Wednesday, January 8
About 15 of us volunteers met at the Junction at 7 am to get on a Mutatu (public bus) to Ngong to then, paired up, hopped on a piki-piki (motorcycle taxis) out to the Bush where the Massai people live. The Massai people are a unique tribe found mainly in Kenya but also in Tanzania. They are barely modernized and mostly keep to old traditions. They are known for their red dress and high jumping as a form of showing off.
The mutatu blasted reggae music. I can't even imagine blasting reggae on a public bus in the states, Israel, or any other place in the world. The music was so loud I felt like I was in a club. We then got to a town called Ngong, pronounced gong. We met up with a few motorcycle taxis, called piki-piki, that would take us into the bush, into Massai land! Now, these piki-pikis are terrifying. We sat two people plus a driver to a bike so we were all got very close by the end of the ride. Most of the drivers use a helmet, sometimes not. Us two passengers did not have a helmet (the program collected our insurance information before the trip). When the piki-pikis are only driving one person around town, the passenger is usually given a helmet if the driver has. Seems kind of unsafe, right? Well, it is. When I was in Rwanda, a sister of student living in the village died on one of these things. But, people die all the time in car crashes and I still get in a car, so off I went.
The ride was stunning. The view was beautiful! AND the biking was fun, a little scary at times, but fun - my friend and I couldn't stop laughing. After about a 45 minute ride we finally got to our destination.
Everyone was introduced, including the cow and her 4-hour old calf, and the 1000s of flies that were EVERYWHERE. They showed us their traditional home, a manyatta, that is about the size of my living room at home (probably a little smaller) that has the fire going, a kitchen, and 3 bedrooms, one for mom and two for the kids. The men often marry more than one wife and they all have their separate homes. The manyatta was dark and smokey, not sure how they live in there. We were then brought into a more modern building/room as we sat, drank tea, and enjoyed delicious chobati, a traditional Kenyan food. Chobati is like a mixture of a pancake and pita bread (without the pocket), similar to a scallion pancake without the scallions and just the bread part.
Back outside we got face painted with face paint made out of a special red dirt and water. They told us that when they really use the paint for ceremonies, they make the paint with cow fat that lasts much longer. Glad they didn't do that for us. The women got a much more intricate design than the boys did. None of us were thinking all that much about sun screen because the morning was cold and partly cloudy so most of us had not applied sun screen to our faces before the paint. That was a huge mistake because i got a bad burn outlining the paint. Who knows how long ill look like this.
Off for a 30 minute walk into the bush, we got to the top off a cliff with a beautiful overlook of Massai land, a bit swamp, a large Massai village, and lots of farm animals. We took a few photos then the worst part of my day began.
As we walked, a few Massai men brought up cooking supplies and a coat up to the top. For lunch, we were slaughtering the goat and eating this. Obviously, I would not take part. Although I was the only vegetarian, a few other girls and I sat overlooking the view, put our headphones in to listen to music so we could not hear the screams of the goat. They killed the goat then drank the blood, a tradition a few people took part in. Again, I did not participate (despite my Facebook status...that was a joke). Some of the ladies and I cut up veggies for the salad.
We relaxed in the shade and got to know each other. When the food was ready, I pulled out my apple and power bar that I brought with me, knowing we would be eating goat for lunch. They also had ugali, a corn startchy-food.
After lunch we got a question and answer period with one of the Massai men. They told us of their culture and traditions. The boys grow up shepherds the girls grow up at home with their mothers. For the boys, in their late teen years, go off into the wild for about 6-7 years to become men. To become a warrior, you must hunt and kill a lion during those years and when you return, you are a man and ready for marriage. For girls, at a young age of 9ish, they are picked by an older man to become his wife. She continues to live at home until 13 or 14 when she marries him. Despite these customs, the man only had one wife, although he did have that childhood. I asked him if he planned on having more than one wife and why his response was, "no," I asked why. He said he only wanted one wife because he is educated and although there are Massai people that still follow those traditions, including female genital mutilation, the number of people following these bad customs are declining because more and more people are being educated.
Now if was time for the burning. It's traditional for Massai men to get three burns on their arm or leg when they become men, and as tourists, they offered a little sneak peak for ourselves. They burn you by quickly rubbing together a stick against a flat piece of wood to create sparks and heat up the stick. Most people got three burns on their arm. I was very on the fence about getting a burn but last minute I decided to get only one just above my knee.
They showed us traditional dance in which they jump as high as they can. I was the only girl to get called on to jump. Then we got in a big circle and two people got in the middle. Whoever jumped higher gets first pick of one of the women standing in the circle.
Around 4:30 we started walking back to buy some jewellery the women make. For our final destination of the day, we headed to a school that was built by NVS volunteers so the Massai people can go to night school. These men just finished primary school and were about to start high school learning at the age of 28.
I used baby wipes to take the paint off my face and then everyone looked at my face and started laughing. I had a huge burn outlining the paint. Bad bad. Who knows how long ill have those lines on my face.
We got back on our piki-pikis, headed back to Gnong and eventually back to Nairobi.
About 15 of us volunteers met at the Junction at 7 am to get on a Mutatu (public bus) to Ngong to then, paired up, hopped on a piki-piki (motorcycle taxis) out to the Bush where the Massai people live. The Massai people are a unique tribe found mainly in Kenya but also in Tanzania. They are barely modernized and mostly keep to old traditions. They are known for their red dress and high jumping as a form of showing off.
The mutatu blasted reggae music. I can't even imagine blasting reggae on a public bus in the states, Israel, or any other place in the world. The music was so loud I felt like I was in a club. We then got to a town called Ngong, pronounced gong. We met up with a few motorcycle taxis, called piki-piki, that would take us into the bush, into Massai land! Now, these piki-pikis are terrifying. We sat two people plus a driver to a bike so we were all got very close by the end of the ride. Most of the drivers use a helmet, sometimes not. Us two passengers did not have a helmet (the program collected our insurance information before the trip). When the piki-pikis are only driving one person around town, the passenger is usually given a helmet if the driver has. Seems kind of unsafe, right? Well, it is. When I was in Rwanda, a sister of student living in the village died on one of these things. But, people die all the time in car crashes and I still get in a car, so off I went.
The ride was stunning. The view was beautiful! AND the biking was fun, a little scary at times, but fun - my friend and I couldn't stop laughing. After about a 45 minute ride we finally got to our destination.
Everyone was introduced, including the cow and her 4-hour old calf, and the 1000s of flies that were EVERYWHERE. They showed us their traditional home, a manyatta, that is about the size of my living room at home (probably a little smaller) that has the fire going, a kitchen, and 3 bedrooms, one for mom and two for the kids. The men often marry more than one wife and they all have their separate homes. The manyatta was dark and smokey, not sure how they live in there. We were then brought into a more modern building/room as we sat, drank tea, and enjoyed delicious chobati, a traditional Kenyan food. Chobati is like a mixture of a pancake and pita bread (without the pocket), similar to a scallion pancake without the scallions and just the bread part.
Back outside we got face painted with face paint made out of a special red dirt and water. They told us that when they really use the paint for ceremonies, they make the paint with cow fat that lasts much longer. Glad they didn't do that for us. The women got a much more intricate design than the boys did. None of us were thinking all that much about sun screen because the morning was cold and partly cloudy so most of us had not applied sun screen to our faces before the paint. That was a huge mistake because i got a bad burn outlining the paint. Who knows how long ill look like this.
Off for a 30 minute walk into the bush, we got to the top off a cliff with a beautiful overlook of Massai land, a bit swamp, a large Massai village, and lots of farm animals. We took a few photos then the worst part of my day began.
As we walked, a few Massai men brought up cooking supplies and a coat up to the top. For lunch, we were slaughtering the goat and eating this. Obviously, I would not take part. Although I was the only vegetarian, a few other girls and I sat overlooking the view, put our headphones in to listen to music so we could not hear the screams of the goat. They killed the goat then drank the blood, a tradition a few people took part in. Again, I did not participate (despite my Facebook status...that was a joke). Some of the ladies and I cut up veggies for the salad.
We relaxed in the shade and got to know each other. When the food was ready, I pulled out my apple and power bar that I brought with me, knowing we would be eating goat for lunch. They also had ugali, a corn startchy-food.
After lunch we got a question and answer period with one of the Massai men. They told us of their culture and traditions. The boys grow up shepherds the girls grow up at home with their mothers. For the boys, in their late teen years, go off into the wild for about 6-7 years to become men. To become a warrior, you must hunt and kill a lion during those years and when you return, you are a man and ready for marriage. For girls, at a young age of 9ish, they are picked by an older man to become his wife. She continues to live at home until 13 or 14 when she marries him. Despite these customs, the man only had one wife, although he did have that childhood. I asked him if he planned on having more than one wife and why his response was, "no," I asked why. He said he only wanted one wife because he is educated and although there are Massai people that still follow those traditions, including female genital mutilation, the number of people following these bad customs are declining because more and more people are being educated.
Now if was time for the burning. It's traditional for Massai men to get three burns on their arm or leg when they become men, and as tourists, they offered a little sneak peak for ourselves. They burn you by quickly rubbing together a stick against a flat piece of wood to create sparks and heat up the stick. Most people got three burns on their arm. I was very on the fence about getting a burn but last minute I decided to get only one just above my knee.
They showed us traditional dance in which they jump as high as they can. I was the only girl to get called on to jump. Then we got in a big circle and two people got in the middle. Whoever jumped higher gets first pick of one of the women standing in the circle.
Around 4:30 we started walking back to buy some jewellery the women make. For our final destination of the day, we headed to a school that was built by NVS volunteers so the Massai people can go to night school. These men just finished primary school and were about to start high school learning at the age of 28.
I used baby wipes to take the paint off my face and then everyone looked at my face and started laughing. I had a huge burn outlining the paint. Bad bad. Who knows how long ill have those lines on my face.
We got back on our piki-pikis, headed back to Gnong and eventually back to Nairobi.
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