The Ogiek are the indigenous people of the Mau Forest in Kenya’s Rift Valley. Their name signifies ‘keeper of forest and fauna’. Despite their ancestral relationship to the forest, the Ogiek have faced evictions since British colonial rule, which continued until as recently as 2024.
Honey plays a crucial cultural, medicinal, and nutritional role in Ogiek culture. The honey and the hives are integral to their connection to the forest from which they have been forcibly evicted. Each Ogiek family once had around 400 hives in Mau Forest, providing food and medicine.
Ogiek Honey is a bio-active and culture-active substance, produced from pollen and nectar collected by bees from wildflowers and plants. It encapsulates Mau Forest’s biodiversity, making its consumption akin to consuming the forest itself.
This project explores the role of yeast in Ogiek Honey. As the active bioagent in creating Honey Wine, yeast plays a vital cultural and healing role, making it a key ingredient in Ogiek Honey’s medicinal properties.
We ask: How does yeast express itself as a living being? How can laboratory practices enhance yeast’s connection to the world beyond Mau and advocate for its forest? What value can be created for this microbial entity born from an ancient indigenous practice?
Final Project BioHack Academy 2024
