandi and the fierce Cheribisi or Sigilai invaded from the west owing to their co-existence with wild animals. This led to the displacement of Keiyo from the Uasin-Gishu highlands to the escarpment,where the Maasai were overpowered due to the rough terrain and thus the dispute ended.
An internal strife began, but never lasted long as a new pre-occupation with subsistence farming begun and land was sub-divided into equal portions marked with stones. Communal land also existed, where maize and millet were planted and irrigation done in some areas like Mutei, where the razor rugged foothills had enough supply of water for irrigation.
Since 1865, the name Keiyo has been synonymous with the valley and the adjacent cliff and the valley named Keiyo or Soin, whereas the top of the escarpment referred to as Teng'unin or Ito.
KEIYO AND THE KALENJIN
The word 'Kalenjin' refers to the word 'kale' - meaning 'i say' and this word refers to a cluster of ethnic communities consisting of distinct linguistic and cultural groups. However, this name was not widely used before independence, where these people were collectively referred to as Nandi-speaking people, owing to interaction of the Nandi with the Europeans before other Kalenjin communities. Infact, the first translation of the Kalenjin Bible was written in Nandi. Besides the Keiyo, the Kalenjin communityconsists of the Marakwet, Pokot/Suk, and Sengwer to the north east, theTugens/Kamasia in the east, the Kipsigis/Lubwa and Nandi in the south,Sebei and other small sub-groups in the west.
The Kalenjin people consist of around 4.5 million people or approximately15% of the Kenyan population. Small groups of Kalenjin people are foundin other countries e.g. Uganda (Sebei), Tanzania (Tatoga), Sudan (Taposa),and Western Ethiopia (Merillei/Bassariech). These groups are connected with the Kalenjins culturally.

Kalejin community from riftvalley kenya proverbs.

Ka

• Kigilei kot koimen."{kalenjin language}"

 

• Wisdom grows everyday."{English}

   

The meaning of this proverb is there no  end to learning. Life is a continuous learning process. A healthy mind is the one which is always ready for acquisition of new knowledge and wisdom  from kalejin tribe Riftvalley Kenyan.

• "Makibarei kiyogiin."{Kalejin}

• "We do not kill a messenger."{English}

A person who brings bad news should never be punished since he is only doing a duty and he has not necessarily had a hand in creating the situation on which he is reporting. —

Ochamegei Kutit Ab kalenjin.Chuu ko kalenewaik ek Kutit ab Kalenjin ak kingereza.

• "Mokimulenge chamastab kipyomet."
• "Know or be aware of your limits"Which means. Do not try to copy other people.

'Chamasta'- is a Kalenjin, traditional garment made of hide. It is used for adornment.
'Kipyomet' is a big well-built person.