The Maasai Mamas!

Habari!!!

Another few days have passed here in Kenya, and once again, the experiences that I have had in the short amount of time since I have written have been life changing and so incredible.  I am STILL having a hard time realizing that all of this is real and I am not just in the Lion King!  We have really taken a dive into our classes, with around 5 hours of class per day.  The classes are so interesting and everything we are learning is so applicable to everything that I want to do in my future career.  Especially Wildlife Ecology in East Africa.  I absolutely love it!

Yesterday was the most intensive cultural experience I have ever been a part of.  We had the opportunity to go to a local Maasai Village with all of the women that live there.  The women all live in the village together, look out for one another, and help one another with their daily tasks, while their husbands are out hunting or taking care of the livestock.  The women are called the Maasai Mamas and they wear the most beautiful clothes and jewelry that I have ever laid eyes on.  They all wear bright reds and oranges, long skirts, and beaded necklaces that could put any jeweler in the United States to shame.  When we first arrived at their Boma, they were all there, in a huge line waiting to greet us and welcome us to their village.  Then, we had the privilege of watching and listening to one of their traditional songs and dances.  It was so amazing because they don’t use any sort of instruments, yet their voices flood the air like surround sound.  Every one of the mamas were singing different words and different parts, yet they all meshed together to create this music that gave me chills when I heard it.  One of the mamas would start the song with her strong voice, and the other women would join in immediately, knowing exactly what to do and say.

One of the best parts of watching them sing and dance was the expressions and seeing them as real people just like ourselves.  Some of the girls would get so embarrassed when they would dance in front of us, and others would start laughing when they messed up part of the song.  It was so real to me.  No matter how far apart we live from one another, we still feel the same and get embarrassed and make fun of one another with our friends.  It was great to see all of the same expressions on their faces.

The dances that they were doing were simple jumping along with the beat of the song they were singing.  The stomping was ground shaking and they jumped using their entire bodies and throwing them into the ground.  They would jump in front of the group with a few of the other mamas and would come grab our hands and have us jump along with them.  And their smiles :) They could knock you off your feet with the pure happiness on their faces.

We even got to perform our own song and dance for the women as well.  We of course chose Waka Waka by Shakira and when the music first started, they started singing along to our surprise!  They all knew the song from the World Cup.  We performed our dance, incorporating them into whatever we could, and it was the best way to break language barriers. 

Afterwards, they offered all of their unique crafts to us as a way for The School for Field Studies to support the local community.  They had the most amazing bracelets and necklaces and skirts and of course, in a group of 25 girls, we couldn’t resist buying at least something small.  I love having bracelets from these amazing women, and I will always treasure this experience and the memories that the bracelets represent.

Tomorrow is our first day to finally go to a National Park.  We will be at Amboseli National Park from 11am until 6pm tomorrow doing wildlife behavior and identification exercises.  The anticipation is killing me to finally see all of the animals that I have traveled all the way to Africa to see.

Tonight, a group of my friends have decided to wake up at 2:30 am to watch the Super Bowl.  Let’s go Giants!!! Enjoy watching, everyone :)

Kwaharini!!! (Goodbye everyone!)

Mollie Ann