Time with the Maasai: Lachlan, Eva and Sasha Report

To view photos of our visit to the Maasai village of Monduli, click here
or go to: http://picasaweb.google.ca/crrfraser/Maasai

Lachlan’s report:

On the 28^th of February, I went to a Maasai boma. My guide’s name was Jonathan and our cook was named Alfred. The children had a lot of flies on their faces, in their eyes and up their noses.

I dressed up as a Maasai, we went to get water and we saw elephant tracks. When I dressed up as a Maasai I put one cloth on one shoulder and another cloth on the other shoulder. My brother played soccer with his ball.

We ate soup, avocado with a vegetable salad and beef. We slept in a big tent with sleeping bags.

Eva’s report:

On Feb the twenty eighth and ninth we were at a Maasai Boma (village)! The driver and Abbas (our friend) came to pick us up at Kilema , then we went to Moshi to get our cook and then we left for Monduli. Monduli is a big collection of bomas. Once we got there, all the Maasai gathered in front of us and started to speak with us.

All the little Maasai children had many flies on them and my dad said it was because they are in the smoke a lot and that makes them get runny noses which the flies love.

After they spoke with us for awhile, the Maasai showed us their houses and the pens where they keep their cattle. Mom was mostly talking with a girl, probably fourteen, who had very good English. There were two really old grandmas who were opening bean pods, then taking the beans out and putting them into a bowl. They had many pods left so we all helped, even the three year old!

We brought out the soccer ball when we first arrived and Sasha was playing the whole time with many Maasai boys, who were not herding their bomas’ cattle the way they should have been. Lockie and I went to play and when we came back Mom was already dressed in thick blue fabric tied into a dress and a mostly white big necklace. My mom wanted me to get dressed as a Maasai so a Maasai mama took me into her house and tied me in a red cloth as well as a purple and red checkered cloth. She also taught me a dance that the women do with a five or six inch necklace.

I don’t think the dance had a name but what you do is bounce up and down with your feet on the ground and when you come up you make your shoulders come up too, which makes the necklace come up, hit your chin then come back down again. Later on we went to a hill and my favourite thing I saw were the cows on the other hills that looked like they were going to slide right off!

Later that evening the leader of the boma told us about Maasai natural medicines. Then they danced for us and built a bonfire and jumped over it. There was a cute little boy who looked about six months old and he ran away from his mom to join the dance. He was really funny!!

The next morning when we were in the small crater, a few little girls came. They loved my hair and they gave Sasha about fifty high fives! We were all set so we started our three hour drive to Moshi.

Sasha’s report:

Recently my family and I went to a Maasai village near Arusha. When we arrived there we were in a crater. It was about two kilometers across, with a watering hole at the far left hand side.

When there, we did a lot of interesting activities. On the first day we got to know the Maasai and I dressed up as a Maasai. I learned that they wear two blankets tied in a knot at a top corner. Then they wrap the two blankets around themselves. When I dressed up, I was wearing blue-purple cloth but usually they wear red- orange pattern.

On the second day, Eva and my mom went to get water and firewood. Lachlan, dad and I went to herd cattle and goats. Later that morning we met a Maasai called Jackson. He had an old golf club and he and my dad hit golf balls. Imagine that, a Maasai owning a golf club!

When we returned to the boma, I played soccer with the Maasai children and luckily my team won 9-8. As I returned home, all the kids started coming out to say hello. When I looked at them, they were coughing and flies were swarming them. I think the flies were swarming them because their noses were running from all the smoke they breathe in their homes. My other guess is that their houses were made out of dry cow dung (poo) and the flies would like the dung.

In the afternoon, I played soccer again with the children and I decided to give them my soccer ball, so I gave it to the village leader to share with everybody. Then I jumped into our jeep to head back to Moshi.

I think that my time with the Maasai was a great experience because I got to see how they really live.