rolling, rolling, rolling on the river

Hi All! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, we're really busy here at KBC! Last week we completed our data collection and we have been busy entering our data ever since. We are finally sitting down tomorrow to start some analysis. My second day in the field was a stressful one. We were not welcomed at our second boma to say the least. The Mama did not want to be interviewed because she said that people come through all the time, use her for information, and nothing comes of it. She said that she would not give us any of her time unless we give her something. Our guide Solomon explained to her that we are students and we came with nothing. He told her who his family was and that he was a teacher at the local school. She said she knew his parents and she respected him so she allowed us to interview her. It had taken nearly an hour to get her consent for the questionnaire. Throughout the whole interview she kept saying she had no confidence in us and that she didn't want to waste her time, but Solomon insisted that if she were to continue and attend our presentation on August 9th that she would be proud to have been a part of our research. Solomon knew exactly what to say and my partner Annie and I were so thankful to have him as our interpreter and guide. At the next boma, none of the wives wanted to be interviewed so we asked the husband if we could interview him. About half way through the interview, the husband said he did not want to continue and we had to throw out the data he had given us since we can only include questionnaires that are 90% complete. At another boma the wives were also reluctant to be interview so we tried to interview the husband only to discover he was drunk. Finally one of the wives agreed but she stopped about 80% of the way and we had to throw out that data as well. Feeling defeated and exhausted we rested under a tree to have some lunch. Not shortly after we sat down, 6 kids and a young woman came over to our shade. We gave them the rest of our lunches and talked to them through Solomon. It turned out that the young woman was the next person on our list to interview. She was 21 years old with 1 son and 8 months pregnant. I didn't even know that she was pregnant until she told us during the questionnaire. One of our questions about nutrition revealed that she only eats one meal a day. Maasai women purposefully eat less during pregnancy to keep their babies small and make childbirth less painful. A "good weight" for a baby is about 4.4 pounds. I tried to imagine myself living as this woman, who is my own age, does. I can barely take care of a houseplant at this point in my life. It really opened my eyes to a much larger world than I am exposed to in America and made me appreciate the fact that I am able to go to college and get a good education.
On a much lighter note, yesterday was a free day so we decided to go back to Loitokitok to go on a hike. Our group was escorted by the Kenyan Wildlife Service who carried rifles to protect us from any harm. I was a little frightened by the fact that something may need to be shot on this hike, but thankfully we didn't encounter any troubles. We hiked through a dried up river and actually crossed the border into Tanzania! The scenery was beautiful and we had the most incredible view of Kilimanjaro; the elevation made us all huff and puff a little harder than normal. Just taking a deep breath down in the riverbed was enough to rejuvenate me for the next two weeks because the air was so clean and cool in my dusty lungs.
Today we had a celebration (just because!) complete with slaughtering and roasting a goat, sodas, peanut butter bars, and a dance party in the chumba lit by a soccer ball turned disco ball (all you need is a little tinfoil and a flashlight!) It just goes to show that all you really need to have a good time is good company and we have all found that in each other here. That's all for now, take it easy!