Everyone was very sincere and sweet and lived seemingly carefree and happy lives. Hardly the warriors they are said to have been.
They are apparently content with what they have and do not try to pursue what we in the western world consider wealth. For them wealth is measured in cattle so they feel rich even though they in our eyes don't have much.
Of course it is easy to romanticize their way of life and they obviously have problems like anyone else (e.g. if they get sick and need to pay for a doctors visit), but staying with them made me think that there is something very genuine about them that the western world might have lost somewhere along the way.
Me with Teres and Ester who are both married to Andorois.
Ester with her two own children and some of the others.
More children. I never really found out where they all came from, but there were many hanging around taking care of each other. The smaller ones were afraid of me in the beginning (guess they don't usually see white people), but soon they were very curious. Most of the ones that are old enough go to school, but this picture was taken on the weekend.
Women and children hanging out in the afternoon. Some are making new bead jewelry, some cleaning a goat skin, some cleaning the milk gourds, some breast feeding their children, some cleaning their teeth. All the while they are chatting and laughing. Maa has got to be one of the softest sounding languages. Their chatting combined with the faint ringing of their jewelry is like a sound you want to fall asleep in.
Children singing Christian songs and dancing with an amazing joy and energy. They apparently do this every evening.
There was a party on Saturday and everyone was singing and dancing. The boy in the red was jumping which is an important part of the men's dancing. They jump straight up and down and can jump amazingly high.
Sunday morning I woke up to more singing. Everyone had gathered to bless the cattle and thank God which they do every Sunday. They are very religious and show it in a joyful way.
The women milk the cows when they are brought back to the kral in the late afternoon.
Leimba using a stick to churn the yogurt (or just old milk, depending on how you look at it) to get the lumps evened out.
It actually tasted alright. Leimba loved it and drank three mugs. (Note the previously mentioned white plastic sandals... The coat he's wearing is mine. He kept it on for four days after I lent it two him for the piki-piki ride.)
Cattle herders in front of the hut we stayed in.
Our roommates... Sheep! But you couldn't really complain. They weren't noisy and they were gone all day.
Leimba's parents: Sarai and Mainge.
Mama Lekseto with her youngest daughter. I also became very good friends with Lekseto on Zanzibar, but unfortunately he couldn't leave work to visit home with us. Mama Lekseto is also married to Mainge, so Leimba and Lekseto are half brothers. All together Mainge has thirteen children ages about 2 to 30 (they don't really know how old they are).Departure.
I would have stayed with the Maasai for a lot longer, but as any westerner I was on a schedule and had to get back to the other reality.
We left the village on foot as the sun was setting. At first a group of friends walked with us, but bit by bit they stayed behind. The last one to say goodbye was Leimba's mother who knelt down and prayed for our safe journey before she turned around and walked back.
After that we walked in silence for a long time while the darkness settled around us. It felt like we were walking out of a dream.
"But I am plagued by the thought that we have arrived at a moment in history when this is about to be swept away. Of course the swell has been gathering force for a century or more, since Joseph Thompson first saw 'the most peculiar band of men to be found in Africa'. Now the wave is about to break. How many Masai will be doing this in twenty years' time?"
Justin Cartwright 'Masai Dreaming'
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