Koret’s Healing Program: Preserving Ogiek Indigenous Knowledge Kenya
KOWYN is conducting the NAAPU Project Induction and Training Programme, bringing together Indigenous knowledge holders, elders, and apprentices for an orientation on the NAAPU Mentorship Programme.
The training focuses on the intergenerational transfer of Indigenous knowledge, the Koret Healing approach, mentorship, practical learning, and the documentation and preservation of Ogiek botanical and healing knowledge. At its heart, it is about connection, between elders and youth, between forest and community, between the past and the future.
Together, we are creating a space for elders to share their knowledge and for younger generations to learn, preserve, and carry this heritage forward.
Our Knowledge. Our Heritage. Our Future.
Strengthening the Bond Between Elders and Apprentices
The session introduced apprentices to the Koret Healing Program, strengthened relationships between knowledge holders and apprentices, and clarified their respective roles in the mentorship process.
The highly interactive session provided an opportunity for elders to share their experiences and knowledge, while young apprentices actively participated, asked questions, and explored ways of preserving and carrying forward this valuable Indigenous knowledge.
This is how knowledge has always travelled in our communities, not through textbooks alone, but through conversation, trust, and the patient guidance of those who have walked the path before. Watching that exchange come alive between generations is a reminder of why this work matters.
Learning Through the Herbarium and Forest Walks
Participants were also introduced to the herbarium and its role in documenting and preserving medicinal plants and Indigenous knowledge. Alongside this, they explored the importance of forest walks as a practical approach to learning about medicinal plants, their uses, and the connection between traditional healing and forest conservation.
The herbarium preserves knowledge in record form, while the forest walks keep it alive in practice. Together they ensure that the wisdom of Ogiek healing is both documented for the future and experienced first-hand in the present.
A Living Heritage Passed From Generation to Generation
Indigenous knowledge is a living heritage. Through structured mentorship between elders and young apprentices, the Koret Healing Program is helping ensure that this valuable knowledge is preserved and passed on to future generations.
Our forests provide medicine, knowledge, food, and life. When we protect the forest, we protect the knowledge and communities that depend on it. The two cannot be separated, and the Koret Healing Program honours that truth in everything it does.