Kenya Yaaku people fighting for their language.

An « ultra minor minority », as they call themselves humorously, the Yaaku people are only 4,000 or 5,000. Most significantly though, only a dozen of them can still speak their language, a Cushitic language of the Afroasiatic family. What’s more, these ultimate mother tongue Yaaku speakers are all aged, and their command of the language can be relative. Needless to mention that the Yaaku language is endangered… UNESCO actually considers it extinct!

Settled in Mukogodo forest, in central Kenya, the Yaaku people used to live off hunting, picking, and the harvest of wild bee honey. But the arrival of the Maasai at the end of the 19th century changed everything: they were warriors of repute, rich with their herds, and they despised the Yaaku, less numbered and considered inferior because they had no sense of ownership. Gradual acculturation followed: the Yaaku started to farm livestock, left the forest, and turned to Maasai costumes, lifestyle… and language.

© Yaaku Cultural Museum

A century later, the assimilation is almost complete… but not quite. The subject began to draw attention of foreign linguists and anthropologists about ten years ago, following which an association for the defense of the Yaaku people was launched in 2003. The elders are realizing that their language and culture are about to disappear completely and set about teaching it to the children.

And there is more at stake for the survival of the Yaaku as a people: Mukogodo forest, one of Kenya’s rare remaining old-growth forests. This forest has sheltered the Yaaku from wild animals and enemies, it has fed them with its roots and healed them with its plants; they’re very attached to it. 2,000 of them still actually live there in little hamlets. But the Maasai and the Samburu, another local ethnic group, are tearing it down to use its ground for cattle. In hope to have it protected, the Yaaku are claiming a right to property before the government: « Our hope is that the new Constitution, which recognizes rights to the minorities, helps us have a say in the matter » says Stephen Leriman, one of the elders, who still speaks the language and is involved in the survival of his culture.