Hello Everyone!
We have had a crazy past couple of days, going everywhere
from the National Park near us to doing a homestay with one of the local Maasai
Mamas. It’s been so exciting, but
definitely exhausting in this bright sunshine and heat!
One of the really great things that we had the opportunity
to do in the last week was go out to the local community and get a feel of the
surrounding area and the people that live there. I was in a group with 5 other girls, one of
our student affair managers, and a local guide to help us translate what the
locals were telling us. The goal of the
exercise was to get an inside scoop of daily life in this area, including the
major limiting resources, interactions with neighbors, interactions with
wildlife, and sources of income. Our
guide was from Kimana and spoke English, Maasai, and Swahili, so we were able
to talk to everyone we came across. We
had the chance to go to five different farms, all near the primary school that
we visited the day before. It’s amazing
the hospitality that every person showed us.
They had no idea that we were coming to visit, yet a majority of the
people we interviewed invited us into their modest houses, offered us chai, and
provided chairs for all of us. I feel
like it’s hard to find anyone that would have that much hospitality with
completely strangers if I was in the United States.
The first woman that
we interviewed was this beautiful woman, around 23 years old, that owned a farm
as well as worked at the local seamstress’s shop in town. She was so honest with us and answered our
questions so completely. I think I
learned the most from her, and I felt like she was telling 100% truth and not
trying to sugar coat things from us. It’s
insane to hear their stories about the elephants coming and trying to eat her
corn. Sometimes, they never get to sleep
because they have to stay up and be ready to chase the elephants away using
spears and torches and making as much noise as possible. She even told us that they only have access
to water 3 hours a day! I cannot even
imagine not having a constant source of water and it once again made me feel so
thankful for everything that I have in my life. After thanking her and moving
on, we stopped at a farm right down the road, but this woman was there all
alone and didn’t seem as willing to answer our questions. We didn’t want to inconvenience her, so we
wrapped up our interview a little quicker.
The next interview was with a Maasai mama, but her English speaking son
took over very quickly, wanting to practice his English with us. He was so energetic and loved having us
there. The next interview, there was
this crazy old Maasai mama that decided one of the girls in our group looked
exactly like her first born daughter that she hadn’t seen in years. She grabbed on to my group member, and hugged
her and kissed her and was just in disbelief at the similarities. We were all laughing so hard at her reaction
to us. The final interview could not
have been more different from the 4 before.
We knocked on the door, politely saying “hodi” which asks if we are
allowed to come in. When the door
finally opened, there was a group of 4 boys, around 20 years old, and in the
background, the walls in the house were completely covered in American Pop
Music posters. I am talking Lil Wayne,
Rihanna, Chris Brown, Avril Lavigne, Britney Spears, 50 cent, and more. It was so funny because it turns out this
group not only had crops and livestock, but they were also a local rap group
that performs in the clubs in Kimana. They were all amazing at English, hoping to go
to University soon, and we spent too much of our time asking about their rap
career than about their crop management.
We couldn’t help it! But overall,
the experience was so incredible. I had
no idea how much I would be interacting with the people that live in this area,
and I think it’s such a priceless experience.
I cannot think of a better way to really know the problems in this area
and what these people have to deal with every day. It was so fun and so helpful.
The next day, we had yet another opportunity for a cultural
experience in the community. In one of
the classes we are taking here, we talk a lot about the tourism industry and
how the government benefits from it much more than the local people that are
right in the middle of it. As I talked
about before, we visited the homes of the Maasai Mamas, called the Boma. For this field trip, we had the opportunity
to visit another boma, accept this time, the boma was right at the entrance to
Amboseli National Park, and we had to pay to visit. The goal was to see what these people have
had to do so that they can gain something from the tourists in the area. It was so crazy to see the differences. This boma was still a real boma, with the
Maasai living there; however, everything seemed so staged. The performed a dance for us, and it was much
more forced than the dance we had seen before.
Their houses were set up differently, making them look larger and also
more tribal. The entire experience was
the Maasai attempt to show tourists the tribalism that they are looking
for. Yes, these people have preserved
their culture more than anyone in this part of the world, however, not to the
extreme that this boma attempted to portray.
We even interrupted a class at the school that neighbored, and they said
that every tourist group had that opportunity.
I felt so bad that these kids get interrupted every day over and
over. I felt that subjecting them to the
tourist industry was not called for. It
angered so many of us, but it really opened my eyes to what these people must
do to make a living for themselves. The
government has taken their land without asking for the National Park, so of
course they will do what they need to so they can combat that. It was a very eye opening experience,
especially since most tourists would never know that there was anything wrong
with that experience.
The next day, after finding out who our partner was, we
loaded up the cars once again and had the chance to do a homestay with one of
the local Maasai Mamas that live close to our camp! I had an amazing partner named Anna and
really enjoyed spending one on one time with her. Every group of two was dropped off at
separate bomas in the area, carrying cabbage, sugar, milk and other gifts to
thank the mamas for hosting us for the day.
Our boma was actually the one that we got to tour the first time we ever
met the Maasai people! The mama that we
were with was named Jen and she was 25 years old and had around 6 kids,
although we weren’t exactly sure. It was
an insane experience from the second we got there because these mamas speak
zero English and only a few words of Swahili!
The entire day was based on body language, very basic words that we all
knew, and following her lead. 
When we were first welcomed into her home, she immediately
started making us chai, definitely the local favorite. You would not believe the size of the home
and the conditions that she cooks and lives in.
In the corner of this tiny boma, there were three stones arranged so
that her pots could sit on top and she could make a fire underneath. The bomas have no windows other than 3 or 4
holes the size of my fist, so you can imagine the smoke that builds up quickly. My eyes were burning and watering so badly, I
thought I would never have tears again!
They are so immune to so much that they do, yet Anna and I were
struggling to sit right by the fire. The
chai was amazing though! So fresh with
milk and sugar, and we drank our cups quickly.
As soon as we finished, the mama stood up and said “come!” and marched
out of her house. She grabbed some of
the water cans sitting outside and we started to make the trek to fetch
water. The source of water for this
particular boma was a mile away! We just
kept walking through trees and tall grass with the water cans until we finally
reached a watering hole, filled with cows!
Jen immediately started unscrewing the caps and filling the cans with
the water flowing from the water hole into one of the nearby furrows used for
irrigation. The water was so muddy from
the cows, but it was not even a consideration.
The immunity of the Maasai is second to none! After filling about 6 cans with water, Jen
turned around and told us to come closer.
The way that they carry their water is by placing a belt or strip of
material around the can and putting that belt on your head, with the water on
your back. It was so heavy and gave you
such a headache, especially carrying it for over a mile! I have no idea how she
would ever carry all this water on her own, but I was so impressed at the
amount she could carry, being around 100 pounds max!
After getting back with the water, she once again thought
that we should have more chai, so we went back in the boma for more tea. She also started making lunch and let us help
with all the little things. The mamas
were supposed to treat us as workers as opposed to guests, but our mama
definitely treated us like her guests.
As the food starting cooking, some of her adorable children flooded into
the boma to visit us. There was a set of
2 year old twins, a 4 year old, and a few older boys that all stood and stared
at us. These kids were so beautiful and
their laughs were even better. I started
tickling them and they laughed so loud, I couldn’t help but laugh right
along. Jen made us this thing called
Ugali, which is nicknamed African cake.
Its basically boiled flour and water that they let sit for a while until
it becomes a little thicker and harder than mashed potatoes. It’s a great way for these people to get a
lot of carbs in their diets, but it’s hard to eat a lot of. She also boiled us tomatoes, cabbage, and
onions to add to our Ugali. I had to cut
the cabbage myself, and she just laughed at me.
I was so slow and cutting huge pieces, so very soon after I was done,
she had to recut everything I had done!
When she made our plates for us, she literally gave Anna and me a
quarter of the pot each! I am talking a slab of heavy flour cake stuff the size
of two Nalgene water bottles! And our
teachers told us how rude it was to not finish things during our stay. I decided this had to be the exception. We ate and ate and ate, with our fingers only
(you can imagine that mess) and literally did not make a dent. I felt bad, but there was no way...
After lunch, we went out of the boma again and went to some
of the acacia trees nearby to help her collect firewood for her stove. She is this tiny thing, but she used a
machete like no one I have ever seen.
She took full braches off of trees and we gathered huge stacks of
firewood in less than an hour. She let
us try a couple times, but we were not fast enough for her and she quickly took
the machete from us! We once again
loaded the firewood on our backs using the belts and walked back home. The rest of the afternoon was just a hang out
time, where Jen worked on some of her bead work, and Anna and I got to play
with her kids for hours. I loved these
kids and wanted to steal them so bad. The
only problem was how dirty these poor kiddos were. They literally had flies crawling all over
them, were covered in dirt, and their clothes were filthy. Such a different world than what we are used
to at home.
At around 5, our student affairs manager came and picked us
up. We said goodbye to the whole
family. I literally loved every second
of this experience, and we are lucky enough to get to do it again in Tanzania
with a different tribe! I learned so
much and got to see the true lifestyle of these women. I really value that chance.
I have so much more to share from our other trip to Amboseli
and going to one of the tourist lodges nearby, but I have to go and have some
dinner!
Thanks for reading all of this and I will update soon!
Love,
Mollie Ann
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