So yesterday was our visit to the Maasai village! Sonny, a guard at the volunteer house here in Arusha, generously offered to take like 15 of us to see his home. It was so neat and I'm so grateful I got to see the Maasai culture this way instead of as a touristy tack-on to a safari. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Maasai, you might want to quick Wikipedia them before reading this... it might make more sense with some background knowledge!
The day started, of course, on African time. After waiting for our driver for abut an hour and a half, we were off in our cramped little van. The first two hours of the trip were okay, but then we got to "the bush" and things got a little interesting. There were several occasions when we were sure that our van would not make it as the bottom scraped against rocks and who knows what else. To say it was a bumpy ride is an extreme understatment! It was also insanely dusty -- a lot of the time we couldn't see out the window because our van was kicking up so much dust. It was also insanely hot out so we would open the windows for a couple minutes when we could and then quickly slam them shut when we would be in a cloud of dust. If the road had been paved it probably would've taken about 15 minutes to drive, but it took us over an hour. It was quite the experience!!
Once we finally got to Sonny's village, we had to stop at the village office to sign the guestbook and to give the village our donation. After that, we continued on to the village. We got out of the van a ways back and started walking to the village. As we were walking towards the bomas, most of the village people were walking towards us, dancing and singing. Everyone was just so happy and welcoming! As we approached each other, the women came towards us and grabbed our hands (while still singing and dancing) and we walked into the village together. Then we all danced together for like 30 minutes... every time I thought we were finished and I could rest, someone started up a new song. It was so fun, and there were some seriously cute kids dancing all around.
After we were finished dancing, we sat on these benches and the women brought us "tea". I'm really not sure what it was, but we all tried to be polite and drink as much as we could. This was probably my least favorite part because we were being absolutely swarmed by flies (and the tea was not too delicious). Some of the kids' faces were literally covered with flies...they must really be used to it, but it was still hard to see.
After tea, we were taken over to meet our goat. We had to buy one of the Maasai's goats for dinner that day. The goat was pretty cute... it was sad knowing that he was going to be momentarily killed! We went over to this one area and some of the men wrestled the goat to the ground while a different guy got his machete ready. We tried to watch them slit the goat's neck without being totally grossed out and disrespectful, but it was pretty difficult. The sound alone could have made me sick. One man collected the goat's blood from its neck into a mug and then stirred it up with a stick... our appetizer was ready! I could not get myself to drink it, but some people from my homestay took a sip and then the men finished it off... it was seriously a giant mug of blood and the men just gulped it all down. Ok sorrrrry, I'll stop with the gory details... yuck yuck yuck. We went back over to the women as the men began to skin the goat.
Next Sonny came and got us to show us his home. It was pretty much what people think of when they think of "traditional Africa" -- mud walls with sticks for a roof. There was a tiny "room" you came into when you first entered, and then his wife's room was to the left and his room was to the right. They both had beds made of sticks and there was a fire ring in his wife's room. There was pretty much no light whatsoever... we tried asking Bruno (our translator) why they didn't like light in their homes and we were told it was just Maasai culture... I don't really get it.
After that, we went back to hang out with the women and children while the men cooked. It kind of sucked because the Maasai speak their own language (not Swahili) so it was pretty difficult to try to communicate with them. Bruno was running around trying to translate for everyone but it was pretty difficult. We also wanted to take tons of pictures (especially since the village was right near Kilimanjaro... so beautiful!) but felt kind of rude just coming into these peoples' home and snapping photos of them. Most of the Maasai actually enjoy getting their picture taken (and looking at it on your screen) or taking your camera and taking pictures of everything. It was just kind of awkward because it was difficult to communicate, but everyone was still incredibly friendly and welcoming. I managed to find some of the cutest little kids to play with them... they love giving high fives, so I did that for a while, but then I started jerking my hand away so they missed it. It turned into a whole game, and this one little kid (probably about 4 years old) just thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world. She was literally falling over because she was laughing so hard and she just had the cutest laugh ever.
After hanging out for a while, we were invited over to the area where the goat had been cooking (although the Maasai women and children were not invited -- they cannot eat with the men). To cook the goat, they build a fire and then put different parts of the goat on sticks and just put them around the fire. Once the goat is ready and we were all seated on benches, the men came around and stuck different parts of the goats in front of everyone there. Of course, with our luck, a man came a stuck the liver right in front of us. The men then take their giant knives and carve off bite-size pieces and pass them out. Again, not wanting to be rude, we tried our hardest to get the goat liver down our throats. After we managed to do that, we were handed pieces of pure fat... I'm really not sure which was grosser. Finally we got a couple pieces of meat... it was like heaven! The actual meat wasn't too bad, but getting to it was the difficult part.
Once we were finished, we went to get our gifts from the van. We brought cooking oil, flour, sugar, and things that that to give to the village since they don't have much access to those things. After that, some people in our group got the Maasai brand on their arms... traditionally, the Maasai brand a circle into their cheeks, so some people got the circle on their arms. The people in the village thought it was pretty entertaining and we just all hung out for a bit.
Finally, it was time to go! We asked Bruno how to say thank you in Maasai and tried to thank as many people as we could. It was really cute, as Sonny was getting into the car everyone was trying to come say bye to him... you could tell they really missed him! We then drove off into the dust... I spent the majority of the car ride home with my eyes closed to keep the dust out (completely unsuccessful)... but the day was great!
Today was also our first day at our school and it was quite an adventure that I'm sure I'll blog about shortly... but for now, I have to go cram some Swahili because our kids speak verrrry little English! Hope everyone is doing well!
