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Published: September 20th 2007
My good friend Paulo, sitting next to a slaughtered goat, in his full Maasai gear, scooping out the blood with both hands, and drinking it, with blood all over his face and hands. I think I'm comfortable with it now but, at the time, you can imagine how shocked I was.
I'm really running out of time here in Tanzania but wanted to update you on my weekend and pretty much everything in general because I think it may be longer than usual before I can update you again. It is my last day at school tomorrow so we're having a wee party. I am then going back to Mama Daudi's house for dinner, before leaving for Zanzibar very early Saturday morning (for a nice wee holiday). I get back from Zanzibar next Saturday night and leave for Uganda Sunday night (or Monday morning, 3am).
My weekend in 'Maasaini' was incredible. So many uncomfortable experiences but at the same time so many amazing ones (which far outnumbered the bad parts).
The journey to Paulo's home ended up being a dala dala into town, followed by a dala dala to Longido (2 hours), followed by a landrover (yep -
it wasn't lost in translation), for another hour, to Paulo's home. As soon as we got on that second dala dala - the one to Longido - we were very aware of the fact we were of to 'Maasailand'! We were sat opposite a very traditional Maasai couple, dressed in their full garb, with the lady breastfeeding her Maasai dressed baby, and them making many comments on the fact we have arm hair. I actually got really travel sick (not the best roads and a packed full dala dala) and almost passed out just before we arrived in Longido. We got off the dala dala and I felt like I was in a dream or something because there were just Maasai everywhere. The landrover (like I said - not lost in translation), was like an open topped truck in back. We were worried we wouldn't get on it before it left but of course, this is African time, so I'm not sure what we were worried for. We left Longido a few hours later, with about 30 people in this thing, all packed in amongst farming equipment, alcohol, big bags of sugar and boxes of soap. We were sitting to
Lawessa being fed her fresh goat's milk
...by the mum of Paulo's friend Isayah (who also hangs out at our house), with Lawessa's mum (Paulo's sister-in-law) in backgroundstart with, with Maasai guys standing over us with their shukas blowing in the wind. Slightly surreal?! The questions as to whether or not they wear their shukas as Scottish men wear their kilts remains unanswered.
Anyway, carrying on.....we were suddenly off roading. We stood up after a while and saw giraffe and gazelle! We were dropped off in the apparent middle of nowhere (pitch black at this point). I still have no idea how Paulo knew where to ask the vehicle to stop. Maybe a tree was a landmark or something. We found ourselves in the pitch black, in the middle of nowhere, with Paulo saying 'I have lost the road to my home' (very seriously). Actually, there was no road (this was confirmed in the a.m.). We then bumped into two random Maasai guys on the 'street', and stopped while Paulo chatted for a while. We eventually found his home, and were welcomed in through the entrance, which was a hole in the headge with lots of thorns used for a gate. We were greeted by lots of children (who bowed their heads to us). We were welcomed into a home (which turned out to be the
home of Paulo's older brother's wife and kids), which was pitch black, full of smoke from the fire and extremely hot. We were fed ugali (my favorite) and lots of tea (made very milky and sweet). Paulo changed into his traditional Maasai clothes. We slept on cow skin and, at some point in the middle of the night, found ourselves having to use the 'toilet' and looking up to find ourselves surrounded by cattle with a big bull staring at us.
The next day we were fed gallons of milky tea followed by rice (made with milk). We met baby Lawessa (adorable) - son of Paulo's brother and his wife. We also met Neema - Paulo's child with his first wife (turns out he has 2). Neema had flies sitting all over her eyes but we couldn't figure out why because none of the other kids did. We were taken on a walk through the surrounding area (I'm not even sure how to describe it but we were basically in themiddle of nowhere in an environment simmilar to the serengeti). We found out that the trees(Sagararam trees) that you see in so many pictures of Africa, are used by
the Maasai to feed their goats. They use long poles to shake the trees so that pea-pod looking things fall down. We were also shown a little hut where Paulo and his brothers and father go every July to eat meat for the whole month (1 cow and 10 goats each). Perfectly normal weekend so far right?!
We stayed with Paulo's brother's wife and kids for the weekend. Paulo pretty much disappeared and left us on our own (until the last night when he introduced us to one of his wives). His brother (who happens to be called Longido) and his wife were really great hosts though, and took really good care of us.
I'll get onto the main event of the weekend that will no doubt stay in our minds forever. The goat-eating part of it. Like I said before - Paulo drinking the blood.....I knew Maasai did this but why oh why would I assume that they would use cups?! Why wait right??! Amy and myself sat with Paulo while he carefully skinned the goat (so that his mum could sell the skin at the market) and started opening it up. It was just him and
his dad at this point (because it was Paulo's goat). As soon as the insides (all of them) were out, his dad and himself started popping things into their mouths. Red unidentifiable balls, and blood in general. At this point, Amy and I were sent off to see Paulo's mum to 'get our gifts'. His mum made us little ankelets (one for each foot), and fitted them onto us. One thing I didn't know is that they take apart those big straw bags and use the straw as the base for their jewellry. Anyway, we both love our gifts, and they will definitely remind us of this weekend!
A short time later, we were called back to the meat hut (and it truly is a separate hut that they use). To be honest, I felt like I was surrounded by cavemen. The women don't take part in this event but Amy and I were there, as Paulo's guests. Not sure if you could possible imagine the scene but it was Paulo, his big brother, dad and granddad, sitting with their shukas hanging between their legs, eating this meat (including sucking bone marrow out). We were actually served lovely charcoal-grilled
goat, in bite sized pieces. I think I told you I became vegetarian but this was probably the best meat I've ever tasted.
It then all went terribly wrong. I'm not sure why we didn't contemplate the fact that the innards would have to be eten also. I am finding this difficult to write because I feel like what I'm about to write about may be coming back up to my throat again. For dinner, how would fancy EVERYTHING inside the goat, boiled with rice? I particularly enjoyed the small intestine, not chopped up. Let me remind you that, all the while, we were trying to act extremely grateful that we had the privelige of eating this stuff. Also, 'kidogo' in Swahili no longer means small. Amy and I were subtly comparing body parts and trying to make intelligent guesses.
I (and be very proud of me right now) managed to eat everything except for an unidentifiable tubular shaped thing that I was unable to cut down to a size that I would be able to swallow whole. I felt extremely meat sick afterwards and, the one time when I really wanted it, I was not offered tea.
I have to say though, we had some wonderful times. We managed to see a lot of giraffes by following our Maasai friends, and following the foot prints. Each night we went out with the brothers to collect the cattle, saw amazing sunsets, and gathered with the family back at the boma. It is really nice the way they gather every evening. They bring the cattle, sheep and goats in, round them all up, all the women come out aswell and they basically just make sure all the animals are there, and the women collect fresh goats milk for their tea the next day (or rice or whatever else they decide to put milk in).
These stories don't do the weekend justice at all but this has taken me so long to write already. I'm going to try and put a couple of pics up. It was an amazing experience I will never forget. It's funny because even though, when we first arrived, everything seemed so surreal, the life was easy to get used to. The tiny houses seemed cosy, and everything is so simple. If I'm back in Tanzania, I will definitely be going back to visit
my friends there.
Back to the school - party tomorrow! I told one of the older girls - Zulpha - that we were having a party, and she looked at me (completely serious) and told me I was a liar. I hope they will all be really happy tomorrow. We have balloons, a lucky dip (a present and a sweet for everyone), music (courtesy of a fellow volunteers ipod speakers), and half cake and cola (half cake is kind of like a donut, and the cola is powdered mix). I can't wait to see their reactions.
Ok - off for now. Hope to be able to update you within the next few weeks. I may be in Uganda next time!
Take care,
joanna x
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Shawn Conrad
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Loves Me Some Goat
The next time I cannot figure out what to make for dinner I will go with goat. All of it. I am unsure if Iowa Meat Farms sells this, but I can always head out to the Ramona area for fresh goat.