The last week has been a trip. The Maasai live very differnet from us. Their weilth is determined by their herds. They have cows, sheep and goats, and everyday they walk their herd miles and miles to find water. Their diet doesnt require water, but because their animals need it, that is how they spend their day, walking. All they eat traditionally is meat, blood and milk. They live in bomas which are poop huts surrounded by a fence of thorny branches. The women spend their days making a necklace or two. Life is very slow here, and for a lot of us, that was one of the hardest parts. It was almost unbearably hot from 7:30 in the morning until 6:30 at night. We would wake up, eat some breakfast and then walk to the worksite to help with our most recent volunteer project which was helping to build a latrene for the school. Work was also a slow process, there was a lot of sitting around and back tracking on the work we had already done, inefficient isn’t a strong enough word, but it’s the first that comes to mind. After working, we would have our swahili lesson, taught by Aleta, and then we would return to the boma for lunch which was when the flies were at they’re peak. This was probably the most uncomfortable part of the day. After lunch we posted up under a tree and counted down the hours until sundown when we could eat dinner. After sunset there were no more flies and it was completly peaceful. There were some amazing sunsets and the stars were brighter than I have ever seen them. On the last night, we had the honor of watching the slaughtering of a goat. It was really cool observe this part of this culture, it is something that is so foreign to me. Marshall ate the pancreas and some of the girls drank goats blood, including myself, and it was on of the most putrid things I’ve ever tasted but i’m really happy that i did it. In the past week I have learned more than I ever could from a tetxtbook, not only about the life of the Maasai, but also about my own culture and the many things that I take for granted.
