Naiti Village and the surrounding environment epitomize a true East African experience. From the sunsets, bountiful stars at night, acaia aka Lion King trees (sp?) trees, bright colors of the Masaai clothing, there is beauty everywhere. I just got back from five days and four nights in Naiti Village. I had the experience of a lifetime. The extremely awesome/challgening/eyeopening experience has laid a strong foundation for the upcoming weeks. I am so glad that I started my nine weeks of in the village because I now feel ready for anything that comes my way.
The village is about an hour and half ride from Arusha on a dala-dala, a very crammed, taxi shuttle, and then a 30 minute walk into the bush from the road. On our way we walked through many villages of Lalahe's neighbors. It was a truly an adventure to be completely an outsider, in terms of appearance and language. Of all the people that i met all of them spoke Masaai, some spoke Swahili and three out of them spoke English.
The whole week I felt as if I was under a microscope, my every move was watched wherever I went. By the second day it was notable how much more comfortable the village felt about my visit. The girls began touching my hair, holding my hands and they ALWAYS wanted their pictures taken (hence the 900 pictures I took in 5 days of being there!) I felt the language barrier alot when I first arrived but as the days went on I learned some Swahili and started communicating through body language.
We did not end up getting a tent which turned out to be a blessing in the end. I told Lalahe that I was comfortable sleeping in the women's hut, each Masaai woman has their own hut for her and her children, the man rotates huts depending on how many wives he has. Mama (the head of the hut I slept in) offered me her bed to share. In the Masaai culture, you share everything. I told Lalahe I was happy to sleep on the ground in my sleeping bag and after he relayed the message to her, she responded that she would then sleep with me on the ground. This was the first moment that I realized that anything and everything that was offered to me during the week I had to accept, no exceptions. So Mama, her baby and I slept together every night. Falling asleep looking at the intricate designs on the ceiling was spectacular. So much detail in every part of hut design.
The roosters began crowing promptly at 3 am every morning and continued until about 6:30 when I would get out of bed and wander into the bush to find a bathroom. Every morning I had tea with Lalahe, his brothers and some elders. I always had meals outside with the men while the women stayed in their hut for meal time.
One of the biggest challenges was overcoming the urge to swat the swarming flies away. It is Masaai tradition to let them be, their relationship with nature is extremely important. They swarm everywhere especially while we were drinking tea or eating.
Lalahe's school project is amazing. So far, he has established three schools in three different areas- I taught at that school very close Lalahe's village. The classroom is extremely basic, a hut made of wood without walls so the children became cold very easily. All the kids sat on rocks and many did not have excercise books. There is one chalkboard that is starting to fall apart with the sun beating down on it all day long. The chidlren are between 5 and 7 and they are absolutely adorable! Whenever Sarah, the teacher, or myself spoke they listenly tentatively and tried really hard to copy down the letters from the board or answer our questions. The school needs a lot of help to buy more supplies and establish better school buildings. Lalahe hopes to bring in many more volunteers so please let me know if you'd be interested in this incredible opportunity.
Every afternoon after lunch we would wander around the surrounding area and visit Lalahe's friends and family in other villages. We visited his parent's village, he is currently staying at his aunt and uncle's village, for lunch on Tuesday after school. HIs mother, Mama Baba, is one of three wives and has nine chidlren. She was wonderful! She probably made the biggest effort to reach out to me out of any woman that I met in the village. She made us a wonderful lunch of tea, and maize and beans. After lunch we sat in the huts and then wandered a little. Mama welcomed me into her hut "Karibu sana!" and she offered me some porridge (very thick, tasted like sour milk :( and being a visitor I had to drink the extra large mugful. She recognized that I was trying to learn Swahili so she would point to things and teach me. She put up newspaper articles about sports icons on the wall of her hut as decoration- I really want to print some of the pictures I took of her family and get them to her.
While we were in Lalahe's parents' village I learned that his father offered a sheep to slaughter in Charlie and I's honor. All the men were talking about the prospect of having meat that night. The next morning I was welcomed into the "slaughter hut" where they introduced me to the grown up Godi and then asked if I wanted to watch. They wanted pictures of me and the sheep to document the slaughter (oh god). All the elders sat in a circle watching my reaction to the whole event. I left the hut and came back to watch them completely dissect and cook every single part of the animal. They poured the blood out of the head and boiled it. I had no idea what they were going to use it for until they took out that same extra large mug and I knew that I had to drink it. Honestly, it tasted like soup but was so hard to get down. I stopped drinking for a little and Lalahe told me to keep on going because they were watching so I drank it quickly. After that they took out machetes and began handing me what seemed like endless meat. After the meat was eaten they took some of the fat, extra blood and mixed it with their "local medicine" (according to Lalahe it can cure antying from a headache to a sour stomach) and made this "soup" which they considered one of the greatest delicacies. I was offered a mugful of the soup and drank it very quickly. Later that night I started feeling very weird- lightheaded, dizzy, little loopy and drowsy. Lalahe asked me if I was takign malaria tablets and when I told him I was he said that the soup mixed with Western medicine is not a good combination so that explained my halluecinagenic state!
Respect for elders and respect for nature are two of the guiding principles of the Masaai cultulre. The Masaai use their environment for every problem that arises. They use all local trees and plants for medicine, rely on livestock for subsistence and respect every living being. To become a man in Masaai culture the young boys, aroudn the age of 12, must hunt a lion. Loleku, one of Lalahe's best friends, walked me through the process. They go out into the bush and form a semi circle where they sing and dance and entice the lion. Once of the lion enters the semi circle one of the boys throws his spear which draws the lion towards him, then a second one throws it, and so on. The boy who first throws his spear is regarded with great prestige. When bad fortune strikes the village, such as an unexpected drought in rainy season or a bad maize crop, they sacrifice a goat in bring good luck.
The women and men essentially live in two different spheres. The women do all the housework and cookign and the men all the work outside and it appeared that the elder men do not do much at all. I spotted many of them with vodka shots, which come in little ketchup like packets, stumbling aruond the village- pretty hilarious. The children look out for each other amazignly well- the young children carry their infant siblings around and always help their mother's with all the work. It was pretty adorable watching their little community amongst the parents and grandparents.
We got back to Arusha yesterday and I took the longest shower of my life. Through the five days I was there I did not bathe at all and was caked in dirt. I decided after about thirty minutes to stay in Arusha for two nights at the Arusha Backpackers instead of one. I've been moving around alot and the idea of staying somewhere for two nights was too good to pass up. My friend Ben has a friend living here this summer, Julia, and she met me last night and decided to stay with me at the hostel for two nights. It was wonderful to be able to have dinner and talk with an American girl after the week. We had alot of fun catching up and sharing our different African experiences. She is going to be in Tanzania for the summer working at an NGO in town, called Shonga. Lalahe is coming to meet me soon and we're going to visit her at work.
I'm still figuring out this whole blog process and I apoligize if this entry is extremely scatter brained. It is hard to recount 6 days worth of excitement! I'll write when I'm back in Nairobi tomorrow night...
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