Baby carrier before mzungu came

[RV Pundit]

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This is the leather baby carrier. Kesenta/Kesenda comes from the verb Kesen - meaning carry on the back. Every woman treasured her Kesenta. Kesenta is inherited by siblings down the subsequent births. Literally, siblings that shared Kesenta refer to each other as Kesentanyun/Kesendanyun.

[gout]

I grew up believing skin had to be very hard and uncomfortable once dried. Kumbe breaking/softening has been a simple basic life skill.

[RV Pundit]

They use a lot of oil - to make it lean. Skin was a human clothing long before mzungu.

I grew up believing skin had to be very hard and uncomfortable once dried. Kumbe breaking/softening has been a simple basic life skill.

[Arcadian_Dreamer]

They use a lot of oil - to make it lean. Skin was a human clothing long before mzungu.

I grew up believing skin had to be very hard and uncomfortable once dried. Kumbe breaking/softening has been a simple basic life skill.

WTF?! are you guys referring to leather/hide as skin?, is that what you Kipsigis call it?

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

They use a lot of oil - to make it lean. Skin was a human clothing long before mzungu.

I grew up believing skin had to be very hard and uncomfortable once dried. Kumbe breaking/softening has been a simple basic life skill.

That would be for that particular part of Africa.  Akans in West African had textiles as long ago as 1,000 BC.

[RV Pundit]

Cattle skin is hide. Snake skin is also leather.

They use a lot of oil - to make it lean. Skin was a human clothing long before mzungu.

I grew up believing skin had to be very hard and uncomfortable once dried. Kumbe breaking/softening has been a simple basic life skill.

WTF?! are you guys referring to leather/hide as skin?, is that what you Kipsigis call it?

[RV Pundit]

Just like Mombasa people had textile for 1000 yrs before rest of kenya.

That would be for that particular part of Africa.  Akans in West African had textiles as long ago as 1,000 BC.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Just like Mombasa people had textile for 1000 yrs before rest of kenya.

That would be for that particular part of Africa.  Akans in West African had textiles as long ago as 1,000 BC.

Yep.  Contact with Islam seems to explain some of it.  For some reason the culture did not spread into the hinterland in East Africa until late.

[RV Pundit]

Mwarabu feared Maasai - so trade hinterland never floorished. Maasai abhorred slavery of any form - and so did many east africa tribes. I think the same was true in South Sudan - Nilotes abhor slavery - the Arabs could never penetrate tribes that did like slavery - Oromo/Gallas (free people) also refused to subjugated by Ethiopian or arabs. Somalis converted to Islam and got near equal treatment with Arabs.

These mostly Nilotic societies were equalitarian  - there were true democracies without single leader - where all people were near equal and those better had to show their smartness, leadership or ingenuity  - more like American gun ownerhsip ambition to get true form of democracy.

West African, Uganda, Congo and South Africa were led by Kingdoms - who had slaves already - and had no problem selling their people  or their ivories- for piece of Arab clothes and goodies.

Yep.  Contact with Islam seems to explain some of it.  For some reason the culture did not spread into the hinterland in East Africa until late.