Samburu women in northern Kenya.
(Credit: Ann Jones)
Not far from the barren shore of Lake Turkana stood a Samburu village of tiny palm-thatched huts like overturned baskets--brown igloos melting into black land. Outside the houses sat Samburu women. Beautiful women with close-cropped hair and great collards of bright beads. Expensive women. The average price of a Samburu bride is twn cows, four goats, a sack of sugar, and a sack of maize. In good times, tall, slim, red-robed Samburu men marry as many wives as they please, though in deference to their Catholic faith they take only one wife to church.
