Kenya3

A Maasai Village

The Maasai chief...

The Maasai chief...

...inherited his position, although he had not gone to school himself. His younger brother, who had gone to school, taught English to the chief. The chief did not think that Maasai ways would change, even though the outside world was changing.

At the same time, all the children in the village, including the girls, were going to school. We nodded silently when he expressed his belief that twenty or fifty years from now his tribe's way of life would be as it is today.

Although the chief told us that no Maasai had HIV, this midwife told us that surgical gloves were the most important medical supplies for her.

The Maasai live in huts of wattle and dried dung. There is a small fire for cooking, and a small opening for ventilation. Inside, it's dark and smoky. Outside, people and animals use the same spaces and the ground is muddy and dirty.

I was left with sense that the Maasai are a noble, proud people, but that time has passed them by and there are better ways to live. I don't know if the Maasai can expect to be welcomed into the modern world, or not. The chief may be right to hope that nothing changes for them. If nothing changes then nothing will get worse, as it has for most herding and hunter-gatherer societies that have come into contact with 'civilization'.

"You are most welcome!"
Americans for UNFPA East African Leadership Safari August 2005

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Americans for UNFPA
Jim Cowan

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A Maasai Village
One of our drivers had family close to the Mara Sopa lodge and arranged a visit to this Maasai village.
Maasai culture is rooted in tradition - the men raise cattle and the women do everything else. Children are initiated into adulthood in their early teens - girls may be married at that age, female circumcision is still practiced - boys become warriors and, after traditional rites of passage involving stealing cattle from other tribes or killing lions (with spears) that are themselves stealing cattle, the boys become elders.

An elder

A Maasai warrior

The Maasai chief...
...inherited his position, although he had not gone to school himself. His younger brother, who had gone to school, taught English to the chief. The chief did not think that Maasai ways would change, even though the outside world was changing.
At the same time, all the children in the village, including the girls, were going to school. We nodded silently when he expressed his belief that twenty or fifty years from now his tribe's way of life would be as it is today.

Although the chief told us that no Maasai had HIV, this midwife told us that surgical gloves were the most important medical supplies for her.

The Maasai live in huts of wattle and dried dung. There is a small fire for cooking, and a small opening for ventilation. Inside, it's dark and smoky. Outside, people and animals use the same spaces and the ground is muddy and dirty.
I was left with sense that the Maasai are a noble, proud people, but that time has passed them by and there are better ways to live. I don't know if the Maasai can expect to be welcomed into the modern world, or not. The chief may be right to hope that nothing changes for them. If nothing changes then nothing will get worse, as it has for most herding and hunter-gatherer societies that have come into contact with 'civilization'.

Kenya: 3 of 4 pages

(c) James Cowan
2005