Man on a mission to change community

By Joe Ombuor

The word kitaanyutua means ‘the one we have been waiting for’ in the Maa language.

For Mark Kitaanyu ole Karbolo, the man who chairs the board of directors at Athi River’s East Africa Portland Cement Company, kitaanyutua is more than just a word. It is life.

Karbolo (left) with his first born Naserian (centre) and his wife Valentine Chebet at the daughter’s graduation from Moi University. Photos: Courtesy

"I was pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology at the University of Nairobi when the elders made me write down that I would devote some time working for the organisation once I was through with my studies."

Unknown to him, the casual gesture would culminate in an economic revolution for the Loita Maasai in the years ahead — more money in their pockets and sufficient food stocks.

"They patiently waited until I graduated and adamantly stood between me and a diplomatic posting to Harare. Out of respect, I signed a contract to serve the community for three years. The rest is history."

That marked Karbolo’s entry into Ilkerin Loita Integral Development Programme, which he has served continuously for 27 years, 11 of them as programme leader.

Food is in the soil

He has spent his prime years in remote areas with his people, striving to improve their herds and making them understand that food is also in the soil that they cannot lose to raids or drought.

"It was like trying to get blood from a stone at first to convince people religiously attached to their cattle to harness their favourite bulls to pull ploughs. Some said they would rather die than watch their animals and source of food undergo such physical punishment."

Slowly, he won their confidence as cereals and legumes started flowing from mother earth to supplement their diet of milk, blood and meat. With improved health, the falling birth rates that had for long worried the elders went up as men and women suddenly became more sexually active and fertile. Songs were composed in his praise.

Dismissed as a fool

But it was not all-smooth sailing for Karbolo. "My decision to forgo the diplomatic job cost me a distraught girlfriend who had no qualms dismissing me as a fool. It disturbed me for a while before I was able to start a new relationship, which matured into marriage and children.

Posted with Karbolo into the diplomatic service was Peter ole Nkuraiya, a fellow Maasai who took up the job offered him and rose to become Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the Narc Government.

"I worked hard to wipe out any regrets, lobbying for funds from donors who were always ready to inject more resources into the NGO when they saw positive results. Soon, Loita had more children in school than the rest of Narok District and I got the credit."

His ‘raid the soil’ campaign that saw granaries bursting with grain as more and more young people took to tilling the fertile, virgin land gradually replaced the age-old bloody cattle raids ostensibly carried out for food security.

"The morans, I concluded, were waiting for me to show them an alternative way to use their strength to feed the community in keeping with tradition," Karbolo says.

Enhanced animal and food production translated into more schools with enrolment rising from five per cent to 48 per cent today.

Diplomatic posting

"Seeing these positive developments touching an entire community, I did not regret losing the diplomatic posting."

Karbolo says ILIDP, which he still heads, has transformed everything from education to agriculture and environmental conservation using positive aspects of culture. He says a people’s culture cannot be repugnant.

"We have protected indigenous forests in Loita area using Maasai culture whereby traditional healers and soothsayers known as Laibons ensure trees are not wantonly cut."

The culture allows people to exploit land without owning it; meaning ancestral land has remained intact and unspoilt.

Karbolo is convinced that his work in the far-flung Loita jungles caught President Kibaki’s eye. In recognition of his achievements at ILIDP, the President appointed him to steer the cement company, last year.

But what can he bring to the cement industry given his experience with farming and traditionalist folks?

"I come armed with skills to steward resources. I have learnt to be a custodian of communal resources — not the owner. That will stand me in good stead at Athi River.

"I have hands on leadership skills to fall back on. Serving the community taught me that a leader worth his or her salt must have a vision, dream and direction. That and more is what I am bringing," he says.

Does he believe the cement company has been waiting for his magic touch to turn around?

Karbolo scratches his clean-shaven head: "Time will tell. Six months down the line, the ‘milk cow’ perception of the company has started changing. We expect a complete turn around in the next six months."

To concentrate his efforts more in Athi River, Karbolo has delegated most of the day-to-day responsibilities at the Loita organisation.

Karbolo graduated with Second Class Honours, Upper Division, from the University of Nairobi in 1982, a feat he owes to former Ngong Diocese Catholic Bishop Colin Davies whom he describes as "my second father".

Contemplated priesthood

"Not only did he help pay for my education through secondary school, but he prevailed upon the church to let me proceed to university if that was what I wanted after initial indications that I would go into priesthood."

The church had culled him from Narok High School where he had been admitted after emerging the top student in the then Certificate for Primary Education at DEB Nairage Enkarre Primary School and sponsored him at St Peter’s Seminary, Kakamega.

Four years later, Karbolo scored a Division One at the Kenya Certificate of Education to join Tindinyo College, Kaimosi for advanced level education. Two years later, he qualified for university.

He is married with four children of his own and takes care of another eight from the community, mostly orphans, some of whom he has educated to university.