A Maasai Welcome

Today we visited a Maasai village. There are certain customs we had to follow as visitors. First, a meeting cannot be held until the guests have been fed. So after being briefly introduced to the male leaders, we were led through some brush to a tree. Some men appeared with buckets of goat meat and a large tin of goat soup, and the chow-down began.

Our stomachs more or less satisfied, we returned to the larger group. There, the women greeted us with singing and dancing. To receive their invitation to the meeting, we had to join them. All seriousness on their faces broke down when I began to emulate them (I’m hoping another group member will email me pictures.) Afterwards we sat down, the men sitting separately from the women. The roles of men and women are very clear in Maasai culture, and it’s the women who look after the children.

Unfortunately, there was some confusion over why we were there. A recent borehole had been drilled, and the community was now waiting on government testing of the water quality. The Maasai had brought all of their plastic water containers, expecting us to ‘turn on’ the water. We were sorry to disappoint them, trying to explain to them how we wanted to share with and learn from them. With no way of adequately apologizing, we were amazed at how gracious they were to receive us so well.

The men did a song and dance to send us off. After walking around in a line, they gathered together, uttering guttural sounds while taking turns to step into the middle and jump as high as they could. And boy did I join them! I’ll post the pictures when I receive them…