Prayer Walk
Through Moroto Mountains
(3)

Heading back to the east and north, about an hour's drive from Kodonyo, we arrive at the Karamojong village called Tapach. Tapach lies along the eastern limits of the Moroto mountains. Several manyattas (clusters of Karamojong households and cattle corrals) can be seen in the distance--their houses topped by thatched roofs. Near the clusters of houses are plowed, terraced gardens and some fields of ripening grain. Lokawa, who works in the Singletarys' garden, is from this place.

Of the villages scattered in the Mount Moroto region, Tapach has been the most influenced by the outside world. Roman Catholic presence here is significant, and the village possesses a school and medical clinic.

As in Musas, there is an obvious presence in Tapach of the ngipian (river spirits). Alcoholism is also very bad here. The people of Tapach are heavily influeced by another tribe called the Pokot, and still practice the mutilation known as "female circumcision."

Quite a distance to the north of Tapach, we come to another Karamojong village named Narangenya. Narangenya is to the northeast of the Morotos.

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