Water and Purification
In Kenya, the land, including water, is viewed as a sacred trust from the
ancestors. Therefore, activities that deviate from the intended use of the land are
a pollutant of the land. And we will see later in this chapter that Mau Mau was
associated with polluting activities. Although there are many factors that make
up the complexity of the current land, water, and other environmental issues in
Kenya, one could question if modern environmental issues are also the result of
the movement from these older practices that colonialism replaced and/or
undermined.21 However, purification is an important force in Kenya for stabilizing
and protecting the community and this is achieved by understanding the
interconnectedness of purification and water.22 The two are needed for cleansing
and healing practices.
The purification specialists started ritual process by praying to the Gods
for rain for during times of drought. Drought and famine have always been a part
of Kenya’s history The problem over time has been the inability to predict rainfall.
This is very important since insufficient amounts of rainfall can stifle the growth of
certain crops, and if there are too many heavy rains, the rain will not be absorbed
properly causing soil erosion.
21Sabine Jell-Bahlsen in The Water Goddess in Igbo Cosmology (Africa World Press, 2008) mentions, “The
West will never come to grips with its environmental problems-unless you recognize nature as divine.” see
p. 65 based on a personal conversation with Catherine Acholonu.
22 This appears to be a universal occurrence in that water purification appears throughout the bible. See
Perspectives on Purity and Purification in the Bible for more comprehensive study. Other examples are
found in the Bible under baptism as the process of “washing away sins” (Acts 22:16) and cleansing of the
ritually unclean occurs through water purification (Leviticus 15-16 and 17:15).
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