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| Established | April 19, 2011 |
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| Location | Wajir, Kenya |
| Type | Cultural museum |
The Wajir Museum (Swahili : Makumbusho ya Wajir; Somali : Matxafka Wajeer) is a museum located in northeastern Kenya. The museum is in charge of showing the different cultures that inhabit Wajir. The museum is managed by the state-owned National Museums of Kenya Corporation. This is the first museum in Wajir County. [1]
The building where the museum is located is one of the oldest in Wajir, this building was constructed by Italian prisoners of war. [2] In 2007, the National Museums of Kenya Corporation conducted a survey in which it recommended the establishment of a museum in the larger Wajir district. [3] The building was transformed into a museum and was inaugurated in 2011. [4] One of the reasons the museum was created was to encourage tourism in Northern Kenya. [5] The inauguration of the museum was attended by the Minister of State for Development of Northern Kenya Mohammed Ibrahim Elmi. The Kenya Museum Society donated a DVD player, solar power system and TV set to the museum. [6] In December 2015, the second Wajir cultural festival was held at the museum, the event was organized by the National Museums of Kenya and the Wajir County government. [7]
The museum preserves the historical and natural heritage of this area of Kenya. [8] The museum contains exhibits dedicated to the Northern Kenyan communities such as the Samburu, Gabra, Daasanach, El Molo, Boorana, Somali, Pokot, Turkana and Rendile. [9]
A national trust is an organisation dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of a particular geographic region. Although the focus may vary by region, the principal goals are to ensure the preservation of historically significant items and conserve areas of natural beauty. They generally operate as private non-profit organisations.
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa. With a population of more than 47.6 million in the 2019 census, Kenya is the 28th-most-populous country in the world and 7th most populous in Africa. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi, while its oldest and second-largest city, is the major port city of Mombasa, situated on Mombasa Island in the Indian Ocean and the surrounding mainland. Mombasa was the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate, which included most of what is now Kenya and southwestern Somalia, from 1889 to 1907. Other important cities include Kisumu and Nakuru. Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, Uganda to the west, Tanzania to the south, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast. Kenya's geography, climate and population vary widely, ranging from cold snow-capped mountaintops with vast surrounding forests, wildlife and fertile agricultural regions to temperate climates in western and rift valley counties and further on to dry less fertile arid and semi-arid areas and absolute deserts.
Somali is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken primarily in Greater Somalia, and by the Somali diaspora as a mother tongue. Somali is an official language in both Somalia and Ethiopia, and serves as a national language in Djibouti, it is also a recognised minority language in Kenya. The Somali language is officially written with the Latin alphabet although the Arabic script and several Somali scripts like Osmanya, Kaddare and the Borama script are informally used.
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The Garre are a prominent Somali clan that traces its lineage back to Samaale, who is believed to have originated from the Arabian Peninsula through Aqiil Abu Talib. The Garre clan is considered to be a sub-clan of the Digil-Rahanweyn clan family, which is part of the larger Rahanweyn clan. However, genealogically, they are descended from Gardheere Samaale. The Garre are also categorized as southern Hawiye as well.
Wajir is the capital of Wajir County in Kenya. It is situated in the former North Eastern Province.
Garissa County is a county in Kenya located in Eastern Kenya bordering Somalia to the East, Wajir County and Isiolo County to the North, Tana River County to the West and Lamu County to the South. Its capital and largest urban area is Garissa.
Wajir County is a county in the former North Eastern Province of Kenya. Its capital and largest town is Wajir. The county has a population of 781,263 2019 and an area of 55,840.6 km2 (21,560.2 sq mi). The county is bordered to the north by Ethiopia, to the northeast by Mandera County, to the east by Somalia, to the south by Garissa County, to the west by Isiolo County and to the northwest by Marsabit County. The county has six constituencies: Wajir South, Tarbaj, Wajir North, Wajir West, Wajir East, and Eldas.
The Northern Frontier Province or Northern Province, or initially referred to as 'Northern Frontier District' (NFD) was one of the provinces of British Kenya. Originally, the Northern Frontier covered the northern region of East Africa Protectorate later succeeded by British Kenya, it later included half of the Jubaland Province that remained as part of Kenya when the other half was ceded to the Italian Empire.
The Wagalla massacre was a massacre of ethnic Somalis by the Kenyan Army on 10 February 1984 in Wajir County, Kenya. Government troops were ordered to stop clan violence in the area, and did so by first detaining some 5,000 locals at an airstrip, denying them food and water for a week, and then shooting them. The massacre was not investigated by Kenya's government until 2011.
Dekha Ibrahim Abdi was a Kenyan peace activist based in Mombasa, Kenya. She worked as a consultant to government and civil society organisations. She was of Somali ethnicity.
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Wajir Airport is an international airport in Wajir County, Kenya.
Tourism is an important economic sector for many countries in Africa. There are many countries that benefit heavily from tourism like Kenya, Uganda, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Tanzania. The touristic particularity of Africa lies in the wide variety of points of interest, diversity and multitudes of landscapes as well as the rich cultural heritage. Also, an ecotourist industry is present in some African countries.
Kenyan Somalis are citizens and residents of Kenya who are of Somali ethnic descent. They have historically inhabited the North Eastern Province, previously called the Northern Frontier District, which was carved out of the Jubaland region of present-day southern Somalia during the colonial period. Following the civil war in Somalia that broke out in 1991, many Somalis sought asylum in the Somali-inhabited enclaves of Kenya. An entrepreneurial community, they established themselves in the business sector, particularly in the Nairobi suburb of Eastleigh.
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Sada Mire is a Swedish-Somali archaeologist, art historian and presenter from the Arap clan, who is currently a professor of Heritage Studies at University College London. She is a public intellectual and heritage activist who has argued that cultural heritage is a basic human need in her 2014 TEDxEuston talk. In 2017, Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts selected Mire as one of their 30 international thinkers and writers. She became the Director of Antiquities of Somaliland in 2007. Raised in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, Mire fled the country at the start of the civil war at the age of 15. She then traveled to Sweden seeking asylum. She has since returned to the Horn of Africa as an archaeologist.
Fatuma Gedi is a Kenyan politician from Wajir town. A former member of the National Assembly from Wajir county. The former Women representative for Wajir county. In 2017 she won the seat through Party for development and reform, under the reign of the fourth president of the Republic of Kenya, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta.
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