The new maternity/neonatal unit at Ileret Health Centre welcomed its first new arrival after the successful completion of the new facility in the beginning of May. The delivery room and maternity ward were constructed with support from Stony Brook University. The new ward opened its doors to expectant mums last week after installation [...]
Through support from the Ceres Foundation, TBI has finished constructing the Telesgaye School Kitchen and latrines. The $25,000 grant provided also included support for contruction of more latrines as well as construction of energy saving stoves at the kitchen, which will allow the school to save on fuel as well as reduce tree-cutting. [...]
Renovations of the Ileret Health Centre staff quarters and installations of fixtures for the new ward are moving on very smoothly. Furniture and equipment for the ward has arrived at Ileret and been installed, awaiting official use in May. The Health Centre has gotten a total face-lift with the newly renovated staff quarters [...]
Following the support from Safaricom Foundation, Loreng'elup maternity unit construction is coming along very well.
Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson shared the stage at a historic event hosted by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
TBI is partnering with the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) and Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) to carry out community consultations on a new initiative that aims to enhance the conservation of natural resources around Sibiloi National Park. Sibiloi lies on the northeastern shore of Lake Turkana in Chalbi District. The combination of [...]
Using the donation from the Australian High Commission, renovations of the Ileret Health Centre are underway as the centre takes on a new face to improve health care provision in the region. The grant has also supported the procurement of furniture and equipment for the maternity ward, which have all been delivered at [...]
The Kerio Delta where the Kerio River enters Lake Turkana is an area with potential for beekeeping. Wild honeybee colonies were observed to be abundant. They were located in Acacia tortilis trees and small caves along the Turwel River. In search of sustainability in the era of climatic changes, TBI engaged in discussions with two communities [...]
The last course at the Turkana Basin Institute's Field School is Paleontology, the study of animal evolution through fossil remains, taught by Professors William Anyonge and Fredrick Kyalo Manthi.
After some fairly difficult months, with women being discouraged by their fellow women who viewed the shamba as a waste of time and preferred to burn charcoal which is quick income yet totally unsustainable and contributing to desertification the Nakechichok Women had a reason to celebrate. They were making their first sale; selling [...]
Nearing the end of their Archaeology course, TBI students returned to the Aiyangiyang depression where, led by Veronica Waweru and Helene Roche, they conducted an excavation. Their efforts helped document some of the stone tools made by Holocene inhabitants of Turkana, and introduced them to techniques that many will use in their careers for years [...]
Sometime in the last few thousand years, a group of people who lived in the Turkana Basin erected a series of large stone pillars, also known as megalithic structures, underneath which they buried their dead. Though the people are gone, the structures remain remain behind them, and are a source of wonder to the Turkana [...]
The Telesgaye Primary School kitchen is still under construction with the walls and roofing now complete. Only the stoves, water tank, and chimneys remain to be installed.
The TBI Field School is situated in a broad and arid steppe, inhabited by Turkana pastoralists thought to have arrived in the last 300-400 years. The Turkana raise cattle, sheep, goats and camels, and are traditionally mobile, following rain and pasture with their herds. To differentiate the valuable herds or flocks of different families, the [...]
Having butchered two goats using stone tools the students produced themselves, TBI students and staff then held a roast last Saturday night, to celebrate and relax after a long week of work. Having butchered two goats using stone tools the students produced themselves, TBI students and staff then held a roast last Saturday night, to [...]
Celebrating decades of groundbreaking exploration in East Africa, these renowned paleoanthropologists will make this joint appearance to discuss the overwhelming evidence for evolution in the hominid fossil record and why understanding our evolutionary history is so important. Known for such landmark discoveries as "Lucy" (Johanson) and "Turkana Boy" (Leakey), the work of these [...]
Stone tools first appear in the Archaeological record over 2 million years ago, and many believe that their production was perhaps the most important factor distinguishing our early ancestors from other animals. The Rift Valley, and Turkana Basin itself, are both home to the earliest sites of stone tool production: early stone tool creation is [...]
Raymonde Bonnefille brought TBI Field School students to the local town of Lodwar, at the start of her course on paleoecology, to show them its local meteorological station. Lodwar is the largest town in northern Kenya, and its meteorological station has collected data benefiting the local airport and climate scientists worldwide for over 50 years. [...]
Professor John Shea presents evidence that early human behavior was no less complex than that of living humans. Stone points dating to at least 104,000 years ago from Omo Kibish, Ethiopia. These points, shaped by pressure-flaking and likely used as projectile points are more than 65,000 years older than the oldest similar artifacts from the [...]
TBI Mobile Clinic health workers carried out a HIV prevention education session for students from Ileret primary school. TBI Mobile Clinic health workers carried out a HIV prevention education session for students from Ileret primary school. The TBI mobile clinic Nurse, Beatrice, with students displaying reusable sanitary kits donated to the clinic. TBI distributed free [...]