Engaging Communities Participating in Genomic Research at Kenya’s 2023 Turkana Cultural Festival
Tobong’u Lore, literally meaning “welcome back home” in the Turkana language, is one of Kenya’s largest cultural festivals, and is hosted annually by the Turkana County Government. It brings together members of Turkana communities — largely semi-nomadic pastoralists — from neighboring South Sudan, Uganda, and Ethiopia, to celebrate Indigenous Turkana culture and promote cohesion and exchange.
Turkana populations live in one of the most arid ecosystems of East Africa and yet, despite their traditionally high-protein diet and the high salinity of available water — two factors that in most people would lead to significant stress on the kidneys — there is little evidence of renal impairment in the region. By studying the genomes of Turkana individuals, Variant Bio aims to uncover novel findings about the potential protective mechanisms behind kidney health and, eventually, develop a therapeutic that will improve the lives of patients with kidney disease in Kenya and around the world.
This October, Variant Bio team members — including project lead Hiba Babiker — participated in the 2023 Turkana Cultural Festival in Lodwar, northern Kenya, as part of ongoing community engagement for the Turkana Health and Genomics Project (THGP) led by principal investigator Julien Ayroles from Princeton University. Together with Dr. Julien Ayroles, study Co-PIs, members of the THGP research team, and the Turkana Basin Institute, we hosted an information booth about the project inside a large exposition tent set up for the occasion at the Ekaales Cultural Center.
Over the course of the three-day Tobong’u Lore festival, community members from across Turkana County stopped by our booth to chat about the study and genetic research more broadly, to watch demonstrations of medical devices used for the project such as a dynamometer and blood pressure cuff, and to learn about Variant Bio’s role in the study. At one point, even President William Samoei Ruto of Kenya dropped by the booth to learn about the project!
On the final day of the festival, we held a special event for Turkana community leaders who had previously participated in a two-day workshop about the project. This allowed us to follow up with key community stakeholders about the status of the research (which is still ongoing), discuss plans for Variant Bio’s benefit-sharing program as a part of the study, and share preliminary summary results such as the relatively high number of kidney stones found among study participants.
Lastly, we were able to share a short video we made (see below for both the English and the Turkana versions with Kiswahili subtitles) outlining the project and showing scenes from previous community engagement events related to the study. Community leaders were delighted to see themselves in the film, and to recognize members of the research team who had returned as promised for further engagement about the project.
Sample collection for this study is now well underway, and we look forward to sharing overall research results once our team finishes analyzing the data. We are extremely grateful to the participating communities of Turkana County for helping us in our goal of further understanding the relationship between genes and kidney health. Ejok noi — thank you!
