Trip To Kilosa: Day 3

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Day 3 was a busy day with interviews and discussion groups..

First interview was with a Masai woman, named Agnes. She has daughters of her own. In addition to her own kids, Agnes has taken in some nieces and nephews whose parents have passed away. She is one of the people at Parakuyo who believe that children need to have the facts given to them. She has sat down with each of the kids, explained everything to them, and has allowed them to make their own decisions when it comes to sex and sexuality.

The second interview was with a young man, named Kevin. He was orphaned approximately 6 years ago. His father refused to speak to him about the facts of life. Today, Kevin wishes that his father did. As he put it, “My father taught me so many things. I live my life by what he taught me because I can still hear his voice. I wish he spoke to me about sex, because that is how I would live my life. Now I am learning things from others, but they aren’t my father. I know that if my father had told me stuff, I would live by it, because he was my Dad and he wouldn’t lie to me.” (This is a paraphrase of what he said, after it was translated to me).

After our morning interviews with Agnes and Kevin, it was time for lunch…. Remember that goat I took a picture of yesterday… He was standing with the two Masai? Well, let’s just say he didn’t know it was the last picture anyone would take of him. In Masai culture, it is customary for them to sacrifice a goat when they are honoured to have guests visit them. Little did I know that they goat I was photographing one day would be my lunch the next.

I, unfortunately, didn’t have lunch as we had to set up for the discussion groups. Who doesn't want to eat a freshly slaughtered goat?

For this episode we split the youth and the adults up in two groups. We figured that if they were among their peers, they would be apt to speak freely. At home, youth and adults would speak freely with one another, but here, the respect and acknowledgement of “elders” would curtail any sort of comments from the youth. Both worked out very well.

During the day, there were 3 different languages going on at any one time. The Masai were speaking Masai, Swahili, and English. The Tanzanians that I work with were speaking Swahili and English, and then there was me… I was speaking English, a little Swahaili, and a whole bunch of charades… it was a cool experience to see all of us communicating with the help of one another.

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Photos

Goat In A Tree
I am not sure why they put it in a tree other than to let the grease drip out of it.