photo by @randyolson | words by @neilshea13 — The El Molo, who live closest to the water, say the east wind, Parkan, is the worst. In its season, which is nearly every season, this wind bangs down day and night across Lake Turkana, bludgeoning the water and scattering the fish and sometimes drowning the fishers. But men are brave, men are foolish, and above all men are hungry, so even against this wind they contend, pushing out in sailboats or aboard rafts made of palm logs which drive clumsy as sleds through the waves. Soon, though, Parkan and its sister-winds—Karit, Kayeur and Yukan—may be tamed, or at least made useful. East of this barren spit, a wind farm is being built in the bush. It’s an ambitious project, and one day it may be Africa’s largest, with more than 300 massive white turbines generating millions of dollars worth of electricity. The government, in the south, has marked off land for its construction. Workers will be bussed in, from the south, to build it. And massive cables must be laid to deliver Parkan’s energy southward, where it can be sold. One morning I sat in a small house in a small, powerless village talking with El Molo elders about the project. Will it bring us jobs? asked one. “Probably not,” I said. Will it bring us electricity? asked a second. “No,” I said. Will it stop Parkan? asked a third, and everyone laughed. Let them do what they want with the wind, he continued. But we should be paid, because it is ours. “Can you own wind?” I asked. The old man frowned. Why not? he said. The government owns everything else. All we have left is the sky. These Instagram pieces are part of our ongoing project, #NGwatershedstories, and they’re linked to our feature article on Kenya’s Lake Turkana in the August issue of @natgeo magazine. For the last six years, we’ve been documenting culture, change, and conflict in the ecosystem that connects southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya, and we hope you’ll join us @randyolson and @neilshea13 as we follow water down the desert. #2014 #africa #kenya #laketurkana #jadesea #loiyangalani #elmolo #wind #windpower #cleanenergy #economicjustice #documentary #everydayafrica #everydayeverywhere @thephotosociety by natgeo http://ift.tt/1ITFpn2 – Gatlinburg Garden Castle Rainbow Tower Library Imagination Station Temple Water Spirit Guardian Labyrinth Treasury Magic Healing