A Visit With The Maasai

Ok……today was the most amazing day ever.

Whenever we travel we always try to find some way to give back and we found this organization called One Horizon who does amazing work with the people of Kenya. We booked a tour with Intrepid Urban Adventures Nairobi and booked the In Focus: A day in the life of the Maasai. This was definitely a life changing experience and one neither of us will ever forget.

They picked us up at 9:00 and we met our driver Paul. We also had the pleasure to be joined by the executive director of One Horizon, Colin Murray. He founded this organization in Cairo, extended it to Johannesburg and then in Nairobi.

We had an hour drive out to the home of the family we would spend the day with. We drove through many small towns on the way. We saw plenty of cows, goats, chickens, donkeys, and dogs wandering freely. We didn’t see any of the big five on our journey but we did see quite a few baboons. Lions, cheetahs and hyenas were found up in the hills of the area we visited. Not seeing any of them was not a big deal, plenty of safaris ahead to see them. Today was all about the Maasai.

We stopped along the road to get a glimpse from above where the family lived.

One of the things we learned is that progress has started to change some of the traditions of the Maasai. Many families still live in ransitioned to metal homes as seen in the picture above.

When we arrived we were met by the family we would bpend the day with. Emmanuel the son {o the left}, his mother Rispa and his father Daniel.

We shook hands with Daniel and his some but Rispa greeted us with a kiss on each cheek.

We were told that when we were greeted by a youngster who had not reached adulthood we should lay our hands on their head. Never shaking their hands. As lowering their head is a sign of respect.

Daniel and Rispa have five children, three girls who are all married, Emmanuel and a younger son who is still in school.

They are a beautiful family and were extremely welcoming. Daniel is the family leader, his father is 90 and suffering from dementia and is declining in health.

Daniel and Rispa have been married for over 30 years. The Maasai practice polygamy and often have up to five wives but Daniel chose to have only one wife.

They live in the native Inkajijik which are made of mud, sticks, grass and cow dung. We were invited into one of the huts and it was surprisingly cool. The homes are only built by the women and need constant work to keep them together and water tight.

The one above is the one we were invited into where Daniel shared stories of the Maasai culture, describing polygamy, class structure, marriage rituals and many other stories. Many marriages are prearranged but Daniel believes in letting his sons find their own wife.

A few pics of Daniel that we like.

Emanuel is 25 years old and is not married which is very uncommon for the Maasai men. His father has given him 3 more years before he steps in and finds him a wife. Emmanuel seems very content with his life the way it is. I guess time will tell what happens next. He shared stories of growing up and his path to manhood. Boys go through a ritual to become men usually around 12 or 13.

When their father thinks they are ready they are sent to the hills with nothing but a spear. They live there for a few days and must bring back a kill. After the kill, all the boys are stripped naked and lie down next to each other on the ground. This is where each male is circumcised which made us both cringe. He said when they do this, the boy cannot flinch at all. Not even a blink or slight movement. They must be perfectly still otherwise they will be considered a coward. One really sad story we heard is that they also practice female circumcision. More and more younger women are not having it done but we were told quite often the elder women will do the circumcising during childbirth and they won’t realize it is happening due to birthing pain.

Here are a few pics of Emmanuel.

I loved these sandals Emmanuel was wearing that were made using tires.

We were invited down into the valley to have a snack with the family. The snacks were brought by our tour guide and included coffee, bananas and Mundazi which is a fried dough. The diet of the Maasai is beef, blood and blood mixed with milk. The mixture to them is similar to our yogurt. They perform blood letting of the cows to get the blood and use a cow dung mixture to help heal the cut. And NO we did not try it.

After eating, Rispa shared her story with us. She was born in Tanzania and her mother was in a very abusive marriage so they fled Tanzania with nothing to start a new life. Rispa was originally promised to a very old man but she said fortunately for her he died before they were married. Then she met Daniel and the rest is history.

We were also given the opportunity to make our own beaded bracelets. It is a very tedious process in my opinion and we now have an appreciation of the work that is put into making these beautiful pieces. Here is our finished product

Before we left we asked if they had any jewelry for sale so of course we had to get some. The prices were amazing but what was more important was that we were helping them sustain their way of life directly. We got a Maasai Shuka, 4 wrist bracelets, a key chain we will use as a Christmas ornament, and a 3 tiered necklace. The black wrist bracelet was a gift from Rispa.