Know about IK people of Uganda with gorillasafariinuganda
The people known as the
Ik entered what is now Uganda from somewhere to the northeast, originating
possibly in Ethiopia or even Egypt. The origin of their language, Icetot (lit., Ik-speak), which
is a Kuliak language, is still debated by linguists. The original
Kuliak-speaking people divided into at least three groups in their migrations
south: the So (Tepeth), the Nyang'i (Niangea), and the Ik. The So and Nyang'i
have assimilated with neighboring peoples, but Ik survive along with their
language in the mountains, virtually alone.
The Ik (rhymes with 'stick') live in the
northeast corner of Uganda, in a very remote area of what is now called Kaabong
District. The Ik number at least 10,000 who live in the mountains and hills
above the Karamoja region. A recent language survey team found the Ik to be
very poor, oppressed, and marginalized, but receptive to the gospel.
In 1972,
Colin Turnbull published a book about the Ik titled The Mountain People.
At one point Turnbull said, "They were beyond saving as a society."
But when the survey team visited the Ik they did not encounter a people like
Turnbull described. They found a very friendly, yet desperate group of people
who freely welcomed them.
There is
growing interest within Uganda to reach the Ik people, though most Ugandans
have never heard of them. Pray that God would make the needs of the Ik known to
the world, and that they would desire to reach out to the Ik with the fullness
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Way of life
Today, approximately 10,000 Ik live together, spread out along the
escarpment between Timu Forest in the south and Kidepo National Park in the
north. The nearest town of any size is Kaabong, some 20 miles to the southwest.
Many of them still inhabit walled villages such as Moruatap, perched on the rim
of the escarpment overlooking the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. Here they live in
a traditional manner, practicing subsistence farming in tiny plots of maize,
pumpkins, beans, sorghum, millet, watermelon, cowpeas, and tobacco, milling
their grain on grindstones and gathering wood for the cooking fire in their
circular thatched houses.
ik people