Maasai Boma Visit

Today we had another traveling lecture. This time we went to a maasai homestead. They came out and met us by our cars with a welcome song. Then we followed them into their home area and they had us join in with their song. The boys went with the men, held little staffs and jumped in the air. The maasai men can jump really high in the air. They jump straight up and keep their legs straight the whole time (kind of a pogo stick effect). The women joined the maasai woman line. They welcomed us in by putting some of their jewelry on us, taking our hands, and having us dance with them. I have some great pictures from that.

After they welcomed us they showed us an example marriage ceremony. It was interesting but very limited and very staged. And it was funny because after the ceremony our guide said that the man who had played the husband in the ceremony actually couldn't be married because he had a different religion than the traditional maasai religion.

Next they explained to us that they wear red for protection when they are out with their cows, showed us how they make a fire and gave us a tour of a maasai house. They make fire by rubbing a piece of hard wood and a piece of soft wood together. Once they start smoldering they transfer the cinders into a piece of poop. Then they blow on the poop until it catches fire. Once a flame has caught, they hold grasses over the flame so that they catch fire too. Their houses are made of a cow dung mixture spread over acacia branches. They were very small. The one that we went in had two doorways from the main entrance way: one to the living area and one to a little room for goats and calves. The living area was tiny. It consisted of a small fire pit with about a foot of floor space all of the way around it. There were two sleeping alcoves; one for the men and one for the women and children. The sleeping alcoves were just branches laid across about a foot off the ground and a cow skin over them. They weren't fancy and I don't think they were even big enough for a person to straighten their legs. It was crazy to me that five people lived in a house that could probably fit in my bedroom at home.

After the tour of the house we shopped around a little. Mom, I got you a present! :]

Then they showed us how they throw spears but only the men did it. It was interesting because the end of their spear kept falling off on impact. It didn't seem very practical. Also, to put the blade back on their spear they would find a rock and jab the spear into that to make the spear fit back together. I feel like that was very counterproductive because it must have dulled the blade to do that.

Finally they showed us a little pre-school class that they taught at their homestead and said goodbye to us. I was really touched because they had us all kneel and said a prayer for us. That really meant a lot to me that they would take the time to bless us.

The really award part was that before we left our teacher was asking us what we thought of the whole experience. He asked up if we thought that visiting the boma was a good experience, if it was good for the people to live this way and entertain tourists, and if we thought that this boma was a good example of how the maasai people really live. It was very uncomfortable because a lot of people were saying that they didn't really think that bomas set up for tourists were a good idea and they felt like they didn't think that they got to see maasai life. While they were saying this the maasai people, many of whom understood at least some english, were standing right there so I felt like they must have felt like we were insulting them. The interesting part was our teacher asked our guide what he thought about living in a tourist-centered homestead and he said that he didn't like it. He wished that he could live the traditional way. I thought that that was really sad. Especially because he was so friendly and happy but then he said he didn't like his life.

During our afternoon break I went back to the tailor for a few alterations to my dress. He is amazing. I pointed out what I wanted fixed, he looked at it and then he told me to come back later. When I came back it fit perfectly. He didn't even measure anything! He just eyeballed it. The even more impressive thing is he is blind in one eye. I don't know how he does it.

Oh, that reminds me. I love the way that people with handicaps and disabilities are treated here. They are just treated normally. There are a lot of people who have injuries to their faces and/or eye sight problems and they are all treated the same as anyone else. Also, there was a girl with dwarfism at one of the houses near our home stay and no one babied her. She did everything that all of the other girls were expected to do. Even our IT guy in camp who has cerebral palsy or something is completely self sufficient. One time when I asked him for help with the internet he was sitting in the fire pit and he said that he would get up to reset the router. He had to use his hands to grab his legs and swing them up onto the side of the pit so that he could get up but even when I saw how much work it was for him and said he didn't need to get up he just said no problem and went to do it. And he meant it. It wasn't a problem for him. He was happy to do his job. I feel like that's very rare in America, even among completely healthy and competent people. Bad things really aren't complained about here. They are just accepted and life goes on. I need to figure out how to take that attitude home with me.

Tomorrow we are going on a bike ride from the town at the bottom of the hill to the closest national park. I can't wait!