The Producer's Story
My first introduction into cattle herding
The moment Toughest Place to be a... Farmer producer Hannah Griffiths knew she'd found her Kenyan farmer
We left our makeshift camp at dawn. It was my fourth and final day in remote northern Kenya. Time was running out. In just three weeks I was due to return with a Devon farmer who would learn to be a Samburu cattle herder.
But there was just one problem. I still hadn鈥檛 found a herder to be Richard鈥檚 teacher.
I was looking for someone old enough to give Richard an insight into how this fragile community had changed over the decades, but with enough energy to put him through his paces. A mentor who was fun and lively, but who would be strict with his new recruit. Many of the Samburu I had met so far hadn鈥檛 seen a television, let alone a film crew, and were understandably reticent about having a white man come to stay.
Samburu villages are scattered over a vast distance. The only way to reach many of them is by driving for hours through rugged terrain. After two hours on dusty tracks, one puncture and a sandstorm I spotted a cluster of huts nestling at the foot of the Ndoto Mountains.
It was late morning. The sun was at its highest and harshest. Through the heat haze on the horizon, I made out the shape of a Samburu herder behind a snaking line of cattle. The villagers told me he was Lemerigichen, a revered elder. He greeted us with a smile.
I immediately warmed to him. I explained what the documentary was about and showed him a photo of Richard. 鈥淣ever!鈥� he laughed, 鈥渢his white man will never be able to cope with our way of life鈥�. To prove his point, Lemerigichen with a mischievous grin gave me a lesson in cattle herding. He sent me off with four energetic calves. Soon I was chasing them in every direction through thorny bushes in the punishing heat. Five minutes passed. I was exhausted. Cattle herding clearly wasn鈥檛 part of my contract!
In this remote and neglected area life is brutal and tough. We sat and chatted over a gourd of milk. Lemerigichen explained he鈥檇 lost cattle to drought, his brother to tribal warfare and a child to illness. He鈥檇 fought bloody battles to protect his herd, gone for days without food and water in times of drought and suffered prejudice and abuse when he鈥檇 gingerly ventured 200 miles to the city to find paid work. Yet he never gave up.
In Lemerigichen, I had found an exceptional man. Three weeks later, I returned with Richard. Both men were devoted to their cattle. This bond transcended the differences between their worlds. Over the weeks we filmed, these unlikely colleagues developed a strong and genuine friendship.
