Original version

BBC World Service News Internet

Heart and Soul

Documentaries

Religion & Ethics

Personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service East Asia

Heart and Soul: Kenya's last great Laibon

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

The Laibon: Kenya's mystic men

13/05/2022 GMT

Kenya's last great Laibon

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Kenya's last great Laibon

Meet Mokompo, one of Kenya's last laibons or mystic seer, in traditional Maasai culture

Stuart Butler travels to Kenya to meet Mokompo, one of the country's last laibons and discover their spiritual secrets.

In traditional Maasai culture one of the central figures of the community is the laibon. A laibon is a person who has been gifted with the power to see the future. They are not really a fortune teller and they are certainly not a witch doctor. They are more like a seer, but some also have the power to cure illnesses. A laibon is the one who advises the community as a whole on the best course of action to take in a given situation. For example, they can use their powers to say where the community’s cattle should be taken in order to find better grazing when there’s a drought. They are the ones who can pronounce when the time is right for important ceremonies. Today hardly any laibon remain.

There is still one though. Called Mokompo, he is today an elderly man who lives in one of the remotest corners of Kenya, far from towns, villages, and surfaced roads. Although very few Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania have ever met him, he continues to command huge respect. In this programme journalist Stuart Butler travels to Kenya to meet Mokompo and find out the spiritual secrets of one the country's last laibons.

(Photo: Mokompo. Credit: Stuart Butler)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Heart and Soul

Kenya's last great Laibon

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service News Internet

About BBC World Service