时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2011年(九月)


英语课

Drought Threatens Turkana Way of Life in Kenya


The Turkana region of Kenya is one of the areas hit hardest by drought in the Horn of Africa. A relief organization says while indigenous 1 people are receiving emergency supplies to survive, their traditional way of life may be dying.

Livestock 2 are at the heart of the Turkana culture. It’s been that way since ancient times. Pastoralists tend their animals in a region that was already dry and hot even before the severe drought took hold.

But the drought has changed their way of life, according to Don Golden of World relief, a Christian-based aid organization.

“That’s the story of an indigenous people group that has managed to resist dominance from the Brits and now from the Kenyans and to maintain their pastoral, nomadic 3, sort of, individualistic way of life. But through many factors, that way of life if fading. And so you have really the demise 4, not only of women and children in the immediate 5, but the whole culture. And aid is actually accelerating the process of demise for the Turkana,” he said.

No choice

He said it takes something drastic for the Turkana people to give up their pastoralist ways and move into settled communities.

“When their animals are dying and then their people start dying, and they see that one of the major aid agencies or the World Food Program is handing out food somewhere, they can give up - give up their whole way of life and basically just become beggars in these little IDP [internally displaced people] camps. And that’s unfortunately what we saw,” he said.

Golden said while emergency aid is needed now, action should be taken to find long-term solutions. Solutions that would allow the Turkana to better cope with drought.

“We could begin right away, looking at boreholes. We could begin looking at irrigation projects. There’s a range of things we could do. But absolutely we have to feed hungry mouths today,” he said.

Respecting a culture

World Relief is working with Kenyan churches to provide food assistance and health services. It’s also working to dig more boreholes, which cost about $20,000 apiece.

“To dig a borehole is to create a community. And will that be a community of disempowerment? Will it be a community that’s totally dependent? Or will you have involved the local community in that process? [Will you have] empowered them with solutions about how to integrate their livestock and elements of their nomadic lifestyle into a settled community?” he asked.

Golden said digging a borehole is not simply a matter of drilling for water. It’s also a matter of being sensitive to the culture of the Turkana.

“If you just think people need water and you dig a borehole and you end up creating in effect thousands of people gathering 6 and waiting to be fed, then you’ve got another disaster. Your intervention 7 into one disaster creates a second disaster. Whereas, what needs to happen is a careful conversation with the local leaders, our Kenyan church partners, on solutions that they have. Where would they put a well if they could dig one? How would they manage it? What role would their current livestock play in their community? Those are the kind of questions and it’s just so much more complex,” he said.

The World Relief official said if solutions are not found in Kenya’s Turkana region quickly, it could very well become a famine area like parts of Somalia.



1 indigenous
adj.土产的,土生土长的,本地的
  • Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
  • Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。
2 livestock
n.家畜,牲畜
  • Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
  • The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。
3 nomadic
adj.流浪的;游牧的
  • This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
  • The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。
4 demise
n.死亡;v.让渡,遗赠,转让
  • He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标,但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
  • The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。
5 immediate
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
6 gathering
n.集会,聚会,聚集
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
7 intervention
n.介入,干涉,干预
  • The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
  • Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。
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