Profile: Carls Waineina (your host)

Carls serves as our main coordinator/manager in Kenya. His flexibility at taking on a variety of roles depending on the involvement you wish us to have is of great value. Interpreter, negotiator, driver, master mechanic, guide, cook - you name it he can do it. Needless to say he has a wealth of experience in these matters, as a testimony of this, the following is a brief synopsis of his history and background:

Carls was born and raised in Samburu district. From a mixed tribal union (Samburu & Kikuyu), he gained an ability from an early age to interact with the many different tribes bordering this district. Those who came to trade in Maralal and Wamba, the main market towns where Carls grew up, gave him a curiosity to discover more of what lay beyond his immediate environment.

Pursuing this curiosity Carls commenced his working career by travelling far afield on foot to the many isolated communities that dot the region, exchanging commodities such as tea leaves and sugar for hides and skins which he would in turn sell for profit in the larger market towns and trading centres. He then diversified from this to purchasing livestock (cattle & goats), travelling even further afield this time, as far north as the border lands of Ethiopia and Sudan where stock could be aquired relatively cheaply. After this he would herd the animals hundreds of miles south across large stretches of extremely inhospitable terrain with the final aim of selling them at the cattle markets in Maralal. During one of these drives south while resting at a small Turkana outpost he met the author. It was from this meeting and subsequent conversations over the intervening years that the idea of Wandering Nomads came to fruition. A shared passion for the vast semi desert plains and volcanic landscapes that embody the Turkana/Samburu district left a resonance.

Since this first meeting, taking full advantage of a solid education and lessons learnt during his trading endeavours in the remote wild borderlands, Carls applied for work with a Nairobi based U.N. humanitarian organisation operating in Sudan. He was hired immediately and has since progressed rapidly up the ladder. Working in various capacities from vehicle maintenance and the transport of relief supplies to liaison between various warring factions and the rehabilitation & restoration of refugees saw Carls travel extensively through the many war torn regions of; Congo, Rwanda, and Sudan. The wealth of experience gained from this work he was able to put to good use on his return to Nairobi by taking on a consultancy role. In short, he is well versed in the art of diplomacy and negotiation, is extremely resourceful and has an ability to find his way out of extreme situations.

One could suggest that Carls is over qualified for his role in Wandering Nomads, but as a partner in the business and the main enabler, his prime goal and motivation lies in the empowerment of his own people - a diverse amalgam of tribes who live in a region that has by and large been forgotten by the outside world. He sees Wandering Nomads as a vehicle that goes a little way to achieving this goal, so please bear this in mind if you decide to come along.

Respect his judgement, he knows what he's doing.