The Sebei people lead a fairly simple life style. The main structures of their lives are centered around cattle keeping, growing crops, and making beer. Common jobs held by the Sebei include cattle rearing and farming. The jobs depend on where you live. Because of their fairly laid back culture, the need for major social structure is limited. Sebei people are relatively peaceful, there are limited criminal offenses that one could do. In Sebei culture, there are two levels of criminal offense. The highest level is for murder and physical assault, the lower level is for property or major civil disputes between people or groups of people.[4] The Sebei people also circumcise teenage boys and girls as a right of passage to adulthood.[5]
The Sebei commonly known as Sabiny speak a language called Kupsabiny. This is linked to the Kalenjin dialect spoken by smaller groups that have settled on the slopes of Mount Elgon.[5]
The Sebei's live primarily on the slopes of Mount Elgon in eastern Uganda.[6] They number about 300,000 people and occupy an area of 1,730.9 square km in the districts of Bukwo, Kapchorwa and Kween. Their territory borders the Republic of Kenya which is a home to more than six million Kalenjin, a large ethnic group to which the Sebei belong. The Sebei's now known mainly as Sapiny, speak Kupsabiny, a Kalenjin language spoken by other smaller groups of Kalenjin stock around Mount Elgon. The Sebei and Kenyan smaller groups (Book, Kony, Mosoop, Someek, Bongomek) inhabiting the hills of Mount Elgon are collectively referred to as the 'Sabaots.[7][8]
In Uganda
The majority of the Sebei people live in the country of Uganda. The percent of the Ugandan population that is Sebei is only 0.6%; meaning that there are about 300,000 Sebei in Uganda.[9][10]
Uganda
