that's what it's all about

Another incredible day here in Kenya. I woke up early this morning to take a nature walk with some fellow students in hopes of seeing some wildlife. Morning is the best time to view Mt. Kilimanjaro because there is little cloud coverage. We are so close to the border of Tanzania that looking at Kili is literally looking at Tanzania. There was a hippo just on the other side of the fence, though it was pretty difficult to see behind the bushes.

We had our first class today which was taught by Simon ole Seno, the center director for the past 9 years. Seno retired in June this year, but he will give us a few lectures throughout the course. Today we were introduced to the many tribes of Kenya (there are 42 and over 120 sub groups within those tribes). We focused on the Maasai, as they are the people that we will be researching. The social system works such that the Maasai men are the herders and the policy makers, while the women own the house. I was very impressed by all the responsibilities of the Maasai women or the “mamas”. She is the builder and maintainer of the house. Maasai men are usually married to 4 or 5 mamas and they all live together in a boma. A boma is an area where each of the mamas has a home for herself, her husband, and her children to live in. The homes are built of dung, dirt, and sticks and can take 1-2 months to build and they can last for up to 6 years.

After our class we hopped in the land cruisers to visit a boma nearby. The Maasai believe that they should be welcoming to all guests otherwise they will be cursed. When we arrived we were warmly greeted by about 25 mamas by shaking hands and saying “soapa.” The mamas performed a dance and song for us. Their spirited voices nearly brought me and my classmates to tears. It is customary for the guests to also show their appreciation of the hospitality by performing a song and dance. We settled on the hokey pokey and the mamas were thoroughly entertained and even participated.

Then, one of the mamas invited us into her home. Walking into it, I could not see anything so I had to feel my way around and the mama grabbed me and sat me down on her bed, a piece of cow leather. Only about 5 of us could fit it at one time. The homes are built of dung and dirt and can take 1-2 months to build and they can last for up to 6 years. The mamas cook in the home and the only ventilation are some small holes in the walls. One of the children was coughing quite violently and we were informed that because of the smoke from cooking and the poor ventilation, many of the children have respiratory problems. We thanked the mama for inviting us in her home and walked around the boma to take pictures of the kids. They loved looking at the pictures of themselves on our digital cameras.

The mamas set out blankets and placed hand made jewelry, cloths, figurines and spears for us to purchase. They grabbed your arms and put bracelets on them, wrapped cloths around our waists and offered their price. We made sure that each mama had something bought from her and we all walked away with quite a load. We all felt proud about buying directly from the mamas and supporting the Maasai community. I purchased a large cloth (potential skirt, tapestry, or table cloth?) with some Maasai writing on it. The writing doesn't translate to English very well, but Sapaya (one of the staff who speaks Maa language) told me that it means "someone who has everything, cannot say they have everything, but someone who has nothing, can say they can have everything." I will ponder that tonight as I try to fall asleep.

Everything about the boma was truly authentic. We will likely go back to that boma and have the mamas teach us how to bead jewelry and then give them the pieces we finish for them to sell.

Today was a beautiful and truly meaningful introduction to the Maasai and I feel so fortunate to learn about them; it was only a taste of what’s to come and thank goodness for that.