Africa - Part 4: Masai Tribe Life Aug 28-Sept 13

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I left civilization behind for 16 days, headed out into the bush of Northern Tanzania, & experienced the life of an african villager in a Masai tribe, including rituals, eating habits, work, and a ceremony I‘ll never forget.



People in Isaya’s boma:

Isaya – my host, a 29 year old male Masai warrior.

Somebeti: Isaya’s mom, age 63.

Ndukai: Isaya’s dad, 70.

2 other couples, and 5 children.



I have to admit, I was a little anxious about this at first. In my head I had formed images of what the village might look like – a group of 30-50 houses & a community of people living next to eachother. Would they be friendly & open to my presence? Would I be safe at night in my tent? Or would they plan to rob me? I had no idea, but trusted Luka, who assured me by telephone that I would be safe.

Luka (the brother of Victor, the man I met on a bus on July 23rd) is a tour guide who works in the area of Longido Mountain, where a Masai village lives. The Masai tribe is Tanzania’s biggest & most famous tribe, living off the land with the bare minimum for thousands of years, with very unique habits & traditions. Luka told me that I would be staying with the family of a young Masai warrior named “Isaya“ who can speak english. I chose to do this because I wanted to experience the struggles of living in poverty in Africa. I asked to go to a place where there are no roads, nor electricity, garbage, technology, or development. The fact that it was also a Masai tribe was, to me, a bonus.



August 28: The bus from Arusha got me to Longido by about 11. At 11:30 I met Luka and Isaya, a tall Masai warrior wearing blue & orange robes & plastic jewellry. He had big holes in his ears, a gap where his two lower front teeth once were, a large knife at his waist, motorcycle tire shoes, and a tall stick in his hand which he used to carve his name into the sand – “ISAYA“

The 3 of us walked for 45 minutes through a sandy landscape with occasional bushes, trees, & gorges. There were thorns everywhere , one jabbed into my foot every 2 minutes. “I guess I’ll cope with that for the next couple weeks,“ I thought.

Isaya was pretty talkative. He studied english in 2005 in Arusha after selling nearly all his livestock. He is 29 years old and wants to be a tour guide rather than follow the traditional route of a Masai warrior. “My boma is that way“, he told me. I was expecting a neighbourhood full of people & houses, probably waiting to greet me with the chief of the village. Instead there were 3 houses inside of a wall of thornbushes (that’s a boma) and a few children & women doing housework. A group of goats was at the center , surrounded by thornbushes. My arrival drew no more attention than the usual greetings of a guest. It was a relief to have a quiet arrival. There are 13 people in Isaya‘s boma. I met his mom,Somebeti, and dad, Ndukai, who I gave $35 to as a sort of entry fee. Isaya’s sister in law, Naipa invited us for tea at her house. I stepped through the little doorway and found myself in a dark small room. The entire house was just a bit bigger than my own bedroom, and smelled of smoke from the fire where tea was cooking.



MASAI CEREMONY

Isayas village has about 20 bomas, and today just happened to be the day of a Masai ceremony for this village. So we walked about 20 minutes to the ceremony, where men were gathering in one area to eat food, and women in another. “The Masai men fear to eat meat in front of the women“, Isaya told me. “And always share their plate with another friend.“ Then I was offered some of the food, which was mostly rice, but a bit of goat and patato. Isaza & I shared the plate and used our hands for eating. Then he took me inside a house to meet some women and elders of the tribe. I was able to communicate in only a few simple sentences, but it was nice to have something to say.

Outside, the Masai men began to gather into circles. They began bobbing their heads & bodies in sync with eachother while making grunting noises that sounded like a primative chant. One man blew a horn as they chanted, and there was another who shouted in a high pitched voice from the center of the group, what Isaya said was instructions to the group. Some of them waved their sticks up in the air, and occasionally someone would scream in a woman’s voice. It was a very intense energy they had created. I felt drawn in by the whole atmosphere; I wanted to see the ritual. Then they took turns jumping in the middle of the circle with their sticks in their hands. Some of them jumped really high, and made a sound I can only describe as “ch-ch-chh, ch-ch-chh, ch-ch-chh“. The women also gathered around the circle and bobbed their heads up and down with the chanting. They were wearing large earings and wide disks around their necks that looked like friesbies. Some had painted faces, and some were smiling. As if all this weren’t intense enough, a few men had to be dragged by their arms out of the circle to an empty space away from the crowd. They had rigid legs & arms, as if frozen in a siezure. They seemed semi-conscious or not consious at all, and were making barking noises with every bit of effort and gasping for air. Gradually there were more and more of them being dragged out on their ankles... Isaya told me that “when they take tree roots from the mountain, boil them, and drink the water, their behaviour changes, and their bodies vibrate. Then afterwards the body will be cleansed and cured of diseases. The Masai people understand the trees, and the herbal medicine cures malaria and even aids.“

I looked around at the whole scene and all the people in this Masai ceremony, and thought, “This could’ve been my life. I could’ve been born to this village and in this tribe. Then all this would seem normal, and I wouldn’t know the things I know now. My view of reality would be limited to this environment, and so would my picture of myself. The life of a Masai warrior would be everything to me.“

As the village continued their ceremony into the night Isaya & I returned to his boma before the sunset, set up my tent outside his parents house,and cooked some quinoa that I brought from home. I had been plannning to eat my own meals, (I brought oil, peanut butter, quinoa, and maple syrup) but it looks like they have enough food for me to eat with them. Isaya reassured me that I would be safe through the night, “Masai people are very peaceful.“ Isaya sleeps in a different boma with a friend every night, leaving me here alone with his parents who speak absolutely no english. I am separated from the wolderness bz a wall of thorn bushes. But it worked out every night, I slept like a baby every time till the sunlight lit up the sky at 6:30am.



MASAI ACTIVITIES

Aug 29-Sept 12: This was the routine of Masai life for Isaya & myself. It was valuable for me to see how they work, and what sort of activities keep them busy.

Every morning at around 6:50, the goats began to cry out to be fed, and Somebeti would come out of the house first, followed by the children and everybody else to milk the goats. I helped.

Then Isaya, Ndukai & I would sit on some firewood chairs & wait for the children to bring us tea from the goats milk. Meanwhile a 13 year old boy named Kiro would take the adult goats – about 90 of them – to be fed in an area of trees near the mountain.

After tea, Isaya & I moved on to whatever our main activity of the day was. Usually we’d drag a 20 foot stick a few kilometers out to meet Kiro & help him feed the goats. When we arrived, Isaya would use the long stick to pull on the tree branches, which would cause a shower of beans to fall to the ground. Immediately the goats would rush towards the sound of the beans. Whenever the goats were going in the wrong direction, Kiro & I would whip them with sticks, or just throw sticks, or donkey poo, or whatever we could reach, at them to guide them. Every 3 days Kiro takes the goats up the mountain for water. Isaya & I took showers & washed our clothes while we were up the mountain (on both Mondays of mz visit). We scooped water from a puddle very slowly so as not to disturb the dirt at the bottom. The journey up and down the mountain, plus taking the goats to drink water & showering, took about 6 hours. Ocassionally we would see wild animals like rabbits, snakes, and girraffes. Isaya was always first to spot anything unusual, and could read tracks very well.

I learned that Masai people depend entirely on their animals for survival and income. In 2009 there was a drought that killed all the cows in Isaya’s boma, so now all they have is goats. Every 2 weeeks they sell a goat for 60,000 shillings – about $40. That’s 12 human beings living on $40 for two weeks.

Sometimes Isaya & I walked to Longido town to buy groceries. This was very important for me to see where they get their food from, and now I know that this Masai village is largely dependednt on Longido town for food and other materials. We were able to buy 45 kg of cornflour for $12, which lasts 2 weeks. And some beans and green leafy veggetables. The $40 budget was quickly half spent.

On our first visit to town we took a bus to the Tanzanian/Kenyan border, walked into Kenya, and bought me a pair of motorcycle tire shoes, which are better suited for the terrain, not to mention awesome. Later, Isaya used my knife to remodel the shoes to fit me better. He was always checking up on me and asking if everything’s ok. So considerate. Sometimes he would see me fascinated by something and say “Wow, you’re wonderful.“ I dont think he was calling me wonderful, but pointing out that I was‘full of wonder‘.

Masai men take turns living in caves on Longido Mountain for several weeks, and Isaya & I made 2 trips to visit them. While thez are there thez drink mainlz the medicine of tree roots, and eat meat from their animals. On the second day we visited them they slaughtered a goat by choking it to death, and then carved it for food. I was ‘wonderful‘ when a guy reached into the gut, pulled out a kidney, and took a bite out of it. As for me, I had some cooked goat. They also showed us where they sleep – under a rock face that creates a small cave. There were beds with leaves for matresses, paintings on the wall, and a stack of spears. Isaya told me that Masai people don’t fear lions because they have spears. When they walk with the goats or cows through the wilderness, even one teenage Masai can protect the herd from lions. I saw some cow meat sitting in layers of leaves to help keep it fresh. It had a strong smell, but would stay edible for 3 days like that. And in a corner was a fire with a pot of water next to it, and pieces of wood. ''That is the medicine of tree roots,'' Isaya said, taking the pot up to his lips and having a sip. “You want to try?'' Isaya asked. I tried a few sips.

Every 2-3 days, Somebeti goes to fetch water with a donkey and some buckets. Usually she walk is 3-4 hours, but when Isaya & I went with her, she didn’t want for me to walk the distance. So we went to a secondary school which has a water source and got permission to take water from them. Only she could get the water. I waited with the donkey, and Isaya went a little further to assist her when she came out. When she did, she had a band on her forehead attached to a bag on her back, carrying about 30 liters of water, which Isaya helped her with. Normally she does this on her own though, with or without donkeys. Somebeti works too hard. At age 63 she is up before 7:00, goes to bed around midnight, milks goats, cooks food, cleans dishes, walks to town for groceries, fetches water, collects firewood sometimes,repairs the house wall (with cement made from cow dung, ashes, and soil), and worked for days to make me some Masai souvineers. Ndukai on the other hand is 70 and he naps around the house all day.

Every evening Kiro would arrive with the goats at 6pm, and then there would be another race to milk the goats. Around 7:30pm we would have tea again, and dinner was usuallz ready to be eaten at 9:30 or 10, since it took so long to cook. Ducking through the small entrance and into a pitch black hallway, I’d walk a few steps till I could see thelight from the fireplace and Somebeti’s karosene candle. The Kitchen was always smokez when she cooked because there are few holes for the smoke to escape. Somebeti sat on a tin can as she cooked, or on her bed, which was right next to the fire. She & Ndukai would wait patiently for Isaya & I to eat first, since in Masai tradition you can’t eat with your parents. Ndukai waited outside on a blanket.



During my final days with Isaya’s family, I fasted for 4 days from all food. I’ve never done that before; it was a period for self reflection & praying, and to consider what it feels like to be hungry. I also went to Arusha with Isaya to buy him a cow. I kept my Masai attire on and everyone thought it was double crazy to find a foriegner dressed as a Masai. “Mzungu Masai'', some people said. Others stopped mid conversation to stare at me with jaws dropped as we walked by. Then we went to a Masai market place outside of Arusha and found a young pregnant cow for 500,000 shillings, about $350. I bought it, as well as some medicine & other gifts for his boma. I recieved great thanks from Isaya & his parents. Now I’m supposed to call Ndukai “Ndowu'', which means female cow, as a reminder of the gift of the cow to his family. It’s so big a deal to them that when it comes time to slaughter the cow years from now, they’ll have another family do it for them rather than witness the end of this cows life.

On my last night, I broke the fast with a great meal. In the morning we exchanged mutual thanks again, and Isaya’s parents welcomed me and my family to come back again for free. They mentioned several times throughout my stay that they want to meet and host my mom & dad. Maybe I’ll meet them again one day.

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