Teacher: Lakshmi Ponnada Year Group: Year-8

Unit: 7 Horn of Africa Topic: 7.5 Life of a nomad (Structured answers)

1. Because they live in semi-desert areas where it’s too dry, and the ground too poor, to
grow crops; so rearing animals offers a livelihood. But their animals quickly eat up the
vegetation in an area. So they must travel with them to find more grazing-and that means
following the rains.

2. Make your own answer using these points; no running water, no toilets, no electricity, no
fridge to keep things fresh, small huts, rain leaking into the huts in wet weather, long
distances to travel, no doctors nearby, continual worry about the rains, and about money
to buy maize, little or no education for children.

3. Use these points to make your own answer.

For water- long distances to walk to wells; hard work drawing water from wells (and the
longer it has been since rain, the lower the water level in the well); water is heavy to carry.
For Firewood- there are not many bushes; they have to go further and further each day; they
must avoid taking branches with leaves that camels and goats can eat.

4. Their animals are the nomads’ wealth. They can drink their milk, eat their meat and sell
them and their skins. They can buy other food with the money. During drought,
vegetation shrivels up. Eventually there will be nothing for the animals to eat, so they
die. At the same time, water levels in wells fall. Wells may even dry up. So the nomads
do not have enough to drink and nothing to sell in exchange for food. They too may die
from starvation.

5. They rear animals on poor land that’s not much use for anything else. Many of the
animals are exported, which earns money for the Horn countries. Some, or their milk or
meat are sold locally. That benefits the Horn countries too.

6. Suggestions: reading and writing, counting; arithmetic for simple calculations,

money/currency, units for weighing and measuring things, the main official language of
 their country, the geography of their country, simple healthcare and nutrition for
themselves (for example, making sure water is safe to drink); healthcare for their
animals.

7. They’d have to move into areas with fertile land and more rain, to grow crops, or move
to towns and cities. It might be hard to find land, or to find work in towns and cities,
since there is high unemployment. Their presence might be resented. They might find it
hard to settle down. Their culture would disappear. Meanwhile, the number of animals
being raised would fall dramatically, affecting both local food supplies and exports.
However, for individual nomads, life might be a lot better. There would be school for the
children and perhaps doctors and clinics. There is likely to be water from standpipes.