Christmas Masai style

Christmas to me is about love, compassion and gratitude and I would like, on this Boxing Day, to say thank you to all of you lovely people who show so much interest and support for my blog!

Masai girls from our local choir performing on Christmas Day.

The highlight of our Christmas here in the Masai Steppe of Tanzania was the annual Christmas choir competition in our local village of Lesoit.

Choirs from nearby villages come together to sing and dance and to celebrate this Christian holiday.

It is amazing how our entire community comes together to watch the show and to enjoy a festive meal of rice and goat stew.

Traditionally, the Masai used to cherish 'Enkai', a higher spirit who gave them their cows and the keeper of balance who would make the heavens open after the dry season to bring life back to the savannah.

Missionaries invited the Masai to cherish their 'God' and although this has been met by skepticism by most of the Masai men, the women are quite taken by it and go to church regularly.

On Christmas Day, they dress up in their nicest clothes and go to church to celebrate.

Watch here a Video of our choir  run by my father-in-law's second wife.

Please also check out my community education campaign, Stephanie's Masai Education Fund, which I am currently running to raise funds to train four Masai from our village in conservation and land management in response to the ongoing environmental destruction of our village.

Thank you and Merry Christmas my Dear Readers and Followers!

Masai house building

The Masai used to live a nomadic lifestyle and have in that way aquired a traditional knowledge about hut building which is passed on from generation to generation.

This knowledge is strictly female as men take no part in any of the building process.

A nearly finished house - just leaves and sand missing from the roof.

Modern Masai houses are not round but rectangular and consist of sticks and poles and a mud/cow dung mixture only.

It takes between two and four months for a standard size house with two large beds to be built, depending on the intensity with which it is worked on.

The builder of the house is usually the one who will be living in it but older, more experienced women, often help newlywed women build their first house.

The inside of the partly finished house displayed above.

They are very sturdy and last for 7-10 years. After that they are not considered safe anymore as wood worms and other wood eating insects would have done some damage by that time.

When a house is taken down, it is not allowed to build the new house on the same spot - it has to be at least a few metres away.

The building is started by drawing the outline of the house into the ground and then digging four deep holes at each corner. This is where supporting poles will be erected. Then, a trench is dug along the outline and smaller sticks are stuck into it to make up the walls.
Thin, flexible twigs are aligned horizontally along the structure and fixed to the vertical sticks with rope. This makes everything more sturdy.

A woman carrying building material on her back and her baby on the front, followed by her older son.

Then, these wooden walls are plastered with the cow dung-mud mixture, leaving small round openings as windows,

To fix the roof, up to 10 heavy poles are erected inside the walls. These support sticks that are laid on top of them to form the roof. Others are laid on top of this first layer and then a layer of grass or leaves goes on top of the sticks. The roof is finished off with a heavy load of sand that is piled on top for waterproofing.

The house is done but the work is not yet. What is left, are the beds.

These are again made out of long sticks which are laid across short thicker poles that have been dug into the ground and cushioned with grass and leaves and a cow hide.

Using the same system, shelves are erected on which to store cooking utensils.

Myself in the house I stayed in during my very first visit to my husband's family's boma 

It is a huge task and one that leaves the women exhausted. The men, as with so many other chores, leave it entirely up to their wives to get it done.

Living here with the Masai, I have gained much love and respect for female strength and resilience.

To a large part, it is the women, who keep the Masai culture alive.

I am running a campaign to teach our community about conservation and land management to counteract the destruction of their land.
Please click on this link to find out more. Donations of any size are appreciated and help us make a difference:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/stephanie-s-masai-education-fund-africa/x/17779290#/

7 great places to visit in Tanzania

Us humans have the bad habit of letting routine take over our lives - losing sight of what is important to us or what we are thankful for.

Well today, I reminded myself to be thankful for calling the beautiful country that is Tanzania my home and I would like to share with you some of my favourite places that I have been lucky enough to discover during my eight years here.

Zanzibar
Despite being a tourist hotspot, this beautiful island has my heart. The mix of Swahili culture, Arabic flair and turquoise waters off white-sand beaches makes me fall in love every time I go. I relax the instant I set foot on Zanzibari soil.

The beautiful waters of Kendwa, Zanzibar bathed in evening light.

Arusha
Gateway to the world-famous Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park, the town of Arusha is pleasantly cool and green. It has a nice chilled-out atmosphere and many little restaurants where one can find decent European food. It also has a great craft market where you can buy souvenirs.

Mount Meru, Arusha 

Kilimanjaro

Even if you are not there to climb the 'roof of Africa', visiting Marangu in the foothills of the mountain offers great hiking opportunities to local waterholes and to coffee plantation. I have also had the best cup of coffee I have ever had in the town of Moshi which is similar to Arusha.

Ruaha National Park

My favourite and the biggest National Park in Tanzania, it is a truly wild place which makes for an amazing safari experience. I once spend the night there with a friend and did not sleep a wink because a pride of lions was rumbling and roaring all night.

Lions stilling their thirst after rains in Ruaha National Park 

Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area
A world-heritage site and a natural wonder, looking down into the crater is a humbling experience. I don't think I have ever seen a more beautiful sight or one more wild and natural. It is also home to a huge number of wildlife including the Big Five.

Ngorongoro Crater as seen from above the crater rim.

Mafia Island
I worked there for nearly two years and sampled its amazing dive sites many a times. It is a place where you are guaranteed to see rays, turtles, giant groupers, dolphins and even sharks. It is also becoming famous for offering snorkeling with whale sharks that frequent its eastern shores.

South beaches Dar es Salaam
I love the fact that you can feel a million miles away from hectic city life in Dar es Salaam, when you are, in actual fact, still in the city. The ideal place to spend a weekend sunbathing and drinking cocktails.

Turquoise waters at Kigamboni beach, Dar es Salaam 

These are just a few places I visited and loved - Tanzania has so much more to offer. Just one other great place to see, is our home here in the Masai Steppe, if you are up for an adventure ❤🌍🌳🐾

A culture under threat

My husband's younger brother enjoying the views while herding our cattle.

The Masai are one of only a few tribes left in this world that try to hold on to their traditional way of life.

These days, however, it is proving increasingly difficult for them to do so.
This is mainly due to an increasing human population that encroaches into formerly wild land and thereby also into Masai territory.

Neighbouring tribes' influences take hold of the Masai's cultural heritage and threaten their identity.

Even though the Masai used to be a warring tribe (therefore the term 'moran' or warrior to describe adult, circumcised men) they are incredibly peace-loving people who are too modest to defend their culture against swahili influences and lack the confidence to value their traditions.

Their cattle suffer from a decrease in pasture lands due to deforestation for the sake of farmland. Many cows die of starvation in the dry season and the land is showing signs of desertification.

Little is being done to educate the Masai about the effects this ongoing destruction of their land will have on their culture and they themselves take little action against it.

It saddens me to hear how abundant wildlife used to be here only 20 years ago - today hardly any is left.

My background in conservation and the love and respect I have gained for the Masai make me want to do something about the destruction of their homelands.

In my opinion, the ancient cultures of this world, are worth preserving as much as Africa's unique wildlife. There is so much beauty in the diversity of the human race and often preserving them, is also the key to saving the wildlife that lives on their doorsteps.

Please watch below a video taken as part of my campaign 'Stephanie's Masai Education Fund' soon to be launched in the name of cultural and environmental conservation in the Masai Steppe of Tanzania.

My campaign is now live and open to contributions! 

Please click on this link to help me make a difference:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/stephanie-s-masai-education-fund-africa/x/17779290#/

Malaria

The day before I got diagnosed with malaria the first time, while working in Ifakara, Morogoro region, an area with one of the highest malaria infection rates in Tanzania.

One thing that a lot of people ask me about my life in Africa, is wether I have had malaria before. And the answer is: Yes!

In the eight years I have been in Tanzania, I have suffered from malaria six times.

European people about to tavel to Africa are usually advised to take anti-malaria medicine by their doctors, but I would advise you against this.

Here is why:

First of all, some of the commonly prescribed anti-malarials, like the antibiotic 'doxycycline' is, as the name says, an anti-BIOTIC - it is therefore not able to fight a malaria infection in your body, as malaria is caused by an amoeba, a single-celled organism different to a bacterium.

During my first year in Tanzania I took doxycycline daily, as advised to me but contracted malaria after seven months.

Secondly, the risk of contracting malaria has a great seasonal variance. During the coldest months in Africa (May-August) the number of mosquitos is comparatively low and therefore the risk of being bitten and falling ill, is as well.

It also depends on where you plan to spend your time. Mosquitos prefer humid, moist and low-lying lands to cold areas of high altitude.

If you come to Tanzania only to climb Kilimanjaro for a week, you will probably not even be bitten.

Majestic Mount Meru, Arusha. In mountainous areas mosquitos are rare and malaria infection rates low.

Thirdly, anti-malarials have significant side effects and a negative impact on your gut flora and immune system. Even doctors usually admit that it is not advised to take them longer than three months.

I would advise anyone coming to Africa to refrain from buying expensive anti-malarials and to invest instead in a self-tester kit, a course of malarone or any other malaria treatment, a mosquito net and plenty of mosquito-repellent.

Malaria is a potentially deadly disease but it is avoidable. By applying common sense and caution you already reduce the risk of contracting it.

It is also good to know that even in some of the most remote corners of Africa, malaria medication is available and that new treatment facilities are on the rise.

Plastic Africa

While deep see scientists are discovering micro-plastics at ever greater depths and David Attenborough's Blue Planet 2 is raising awareness on plastic pollution, Africa is a long way off even realizing that plastic is a killer.

I live alongside the average, rural African and I see on a daily basis (whenever I buy a kilo of sugar for example) that they have an extremely high plastic footprint.

Here in Tanzania we have thin black disposable plastic bags in which everything is wrapped up. Wether it is a bar of soap, bread, flour or even a bottle of soda, shop assistants will put everything in these bags which you get for free.

Should you wish to buy a bigger plastic bag, you can do so for 100 Tanzanian shillings (4 EUR cents).

There is no waste disposal system in rural Tanzania (and probably many other African countries) and these bags are carelessly thrown into the street.

When the village litter gets too much, the bags are collected and burned.

Coca cola and Pepsi used to distribute their drinks in reusable glass bottles but have in recent years introduced plastic 'take-away' bottles, obviously with a view to reducing pollution.

Even the Masai, whose traditional diet has changed so much, buy their daily needs in the nearby villages and come back to their bomas with a lot of plastic bags.

These days they want the newest sandals imported from China or mirrors or brushes to clean their bead work and in general items made in China have an extremely high plastic content. These things are also of appaling quality, last only a couple of weeks and are then disposed of in the African bush.


The First world has woken up to the threat plastic poses to our planet. But while heroic efforts are being made by the people as well as large manufacturers, it seems, not a lot of thought is given to Africa, India and other densly populated areas of the world where indigenous education levels are low and where political leaders do not have the forsight to reduce the use of plastics.

The planet is not going to recover unless we make the fight against plastic pollution a global issue.

The land I love

There was a Land I loved so much

And my Heart would bleed 

With its Suffering 

Caused by Greed

Our Children growing up 

Without a Future

Why fail to read the Signs?

Why live as if 

Tomorrow is guaranteed?

Let us move 

Be open

Be free

Do not hold back

See

Open your Eyes

The World needs Healing

Come my Friends 

Let us act

Let us be good

There is still Time

Move

Our children

I have to admit that before I came to Tanzania, I had never wanted to have children.
As a matter of fact, I never wanted to get married either.

Now that I have been married for nearly 6 years and have a son of 20 months, I take a step back and ask myself what happened?

And the answer is, Africa happened!

I found so much love here, in the beauty of the country and my amazing husband and in the children without whom, Africa would only be half as heart-warming.

The children here come towards you here so fearlessly, so full of trust and curiosity - it melts your heart and makes you so much softer.

Children in Africa often grow up under difficult conditions, their parents struggling everyday to provide for them, yet they are always cheerful, running around playing with the simplest things like sand and sticks.

You do not need to encourage them to play or engage with their neighbours, they do so all by themselves and they watch and learn from their parents every day mimicking the chores they do.

They seem to grow up here so much quicker yet never losing their smiles and their playfulness.

From my earliest days here in Africa I have loved engaging with kids, finding they would pick me up even from the darkest mood and inspiring me to be a more open, kinder and softer person.

Here are some pictures of the amazing kids I live with these days.

My husband's cousin's daughter carrying her baby sister.

My husband's cousin herding our cattle. 

Our son carrying his favourite baby sheep

Some of the kids from our boma posing for the camera.

Every day challenges in Africa

A week ago, I was travelling from our home in the Kiteto district to Dar es Salaam with two friends who had come on their first visit to Africa.

Travelling in rural Tanzania is often challenging due to bad road conditions but I had not worried too much about this trip as it had not rained at all yet this year and the dirt road was dry.

One of the many rural settlements we pass when travelling to Dar es Salaam.

This changed though when we were about 2 hours into our journey and it starting raining. The dirt road turned to mud and our bus was more slithering than driving along it.

Then we met a truck which had broken down and had not managed to move to its side of the road so as to let passing vehicles by. Our driver thought it wise to attempt passing it despite the slippery road and - unsurprisingly - the heavy bus slipped to its left and into the side ditch at such an angle that even the front door would not open anymore.

I only realized that there was no way to exit this bus to get ourselves to safety before the driver would attempt to reverse out of the ditch, when people starting climbing out of the windows.

Myself exiting our bus through the window.

I had a hurt foot and the jump out of the window was 9 feet so I had to think about this one for a while.

Luckily we were with some Masai from our village and they managed to climb out and assist us in doing so ourselves.

I felt bad for my friends who are not used to encountering such difficulties when travelling but they took it well.
We took shelter under some nearby shop windows as it started pouring down.

Passengers watch as the bus crew works on getting it out.

Soon, to our luck, another bus came past and we squeezed in to continue our journey, leaving our bus being worked on by the crew.

We made it to Dar es Salaam the same day.

It was an adventure that, as so many things do here in Africa, tested our spirits and resilience. We emerged from it unhurt if disillusioned and it taught us a valuable lesson about how lucky we are in the first world where road travel is so much safer and comfortable.

It was not the first time I experienced a bus discontinuing its journey due to roads having become impassable and it will not be the last.

It is in fact how people in rural Africa travel on a daily basis - and they never lose their smiles despite it.

A love letter to Africa

I have never shared with you the story of how I came to stay in Tanzania - so here it is: 

I came here as a volunteer for a conservation NGO. I was meant to stay for a mere five months, but I knew even before I boarded the plane, that I would stay longer.

Our research crew at a camp close to Selous Game Reserve. 

It is hard to put into words how Africa puts a spell on you, how it draws you in, warm and welcoming and beautifully exotic and how it

touches your soul with a force that turns you into a completely different person.

During my earliest days in Tanzania: enjoying the view with my fellow volunteers.

And what is it that moves you so much? 

Is it the street vendor making a living selling fruits on the dusty streets of Dar es Salaam, who presses an orange into your hand just because she liked the way you smiled at her?

Is it the farmer you visit whose children only get one meal a day, but who insists on cooking a meal for you out of hospitality?

Is it the children who run up to you touching your hair and your skin amazed by the strangeness of it? 

Is it the women carrying their babies on their back, plowing fields in the searing sun with such strength and endurance? 

Is it the fact that nothing ever seems to work yet it always works out? 

Is it that you feel humbled by people who live in what we think of as povery, yet who complain less about their lives than we do in the First World? 

It is the strength, the warmth and the generosity of the people I have met here, that made me fall in love.

My husband and I when we met on Mafia Island. 

So when after a year of volunteering close to the Selous Game Reserve, I moved to Mafia Island and met a Masai warrior whose beauty confirmed that I had not seen anything yet, I had even more of a reason to stay.

 Eight years later I am still here and as in love with this beautiful continent as I have always been.

Circumcision ceremony - Elatim

This week we had a big circumcision ceremony, an Elatim, for nine boys and girls.

Masai women dancing during Endomon

Whereas the boys (layiok) have to actually undergo circumcision, the girls' (endoyie's) involvement is only symbolic.

An Elatim takes part over two days. On the first day, there is the Endomon, which is a good luck ceremony for which there has to be some offering. This offering varies from family to family but for my husband's family it is a sheep that is slaughtered.

If the Elatim involves girls and should they be already promised to someone, there will also be a Saikelosi. A Saikelosi involves the arrival of the future groom's family and gifts that they bring to his chosen bride.

At the arrival of the Saikelosi, the women dance and by nightfall the warriors, the Moran will dance too. The actual circumcision does not take place until anytime between 1 am and 4 am and often the Moran dance right until that time.

The person circumcising the boys is often of the Hadzabe tribe as the Masai believe the spilling of blood of a fellow Masai, brings bad luck.

During Ilmasin 

The coming day is the actual Elatim and a bull is slaughtered to feed the guests.
The parents of the newly circumcised children have to perform Ilmasin, where the father sits outside the hut where his son or daughter rests and his wife and other female relatives gather around him to shave his head and spill milk on him as a blessing. Ilmasin is completed by women dancing and chanting.

The boys rest inside for a month or until they are fully healed.

They won't be full warriors however until the current Moran have taken the Ilmaho ceremony in which they pass their rights and duties onto the new generation of Moran.

See below how the Moran dance during the Elatim.

Gender division

Masai life is strictly divided between male and female.

Men and women do not ever eat together nor is it common to see husband and wife go places together or socialise as a couple.

Masai women are not allowed to watch warriors eat and a warrior can never eat alone in a woman's house as it is marked by the presence of Enkotiook, hollow pumpkins in which milk is stored and the cow's tail with which these are cleaned.

In each Masai hut, there is a female and a male bed. 

A woman at the waterhole 

Work is also divided between the sexes with women doing the bulk of it, collecting water and firewood, cooking, washing and looking after children. 

Men herd the cows, take them to water and move them great distances in the dry season and provide an income. 

When it comes to clothing, female and male Masai cloths are also very different. The men's cloths are commonly any shade of red with vivid patterns while the women clothe themselves in plain purple and blue. 

Warriors dancing at a ceremony 

Warriors and older men wear a belt onto which they holster their knife and club (Olokoma).

Uncircumcised boys and girls often wear nothing but an old piece of clothing handed down to them by their older siblings. They also ever wear one cloth, whereas circumcised Masai always wear at least two.

Both men and women adorn themselves with jewellery but while women put heavy brass wires around their ankles and wrists, warriors wear white beaded anklets and bracelets.

My husband and I on our wedding day

I mostly wear western clothes but for special occasions I dress like a Masai woman.

Cow works

I have been living amongst the Masai for quite some time now but it never fails to put a smile on my face when we get a new addition to our cattle herd.

The warriors are experts at predicting when a cow is about to give birth. So often, they keep heavily pregnant ones from going out with the herd, in order to keep watch over them and extract the calf when it arrives.

My brother-in-law untying his cow after a successful birth.

Zebu cattle give birth every 15 - 18 months and carry their unborn calves for 9 months like humans. They are fertile from about three years old and are named as soon as they have given birth the first time.

Unlike bulls, cows are not commonly sold, but are kept in the family's herd till they grow old.

When wanting to milk a cow, Masai women call them by their name and they obediently trot over to be milked. A lot of them are quite docile and can be touched and stroked, others however do not like direct contact with humans.

In the video below, you can see one of our cows bringing her calf into the world with help from the warriors.

A life away from home

While my sister was here, we decided to spend some time on Zanzibar together.
The five days we spent there, made me fall in love with the island all over again.

Travelling with someone who is new to Tanzania and sees her beauty with wondrous eyes, reminded me why I came to love it here.

Traditional dhow in the evening light.

We went to Kendwa, in the north of the island. Crystal white sand on a long broad stretch of beach and clear turquoise waters in which swimming is possible even at low tide, make this my favourite place on Zanzibar.

You cannot walk there without being addressed by people trying to sell you things.
Many of them are Zanzibaris but there are also a lot of Masai.

A warrior talking to tourists on Kendwa beach

They come to coastal regions in the hope to find work to help keep up with an increasing demand for materialistic things by their families.

These days the Masai do not cloth themselves in sheep skins but buy expensive clothes made in Asia. They do not use twines, roots and seeds anymore to create jewellery, but buy plastic beads made in China to make necklaces, bracelets and anklets.

An increasing population size has lead to higher cattle numbers and overgrazing.
Cows do not produce enough milk anymore to make the yoghurt the Masai used to live off in past times.

A warrior keeping watch over a hotel beach front.

For this reason Masai have started either planting farms of corn or buying it which is both costly. They have become many, and the land is no longer enough for them to live off exclusively.

They usually find employment as security for hotels and often have shops selling Masai crafts too.

It is a stunning sight - Zanzibar's white sands and turquoise waters glistening in the African sun - and a warrior in full dress, wearing Ildeka, which only they are allowed to wear; long cotton strings braided into the top hair, falling in braids down to their lower backs.

A warrior posing for me on the beach.

I loved Africa even before I had met any of them but for me now they represent everything I have come to love about this continent.

Their even featured faces with almond eyes and bright white teeth is matched in beauty only by their kind souls.

Working hard for water

My sister is here for a visit and today we went to look at our communal waterhole.

A warrior standing on the watering trough to keep the cattle in order

The warriors are busy organising their cattle to drink from the water trough and the women are washing and loading their donkeys with water to take back home for cooking, drinking and washing.

Our cattles' turn to drink 

Donkeys here are very valuable work animals and therefore very well looked     after. My husband always says they are the Masai's equivalent of cars. 

Donkeys waiting patiently to be loaded 

They are used for carrying water and corn or supplies to take to far away camps when moving the cattle.

Women fetching water

They can easily carry 80 litres of water in one trip, often they carry more.

Recently, donkey numbers have been declining due to Swahili people stealing and slaughtering them for their coats.

The plight of modernity

The Masai used to be nomadic but in recent times they have had to adapt their way of life to ever more difficult conditions.

This is due to dwindling pasture lands and encroaching human settlements and farmland.

These days, the Masai try to teach themselves land management in order to preserve grassland for the dry season.

They also move the cattle if need be, making camp for months at a time wherever the rains have come early.

We move our cows once or twice a year. This has become difficult though as there has been a rise in conflict between Masai and the neighbouring tribe, the Wasingua.

More than once, on moving our herd into the nearby Kilindi district, we have been fined by local village chairmen for no reason.

Herding the cows in the hills in the dry season

Last year, while camping out with the cows in the Kilindi district, our boys and young warriors were beaten and our cattle taken by unknown Swahili men. The cows were held ransom for two days and only due to police pressure and the involvement of the heads of both Kiteto and Kilindi district, were they released without being harmed.

This incident was completely unprovoked.

We see evidence on a daily basis of an ever rising human population causing problems and tension. The Masai will find it increasingly hard to find sufficient pastures for their cattle and they are increasingly exposed to the bad will of their neighbours.

I believe it is essential now to teach the Masai about land management, family planning and to advice them of their rights so as to prevent them being taken advantage of.

For an example of how they are treated to date in our neighbouring Loliondo, please read this article.

Rights abuses and evictions of Masai people in Tanzania

10 things you don't need when raising your child with the Masai

I have been living with the Masai for five years and 18 months ago I had my son.

Sometimes bringing him up out here in the bush seems difficult but when I think about it, I believe I am very lucky as certain things are so much easier out here in regards to raising children.

Here are ten things you won't need when raising your child with the Masai:

Nappies. Out here they are difficult to dispose of, as Tanzania does not have a               working waste disposal system in place. You don't need them though as Masai life       is lived out in the open. We just let the children do their business openly, cleaning       them up when need be.

Clean clothes: We are surrounded by sand, mud and dust around the clock, so           things are bound to get dirty. No one here minds a dirty child or messy clothes.

Baby carrier: African women are famous for carrying their babies on their backs.
They don't do this with a specially designed backpack (which you wouldn't find       here anyway) but with a kanga, a simple piece of fabric which has a multitude of       uses, from headwrap to sarong to baby carrier.

Pram: Roads are sandy, stoney and muddy. You would not get anywhere with a           pram, even a fancy off-road one. Here, when you want to take your child places,           you carry it.

My son playing with a baby goat.

Nanny: Masai live in huge extended family units. You will always find someone
willing to look after your baby for a while. They love children and they help you         out for free.

Highchair: Out here, when a baby is old enough to eat, you sit it on your lap and
feed it or sit it on the floor and let it get messy. After all, we don't have fancy             carpets here.

Car seat: The main means of transport here are motorbikes. If need be, you strapp your baby to your body and let yourself be driven by a reliable driver or, in my case, my husband.

Play groups: Children here play OUTSIDE. From dawn to dusk. And they play with anything available, sand, twigs, seeds. No need to take them somewhere fancy.

Cot: Masai babies sleep in their mother's bed from the day they are born. So has           mine. I love watching his sleeping face in the morning and holding him close.

Wet wipes: The Masai use soft leaves from a tree they call Olmaroroi to wipe baby bottoms. We call it toilet paper tree.

As strong as a woman

Can you do this?

My sister-in-law doing her washing with her son strapped to her back.

Masai women, and generally women in Africa, do back-breaking work on a daily basis. They walk kilometres to fetch water, having to either carry it home on their heads, or loading it onto a donkey. They often do this with a baby on their back.

When they get home, they do not sit back and recover, but start cooking their own food over an open fire. In the African heat, this is another strenuous task.

If they have a spare minute, they go out into the bush to collect firewood. Again they carry a huge load by tying it together and carrying it on their backs with a string wrapped around their foreheads.

Masai women are also in charge of house building. Masai huts are built out of wood and mud. The women fell trees which serve as pillars and hundreds of thick branches which are wrought together with flexible tree bark to serve as walls. 

This is then weather-proofed by plastering it with cow dung and sand. 

Men take no part in building houses or fixing them. Nor do they fetch water or firewood or play a role in raising their children. 

Women do everything in the Masai world and they never complain.

I have come to know how strong we can be, through them. 

Marriage and circumcision

The Masai are polygamous and there is no limit to the amount of wives a man can have.
They marry by paying cattle to their prospective wife's family.

The current number of cattle is twelve, of which only two are allowed to be male. This does not include a juvenile female to be brought along with the traditional brewed 'gongo', a brew of fermented corn, that the elders drink in exchange for giving their blessing.

The groom also provides a bull to be slaughtered at the girl's circumcision ceremony.

A girl is considered mature enough for circumcision and henceworth marriage at about 13 years old. She does not have any say in the election of her future spouse.

In our parts of the Masai Steppe, partly due to the influence of Christian missionaries, and partly due to strict law enforcements on this issue, FGM is no longer practised.

Girls have a circumcision ceremony, but are not circumcised in praxis.

The boys however who are 'laioni' before circumcision, have to undergo this procedure to become warriors, or 'moran'.


In the past, Moran were not allowed to marry until they were degraded to Elder status. These days, Moran marry as young as 18 years old.

The commonly spread myth about the killing of a lion being a prerequisite to warriorhood might have been true decades ago, but is certainly no longer.

There simply aren't enough lions left for this.

Newly circumcised warrior 

 

Out and about with bow and arrow

Fully healed in full dress 

Jumping tribe

You might be surprised to hear, that it is not only the warriors who do the dancing at festivities, but also the women.

However, married women never dance with warriors but separately, in an all women circle.
The warriors dance with uncircumcised girls in the centre of the cattle enclosure.

Masai women form a circle and sing and dance at the same time. In turns, one or two of them enter the circle to jump up and down

Warriors and girls enter the cow enclosure in single file, then each form a semi circle and start singing simultaneously. While the warriors jump, the girls mainly use their upper body, wiggling their shoulders to display their neck jewellery.

Old men never participate in the dancing but rather watch from afar.

For the love of cows

The native African cattle (Bos taurus africanus), also called the 'Sanga' cattle, was originally humpless. Interbreeding with Zebu (humped) cattle imported from Asia, created the modern intermediate African breed.

The hump serves as fat reserve during long dry seasons these cattle have to endure.
They are resistant to extreme heat, humidity and certain diseases.

Different to European cattle, African cattle come in all sorts of colours and the Masai have a name for each single colour or pattern.

Here is a picture of two of our dominant bulls, having their fill of pumba (corn shells) and bean shells from our farm.

The colour of the bull on the left is called 'Ouasse' identifying the white marks he has on each side. The other one's is called 'Keri', for a mixture of white and any other colour in large patterns.

Dry season

It's that time of year again when the grass has dried and the cows grow hungry.
Last year's dry season saw the death of a dozen cattle.

We are preparing ourselves for the worst again by buying plenty of 'pumba', the swahili term for the corn dust produced by the mill when grinding corn. We feed this to the cattle when there is no more grass for them to feed on.

Cattle are everything to the Masai, they are their only form of income, their measurement of wealth, their pride. Losing even one cow is a huge loss.

Recent years have seen irregular rainfall patterns and drought, causing hunger for men as well as cattle.

Sadly, climate change and overpopulation affect us even out here in the bush.