Mizungu in Masai Village

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We have made it out of the bush with all of our limbs. We had a great four days living with the Masai. The village was surrounded by giraffes, gazelle, antelope, baboons, and the scary cats that prowl in the night. We saw all the wildlife except for the Cheetahs and Leopards; lions have been out of the area for a long time now. All three of us were given Masai names, I Colin am Olumniak (lucky man), Craig Olishua (Gift from God), and Ari Niseiku (She is first). We laughed very hard at Craig's name as gift from god but sense he had so many presents to give it ended up being appropriate. For a man like Craig and I life in the village was nice and relaxed, Craig followed around the cattle for a couple hours and I followed around the goats and sheep. After that we had lunch and then lounged under the trees in the shade or played with the village kids. Ari had work to do. She was trapped in the smoke kitchen making our lunch then served it and did our dishes. She did jewelry work with the women and then back to the kitchen to prepare dinner. We were able to break her free once and awhile. Her eyes were always watery and from the smoke in the kitchen. We lived right along side them and Ari was a good sport in keeping to the female role in the village as not to be disrespectful. There were fifty giraffes that hung around near the village but as soon as you got close they would take off running. Same with antelope and gazelle only saw them from a distance. But the baboons we saw playing in the cliffs and then rummaging through the bush in search of pray in huge numbers. They looked like the monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. We visited the church in town which was far more exciting then any church I have ever seen, lots of dancing and jumping and praising to the heavens. The ceremony ran from 10am until dusk. We were there just a short time though. The family we stayed with were very friendly and welcoming. Jol and his brothers were quiet a crack up. Jol is an amazing runner. His 1500m time is 3:48, that is a four minute mile. The young kids constantly bombarded us with hugs and treats and loved to play games. The experience was very rewarding. We are now in the airport waiting to fly to Sudan, internet I believe will be non existant.

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