the Maasai…

I have been delaying writing this post about our visit to the Maasai last weekend, because I have not been able to find the right words to describe such a special experience.

It wasn’t an organised tourist tour, instead it was hosted by Daudi, the Maasai boyfriend of Gill, manager of the African Impact project. We visited Kitenden, the village where Daudi grew up which is close to the Kenyan border… So close that we could see into Kenya!

We arrived Saturday mid afternoon. Put up our tents – for those of you who know my feelings about camping, it will not be a surprise to you that I was not great at putting up a tent – so good thing that I had help from my new, wonderful friend Carelynn…and when the tent was up all we had to do was wait for Mount Kilimanjaro to show herself – the view was nothing short of magnificent!

And the sunset wasn’t too shabby either! What a treat!

On the Sunday, we walked around the village, met up with a few of the local Maasai and they showed us how to make fire (needless to say, I made no fire, or even attempted to!) and we all enjoyed their Maasai jumping and gave it a go too. Not sure I impressed anyone!

 

I have come across quite a few Maasai during my few weeks in Tanzania – in class, at the volunteer house where our security guards were Maasai – had plenty of card games with them by the way – and of course during last weekend and they are just super intriguing. So many interesting traditions…

1. First off, the outfits are wonderful, have already got plans for buying one of the ‘blankets’ when I am back in Moshi in December.

2. Then there’s the wonderful woven hair – which isn’t hair at all and is just for young men, they keep it just for a short period before cutting it off…what a shame!

3. Oh and the shoes, I think they thought I was crazy when I kept taking photos of their feet 🙂

And then there are some of the things that might be more difficult to understand

4. They pull out the middle bottom tooth (twice) to make a gap for a couple of reasons, one to be able to pronounce some of the words in their language and the other to make sure if they get ill and are not able to eat, their families are able to feed them through the gap!

5. If there are just daughters in the family, none of them are allowed to marry because then they would all leave home and leave the parents alone…

6. The marks on their faces… They are burn marks, symbols of their tribe (see the guy on the left below) and are made when the children are only young, one of my students mentioned he was 4 years old when he was marked. 😦

7. A lot of the men harm themselves to prepare for circumcision…they are not allowed to flinch or show any emotion when they are circumcised so they practice by cutting in their legs..

But none of their traditions or beliefs change the fact that they are wonderful, friendly and fun people to be around. I feel so, so lucky!

Oh and last but not least from the weekend, we saw a calf being born. It was crazy!, the Maasai had just finished the ‘jumping session’ with us and then they rushed over to deliver the calf…think it made up for the buffalo incident …. My first ever birth of anything! Haha.

All in all, one of the best experiences of my life!