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.

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.