Social Ventures Law and the Maasai Tribe - Adventures from Africa

  Spending Time with the Maasai Tribe was Amazing

 Based upon the response from “Cows on the Beach”, I thought that another story about Structuring Social Ventures in Africa would be appreciated.  This story is about “Spending time with the Maasai”.

In the Summer of 2007, my wife and I were asked to assist a University with the structure of a social venture to promote college education among the Maasai Tribe of Kenya and Tanzania.  The Maasai Tribe then asked us to assist them with the structuring of a tourism social enterprise.  Since this was a grassroots, community-based social venture and I would never pass-up a trip to spend time with the Maasai People, my wife and I made the trek to Kenya and Tanzania.

 Our Community Meetings (shown above) were on a mountaintop overlooking the Masai Mara National park in Kenya.   The Wildebeest Migration was coming to an end but we witnessed hundreds of thousands of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, giraffe and gazelle followed by lions, hyena, cheetah and other predators.  Of course, the views and the experience were amazing.

 One story of note, Maasai Warriors are required to kill a lion on their own armed only with a traditional spear at age 16 to become a true Maasai Warrior.  While showing a film that was created for the Maasai about the tourism social venture – we noticed that these people had never seen a movie before in their lives.  The film was short but showed the typical indigenous safari viewing lodges, wildlife and scenery as an introduction to the tourism social venture.  In one scene, there was a large picture of a beautiful lion lying in the bush.  At the sight of the lion, one overly aggressive young warrior stood up and promptly threw his spear at the lion and through the movie screen.  Have to say, that was one reaction that no one anticipated.  Of course, after he saw the effects of the spear, he relaxed and everyone else went back to watching the movie.  I have to say, spending time with the Maasai was one of the highlights of my life and certainly my career as a tax lawyer.

 When structuring social ventures (especially when dealing with grassroots meetings with indigenous people) in Africa, it is important to understand the culture and mannerisms and social customs of the people you are working with.  I always advise clients to “learn from the local people” and to “listen alot and speak less.”  We have to be cognizant of the reality that we are trying to help these people but we are not supposed to westernize them.  I hope that the social ventures that I have assisted with have supported the local people without changing them.  Africa has amazing cultural heritage that should be preserved for as long as we can.

 These two social ventures are on-going and the structures are simple in design but complex in operation and in real life experience.  Real life experience can teach you more about social ventures and social entrepreneurship than an textbook or individual ever can.

 Thanks for your support.  Please contact me at Ray Dinning (757_ 232-2619.

Social Ventures and the Maasai Tribe - Adventures from Africa

  Spending Time with the Maasai Tribe was Amazing

Based upon the response from “Cows on the Beach”, I thought that another story about Structuring Social Ventures in Africa would be appreciated.  This story is about “Spending time with the Maasai”.

 In the Summer of 2007, my wife and I were asked to assist a University with the structure of a social venture to promote college education among the Maasai Tribe of Kenya and Tanzania.  The Maasai Tribe then asked us to assist them with the structuring of a tourism social enterprise.  Since this was a grassroots, community-based social venture and I would never pass-up a trip to spend time with the Maasai People, my wife and I made the trek to Kenya and Tanzania.

Our Community Meetings (shown above) were on a mountaintop overlooking the Masai Mara National park in Kenya.   The Wildebeest Migration was coming to an end but we witnessed hundreds of thousands of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, giraffe and gazelle followed by lions, hyena, cheetah and other predators.  Of course, the views and the experience were amazing.

 One story of note, Maasai Warriors are required to kill a lion on their own armed only with a traditional spear at age 16 to become a true Maasai Warrior.  While showing a film that was created for the Maasai about the tourism social venture – we noticed that these people had never seen a movie before in their lives.  The film was short but showed the typical indigenous safari viewing lodges, wildlife and scenery as an introduction to the tourism social venture.  In one scene, there was a large picture of a beautiful lion lying in the bush.  At the sight of the lion, one overly aggressive young warrior stood up and promptly threw his spear at the lion and through the movie screen.  Have to say, that was one reaction that no one anticipated.  Of course, after he saw the effects of the spear, he relaxed and everyone else went back to watching the movie.  I have to say, spending time with the Maasai was one of the highlights of my life and certainly my career as a tax lawyer.

 When structuring social ventures (especially when dealing with grassroots meetings with indigenous people) in Africa, it is important to understand the culture and mannerisms and social customs of the people you are working with.  I always advise clients to “learn from the local people” and to “listen alot and speak less.”  We have to be cognizant of the reality that we are trying to help these people but we are not supposed to westernize them.  I hope that the social ventures that I have assisted with have supported the local people without changing them.  Africa has amazing cultural heritage that should be preserved for as long as we can.

 These two social ventures are on-going and the structures are simple in design but complex in operation and in real life experience.  Real life experience can teach you more about social ventures and social entrepreneurship than an textbook or individual ever can.

 Thanks for your support.  Please contact me at Ray Dinning (757_ 232-2619.

Social Ventures and the Maasai Tribe - Adventures from Africa

Spending Time with the Maasai Tribe was Amazing

Based upon the response from “Cows on the Beach”, I thought that another story about Structuring Social Ventures in Africa would be appreciated.  This story is about “Spending time with the Maasai”.

In the Summer of 2007, my wife and I were asked to assist a University with the structure of a social venture to promote college education among the Maasai Tribe of Kenya and Tanzania.  The Maasai Tribe then asked us to assist them with the structuring of a tourism social enterprise.  Since this was a grassroots, community-based social venture and I would never pass-up a trip to spend time with the Maasai People, my wife and I made the trek to Kenya and Tanzania.

Our Community Meetings (shown above) were on a mountaintop overlooking the Masai Mara National park in Kenya.   The Wildebeest Migration was coming to an end but we witnessed hundreds of thousands of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, giraffe and gazelle followed by lions, hyena, cheetah and other predators.  Of course, the views and the experience were amazing.

One story of note, Maasai Warriors are required to kill a lion on their own armed only with a traditional spear at age 16 to become a true Maasai Warrior.  While showing a film that was created for the Maasai about the tourism social venture – we noticed that these people had never seen a movie before in their lives.  The film was short but showed the typical indigenous safari viewing lodges, wildlife and scenery as an introduction to the tourism social venture.  In one scene, there was a large picture of a beautiful lion lying in the bush.  At the sight of the lion, one overly aggressive young warrior stood up and promptly threw his spear at the lion and through the movie screen.  Have to say, that was one reaction that no one anticipated.  Of course, after he saw the effects of the spear, he relaxed and everyone else went back to watching the movie.  I have to say, spending time with the Maasai was one of the highlights of my life and certainly my career as a tax lawyer.

When structuring social ventures (especially when dealing with grassroots meetings with indigenous people) in Africa, it is important to understand the culture and mannerisms and social customs of the people you are working with.  I always advise clients to “learn from the local people” and to “listen alot and speak less.”  We have to be cognizant of the reality that we are trying to help these people but we are not supposed to westernize them.  I hope that the social ventures that I have assisted with have supported the local people without changing them.  Africa has amazing cultural heritage that should be preserved for as long as we can.

These two social ventures are on-going and the structures are simple in design but complex in operation and in real life experience.  Real life experience can teach you more about social ventures and social entrepreneurship than an textbook or individual ever can.

Thanks for your support.  Please contact me at Ray Dinning (757_ 232-2619.

I told you about the dolls I got for Natasha and Naini – whom I’ve been calling Diana (Diana is the next biggest one), well, they were very well received.  In fact the kids were ecstatic, and the Three Musketeers, Natasha, Naini and Sironka sang and danced for me.  It was a hoot!

Later – their mom had gone to get wood – I thought it had been way too quiet for way too long and was going out to see what they were up to, and Monica, the major small-child carer in the boma came running to say that the three had disappeared!  We went outside the fence to look around as the kids sometimes played there, but no luck.  So here I was looking at miles and miles of dessert scrubland and wondering where three missing kiddies were.  Monica thought about it for a while and decided that they’d probably gone to their friends’ house to show off the dolls and trucks.  We walked (and walked) to the ‘neighbour’s’ house and sure enough, there were the kids playing with their friends.  They got shooed home and I confiscated the trucks and dolls for 24 hours as a consequence. ’bout had a heart attack though, little rascals!

I don’t know what it is about this landscape – I’d never have thought I could fall in love with sandy scrubland, but I have, both here and in South Africa.  there is something so stark and beautiful, and kind of an endless, end-of-the-world feeling, and I could just walk through it or look at it for hours on end.

Oh, and I forgot to mention – little boys will be boys, where ever you are in the world.  The first thing Sironka did when he got his hands on the girls’ dolls was to look and see if they had panties on, then giggle.

Dolls and Trucks

My path to school

- Tuesday -

The little kiosks are abandoned, I guess because the traffic going past them to school is over for the holidays.  Tipoi told me that the town council had been trying to develop that area as a “commercial centre”, but all that had evolved was these few little kiosks, maybe 10 or 12 feet square, made of corrugated tin, and selling bits and pieces of sweets and so on.

And I almost got lost again today.  All the landmarks I had marked out on my first extended stay here look entirely different in context of what has grown or greened around them with the small bit of rain that has fallen.  and to make matters more complicated, the main path to the school, power plant and clinic apparently ran across someone’s land, and they have now plowed it all up in order to plant maize, so I had to walk around, then try to pick up the right path on the other side.  As usual there was someone around herding the goats home who came over to make sure I was on the right path to my destination.  Actually I’m sure (as was the case in the country where I grew up) that no-one can even sneeze without everyone in a 20 mile radius knowing about it.  The country – any country – is definitely NOT the place to be if you want privacy!

ttyl,

All dressed for school. The pink backpack is especially prized.

Two of the little kiosks on the 'path' to school

Tanzania

I’m just putting the finishing touches on my new book: Tanzania. It is a fine art book of photographs portraying the grandeur of Tanzania, its wildlife and some of the people who live there. My Introduction reads:

Using words alone, I find it impossible to accurately describe a wondrously complex country like Tanzania. While the photographs in this book portray the “Northern Circuit” they are representative of much of the country.

In every way it is a beautiful place, but it is also depressing, straight-forward yet enigmatic, inspiring yet frustrating, challenging yet easy-going. The romantic in me celebrates the wide-open landscapes and wildlife that are little changed in centuries – what Canada once was. The realist in me sees a people hampered by challenges much greater than their economy can solve. Yet Tanzanians are filled with the joy of community and friendship and a joie de vive unparalleled here in Canada. I lament the rapid changes fraught with conflict and tension, yet I yearn for Tanzanians to live their lives free of the afflictions that cause such hardships.

As a writer, this is as far as I go; I hope my photographs can more clearly reveal the grandeur of this great and wondrous country.

– Terry McDonald
November 2009

Tanzania is a beautiful, limited run, 8.5 x 11.25″, 46-page hard cover book with dust jacket and costs just $115 – including delivery  - an ideal Christmas gift for anyone who appreciates great photography and the wonders of Africa.

Featured in the book are images Mount Kilimanjaro, Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, the Rift Valley including Ol Doinyo Lengai and Lake Natron, Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park. As well, I’ve included photos from the bomas of our Maasai friends Kalanga and Baraka showing their extended family. This was a very special time and place for us as their homes are in the real porini (wilderness) north of Monduli near Kitumbeini and the Matisiwi Escarpment – a spectacular area.

Anyone who has travelled to Northern Tanzania would not only recognize the places shown, but will begin to see these wonderful lands in a new light.

Maasai Village Elder

The Maasai are a semi-nomadic tribe of about 900,000 pastoralists that live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. Being pastoralists, they herd cattle, goats, and sheep on the African savanna. More precisely, they herd cattle on the lion, hyena, and leopard infested savanna of Africa. They eat mostly their domestic meat, milk, and blood that they extract by piercing a cow’s jugular vein with an arrow. We watched such ceremony on our visit to a Maasai village. The vein clots and the cow is relatively unscathed at the end of it all.

Maasai Cow Blood Ceremony

It seems odd that a tribe living in the African savanna, with wildebeest, zebras, wild boars, and gazelles everywhere, would evolve a culture of ignoring wild game in favor of raising cattle, but it seems to have worked out for them.

The Maasai village is a collection of mud, stick, and cow dung huts, built by the women, surrounded by a thicket fence. The cattle are herded into the enclosure each night to protect them from predators.

Maasai Female in Hut Doorway

The Maasai are conspicuous for the bright patterned fabrics they wear. The young men sometimes sport a red wig that resembles dreadlocks. The practice of creating a large hole in the ear lobes is falling a bit out of favor among the young men today, but is still a great place to display their distinct jewelry and most women still prefer it. Perhaps the young men just have more contact with the modern world,often working at a safari camp or working as a driver/naturalist. Cell phones are not uncommon now with the young men, and we had some Photoshopping to do in terms of the watches they wear.

Young Maasai Warrior

The Maasai love to sing and dance. The men and women mostly sing and dance separately, but there is more than a little teasing and flirting involved as they perform.

Maasai Village Singing

I am not known for my portraiture, but with such attractive, cooperative subjects, even I captured some memorable moments.

Teen-aged Maasai Girl

Maasai Man and Boy

guerreiro maasai

Joseph é um guerreiro da tribo Maasai na África. Há algum tempo atrás, ele encontrou um homem enquanto andava por uma poeirenta estrada africana. Esse homem contou para Joseph a história de Cristo e do amor de Deus que tornou possível o perdão de nossos pecados. Joseph se tornou um crente em Deus e se alegrou com a “estória de Jesus”. Com o passar do tempo, ele se tornou uma testemunha forte na fé em Cristo, até que conseguiu fazer a longa jornada saindo da África até Amsterdam (Holanda), para participar de uma conferência evangélica.

Enviar por email para seu amigo e divulgar no seu Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Sua maior esperança era encontrar o pastor Billy Graham, que iria falar durante a conferência. Robert era um membro da equipe do pastor Graham que verificava quais pessoas podiam visitar o pastor Graham. A história de Joseph o convenceu tanto que ele deixou que o guerreiro Maasai contasse sua história diretamente ao pastor Graham.

E aqui está a história de Joseph, o guerreiro Maasai:

“Depois que eu encontrei Jesus, eu fiquei tão empolgado que eu sabia que todos na aldeia onde eu morava ficariam felizes em encontrá-Lo também. Então eu fui de porta em porta dizendo a todos que encontrava sobre a cruz de Jesus e a salvação que Ele nos oferecia.

Para minha surpresa, meu povo não somente não se importava, mas eles se tornaram hostis comigo. Os homens me agarraram preso ao chão enquanto as mulheres me batiam com cabos de arame farpado. Depois eu fui arrastado para fora da aldeia e abandonado no deserto para morrer.”

De algum modo, Joseph conseguiu se arrastar para um poço de água e ali, depois de dois dias entre acordado e desmaiado, ele sentiu que tinha de novo forças para se levantar. Ele estava pasmo com a recepção hostil de sua família e amigos, pessoas que ele tinha conhecido desde que nasceu.

“Eu decidi que eu devia ter esquecido de ter contado algo importante na história que lhes havia dito sobre Cristo. Então eu ali ao lado do poço, comecei a repetir comigo mesmo a história uma, duas, várias vezes. Depois eu fui mancando de volta para a aldeia para contar de novo para eles sobre as Boas Novas de Jesus”.

Eu fui de novo de choça em choça contando a meus vizinhos e amigos sobre Jesus, que morreu por nós para que possamos receber o perdão e conhecer o Deus vivo. De novo, eles me jogaram ao chão e me bateram, até abrir meus ferimentos que já estavam começando a curar. Eu desmaiei e quando acordei vi que eles tinham me arrastado de novo para fora da aldeia, pensaram que eu estava morto”.

“Eu acordei, muito machucado, mas ainda vivo. Pela terceira vez eu consegui ir de volta para minha aldeia e comecei a testemunhar. Mas eles já estavam esperando por mim. Eu fui agarrado, jogado ao chão e quando começaram a bater de novo eu desmaiei. Quando eu acordei, desta vez eu estava na minha cama. Os vizinhos que antes me haviam surrado agora estavam cuidando de mim. Todo mundo na minha aldeia havia se tornado crente em Cristo”.

Depois que Joseph contou sua história ao pastor Billy Graham, ele levantou sua colorida roupa africana e mostrou as suas cicatrizes. O pastor Graham disse a Joseph: “Eu não sou digno de desatar seus sapatos, e mesmo assim você queria falar comigo?”.

A tribo Maasai tem cerca de 840 mil pessoas e antes eram nômades que viajavam entre o Quênia e a Tanzânia pastoreando gado, do qual vivem. Fisicamente, são altos e esbeltos. São temíveis guerreiros e para provar sua coragem um guerreiro Maasai costuma ir individualmente por sua própria iniciativa caçar um leão, armado apenas com uma lança e seu escudo. Se sobreviver e voltar, ele ganha status na sociedade Maasai. Suas roupas e penteados são extremamente elaborados como na foto acima.

Os Maasai não têm cavalos: tocam suas boiadas… a pé! E por isso têm grande preparo físico e performance em corridas, como dizem: passam a vida correndo atrás da boiada ou fugindo dela! Isso quando não têm que lutar contra alguma tribo vizinha que tenta roubar seu gado. Alguns Maasai participaram de maratonas em Londres, Nova York e outras cidades durante 2008 para levantar fundos para tratamento da água em suas aldeias e conservação da natureza.

Enviar por email para seu amigo e divulgar no seu Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

We awakened the next morning, on the floor of an old military truck. Two mattresses had been laid down for five of us to sleep on after arriving back at our hostel in Nairobi only to discover it was full – of missionaries. Despite this, the warm and honest staff wanted so much to accommodate us that the cook insisted he would absolutely find another place to stay and we were welcome to stay in his home. Moments later, we discovered the old military truck, missing at least one wheel and propped on a few cinderblocks, was the home to which they were referring. Surprisingly enough, it was quite comfortable and after a long day biking uphill in the hot sun through the aptly named Hell’s Gate National Park, we were all too exhausted to care anyway. We took our turns showering the dusty day from our worn skin and devoured several more grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches, washing them down with ice cold Tusker. One of the regulars at Milimani invited us into his room and shared several joints among us and one by one we each turned in. Matsui, Fityfo, Faye, and I made our way to our military mattress bed and shut out the lights. In the darkness I found Matsui and holding his familiar body we opened our mouths close to one another, teasing but never touching lip to lip, trembling with wanting. I desired him as much as ever and knew I would never be able to keep myself from fucking him in the ten remaining days of our trip, but for tonight the easy feel of his body on mine was enough. We fell asleep wrapped tightly in one another knowing we were to awake again before the dawn to continue on our journey.

The Chef's Truck at Milimani

Crazy Magenta Buildings

Candelabra, Acacia, Cacti

Maasai huts dotting the road to Arusha

Masai Woman in the Serengeti

1) Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls)  3.5 Stars

Pro:

• intriguing political atmosphere and its effect on the people
• Many action packed activities: Walking with lions, riding elephants, the infamous bungee jump, Gorge jumping
• Enjoyed the hippy dive bar I went to

Con:

• Victoria Falls did not live up to its name (atleast in May)… I like Niagra
• Activities are high priced

2) Zambia (Zambezi River) 2 Stars

Pro:

• Campsite on Zambezi River was beautiful
• I love monkeys and there were thousands everywhere, also animals invade your campsite.. ever see the book “Monkey Portraits” (LOVE IT!)

Con: 

•  lack luster overall

3) Malawi 4 Stars – Personal Favorite

Pro:

• the reason it is my favorite is not because it is the best but because it involved connecting with the culture and the people
• People in Malawi are very friendly and happy even though they are the poorest (makes you open your eyes ALOT)
• The Area is beautiful, very lush, very relaxed and most of Malawi is on Lake Malawi

4) Tanzania 3.5 Stars

Pro:

• All about safaris, and Masaii Mara culture, Snake Park is a must campsite
• Ngorongoro crater is absolutely the most amazing spectacle in nature

Con:

• Serengeti was lack luster, in fact null luster (but only because of bad timing… MAKE SURE TO GO ON SAFARI WHEN THE MIGRATION IS THERE BEFORE YOU SPEND $400

5) Zanzibar 5 Stars

Pro:

• An island in the Indian Ocean almost speaks for itself. All Day Snorkeling, boating  and huge lunch was well worth the $10?!?!? what
• GO TO KENDWA ROCKS BAR ON HE NORTH SHORE AND DON”T FORGET THE MARKET ON THE SOUTH PART
• It is not just an Island, it has sooo much culture, history, and don’t forget to take a Spice Tour… well worth it!

6) Nairobi, Kenya 3 Stars

Pro:

• It is Nairobi, you must say that you have been there
• You are instantly a celebrity if you are White. I felt like Britney Spears (maybe not a pro)

Con:

• People Stalk you and hassle you
• It is not particularly safe
• Sites are nothing spectucular, unless you go kiss a Giraffe like me look at my travel page

7) Masai Mara (mostly Kenya) 4.5 Stars

Pro:

• The GREAT MIGRATION WAS HERE…. sort of. Not in full force but it was here.
• Felt like I was on the National geographic, scouting around… Kenya has more liberal laws about driving right up on animals
• The Masaii Mara culture is interesting. From circumsizing girls/boys to killing lions for manhood.

If you would like to see pictures check out my Flickr or you can facebook friend me (let me know who you are and why you are adding me!!!)  And as always, leave comments and feel free to ask questions.

Today was a lazy day.  It’s been raining off and on so all the green things and the animals will be happy.

I keep seeing these slugs outside – took a picture for the boys as they seem to like that kind of information – they’re as long as my hand, and as big around as my finger.  I won’t complain about the slugs in my own garden so much after seeing these.

Heard a sad story a few days ago.  A grocery store in the Central Business District caught fire last year, and the owner was so fearful of people shoplifting from him that he ordered all the exits sealed, so everyone died.

I finally got contact with a young woman who came here as a volunteer, and decided to stay and live here (love had a lot to do with her decision) and she saw the same lack of real use of the volunteers that I saw, so is trying to do some work to remedy that as well.  I’m hoping that we can get together next week, and I can see about putting her projects on my website, if the Maasai agree to let that happen.

I got a couple really nice text messages from friends up in Oibor about the meetings, saying how much everyone appreciated what I was trying to do with assisting and enhancing  the current projects too.

There was also a nice newsy e-mail from my daughter-in-law and in it she told me how my youngest granddaughter Davina has realised that beautiful thoughts are what make people really beautiful.  They were  talking about, and looking at the work of Frank Gehry, for Pete’s sake – and she’s only 6.

Still haven’t had any luck tracking down local music.  There is some, but quite far away from where I am, so I haven’t been able to get there.  Went out last night, looking for a club in the CBD where there was supposed to be good local bands, but it turns out that the place has changed names and hands and now has hip-hop bands.  Ee-yew!  So ended up back at Simmers where I’d been before – a nyama choma place downtown (nyama choma is grilled meat – done on an open fire) – they have good Congolese Rhumba bands, so it was OK, but not what I’d hoped.

I looked around there and thought how odd it was that there seem to be no building codes in this country.  The newspaper the other day estimated that over 65% of the buildings in Nairobi are unsafe for occupation.  Simmers is an outstanding example.  A small permanent stucture for the bar – gotta lock up the liquor, after all.  The rest of it tented, with several open firepits and BBQs, flammable drapes at the ‘windows’ and scuffed-into-lumps and rolls indoor-outdoor carpet under your feet.  And saw an apartment building the other day being built where the framing was just tree limbs and construction cut-offs tied together.  They were already doing the block facing, so it must be considered an acceptable construction technique here.  It’s amazing how inventive people are in using what’s available, but also pretty scary.

I’ve had the vaunted nyama choma a couple times, and eish! they cook everything until it’s even too dried out to use for shoe leather.

Some of the other food I’ve had is really good though – the way they cook greens, onions, tomatoes and potatoes all together is just so tasty.  I’ve gotten into the habit of cooking tomatoes and onions together myself to eat with whatever else I’m cooking.

Getting used to shopping for food where everything is different is a challenge too, but interesting.  Even the potatoes are different.  There were 4 kinds at the greengrocer where I get my things usually – the things I can’t get at my local kiosk, since I’m not sure what they are – and the lady who owned the greengrocer told me one type was just for boiling and mashing, one other for making chips (fries), and the other two are as yet unexplained.  Lots of different fruits and veg too, so I’m enjoying exploring those – trouble is, I can’t get any English names for them, so I can’t let you know what they are.

Tomorrow there are craft markets at two places near here, so may get to those after church, and have to do groceries too.

It probably won’t be a really exciting day, but fun anyway, looking at all the unfamiliar things.

ttyl,

Was up early to get showered and packed for the trip to Kajaido – you have to turn the boiler on an hour before you want your hot water, and then there’s not a whole lot of it – so we left relatively on time.  I had Ibrahim drive me down, as he did that once before and knew the way, and I had too much stuff to carry for the bus and motorcycle trip I’d thought I could do.

Met Simon in Ngong, and drove towards Obior, and that’s when I found out that the meeting was being held at Joseph’s place.  Now Joseph’s place is probably a good 5 or 6 km – or more – in off the road over tracks that only a truck or a motorcycle can safely navigate.  I have the marks on my legs to prove that there are places you can’t get through with even a motorcycle without running through thorn bushes.  And we were in a low clearance 4 dr some kind of mini SUV type thing.

We went to Simon’s first so I could drop off the stuff I brought and pick up the things I wanted to bring back that I’d left there – a beaded walking stick that I had to check with KLM to find out how I could transport, and so on.

So, meeting is supposed to start at noon – we left Simon’s at 1:00.  Simon and Joseph walked, and we took Ruth, simon’s wife and Pauline, his mother.  I wasn’t aware at the time, though it had been discussed briefly some time earl;ier, that there was going to be a women’s group meeting too, and I was supposed to be present.

We got to Joseph’s just about 2, and not everyone was there yet – for a noon meeting.  I’m almost getting used to this.  If I’m late for work when I get home, I’m just going to claim I’ve been culturally co-opted.

We started the meeting at 2:30, as I insisted, told them that Ibrahim had to have the car back to the city by 6 p.m.  And I just dreaded the thought of having to find our way out of that place to the road (such as it is – at least you can see it) after nightfall.

As it was, on the way there, the ladies had to get out of the car on several occasions because we were bottoming out going through the washes, gullies and over the thorn bushes.  And I dread seeing the paint job on that car after what it went through.  And it was HOT.  And it was dusty.

So the meeting was called to order, then we had to eat – this is Africa, OK?  I pursuaded them to work while they ate, and I got Joseph’s promise that he knew about keeping minutes, and explained to them the information from the bank and the lawyer.  The lawyer has offered to donate the first year’s audit – she will pay her auditor to do it.  The Barclay’s bank needs a 20,000KS deposit to open an NGO account, apparently, so I’ll be off checking out more banks tomorrow, as that amount is quite beyond their means, even if everyone chipped in.

We did a bit more business, I took photos of the Board, and then it was 3:30 so Jos wanted me to speak to and meet the women’s group, which is much more traditional.

So there was a traditional blessing, then a speech introducing me, then a welcome speech to me, then I spoke to them and Jos translated for me – told them what we were trying to do, and how they fit in, and what else we could possibly try to get done, encouraged them in their work, congratulated them on harrambee, gave them the Native American saying that “women hold up half the sky” and so on.  took photos of all the women, then of the officers, and it was past 4 already, so told Jos I had to leave, but them there were more thankyou speeches, much mutual admiration, and I actually got out of there just before 5.

The drive out to the road was actually worse than the drive in, and after all that we landed in Nairobi right at the height of rush hour, with the guy Ibrahim ‘rented’ the car from phoning every 5 minutes wondering where he was.

I just still can’t get my head around the driving here.  I saw times tonight when there were cars going 6 different directions all gridlocked in an intersection like a ball of snakes.  Cars in the wrong lane trying to make turns out of the street while someone else is sitting in the intersection trying to turn in.  And the busses just cut everyone off because they’re so dented and banged up, everyone knows they just don’t care who they hit or run over.  It’s total madness!!

But I’m home and have eaten, so feel better.

Also wanted to tell you what I’ve discovered about families – quite often they aren’t, in fact.

Remember I told you about Pauline, who is 46 (or so) and had a 10 month olf baby?  Well, she’s not the birth mother, nor of the two older girls who live with her.  Since she is not having any more children of her own, and is an elder, relatives give her their children to raise, and the children take care of her – cook, clean, and she makes sure they get educated, both traditionally and scholastically.  Apparently this is very common.  The two older girls came to Pauline when they were already comparatively big, but the baby came almost immediately for some reason.  And there can be many reasons.  Parents who have to work in the city, unmanageable kids, orphaning, or just because someone wants another child.  They have none and you have some, so you share.  Seems strange at first, then seems pretty nice, and vastly sensible when you rethink.  “It takes a village to raise a child” taken to its logical conclusion.

Oh, and forgot to tell that the whole countryside was crawling with giraffe and gazelles today.  the green stuff is sprouting, and the animals are following it.  What a lovely sight.

Someone else waiting to use the machine, so have to go . . .

In my time in Nairobi (reminds me – did I tell you my Ma name?  Nairoshi – means a heavy woman that walks very slowly.  Cracked me up) I’ve found a few taxi drivers that gave reasonable rates, and call them in rotation.  Of the three, one I dropped soon since he’d show up where he dropped me off, looking for me, to make sure I didn’t hire someone else to take me home.  Made me feel like I was being stalked.

Then today, after asking a couple of the drivers and a couple tour companies how much it would take to go to Lake Nakuru – it can be a day trip from Nairobi – I settled on one, based partly on price and partly on who I figures I could stand to be in the car with for all that time.  Well, I called him and made the fianl arrangements for Monday, and by the crackin, it wasn’t two minutes later that one of the other guys phoned asking me how much he’d charged me and telling me that he’d do it cheaper, whatever.  I am just NOT used to this monkey-business, and have trouble handling it in a politic and polite manner.

Otherwise, I spent the day trying to get money and shopping for the trip to Kajaido tomorrow.

I needed to get a formal Minute Book for the board meetings, since that is one of the Bank’s requirements.  Finally found one then tried to get some money to pay for it, and the two Barclay’s machines that were near, one was o/s, the other pulled out of the wall.  Up to then I’d found only Barclay’s would accept my card.  So I went into the bank, but they can’t/won’t do debit card withdrawals at the counter, only on the machines.

Now you have to picture – this elderly gent is following me around with my bag with the Minute Book and my probable change, since his boss saw how I was wheezing (pollution from deisel trucks and cars in Nairobi CBD is unbelievable) and in order that I wouldn’t have to go up two flights of stairs again after I got some money (and he wouldn’t lose the sale by me going somewhere else once I got away) he sent his employee down to the bank machine with me.  So, OK, so far two bank machines not working.  Next nearest bank machine is a fair ways away, and in Nairobi traffic, that means an hour turn-around time.  I tried the Standard Bank machine again, just in the vain hope that something had changed since I last tried it.  No luck.  As I was leaving the mall, the old gent pointed out another bank machine down the back corridor.  I didn’t have much hope, but it worked, so all was fine.

I bought a couple trucks  – a dump truck and a front-end loader – for the kids, and some crayons too.  I was going to buy a doll for Natasha, but do you think I could find a black doll?  This is AFRICA for criminey sakes!  One of the toy store managers told me that he couldn’t get them in because so many people wanted them that they were always back-ordered for him.  A salesman told me that the only place to get black dolls in Nairobi is at the craft markets – the stores don’t sell them.

So I figured that since Natasha played ‘trucks’ with her brother with an cut-off of a 2 x 4, and played ‘motorcycle’ with him with an overturned oil drum, she’d probably just beat him up and take his truck unless I got her one too.  So that’s what I did.

And getting into the gender role thing with the Maasai, I found out that pale pink is the favoured colour of Maasai warriors.  I’ve got a great picture of Sironga dressed for school with his pink back-pack, and pink flowered knee socks.  I missed an incredible photo when one rainy day, the herders came home in their red blankets, sheltered under their pink frilly umbrellas. Nuts!

Anyway, now I’ve got to get on the net and see if I can find out just how one uses a Minute Book.  It’s been so long since I did anything formal with Boards or committees, that I just don’t remember.  And the bank will likely want it by-the-book.  And wish me luck in teaching someone out in Kajaido to use it properly . . . arrghhh!!

May not write tomorrow, as it will be a long day and lots of bumpy roads.  Meeting is supposed to start at noon, but taking African Time into account, who knows what that will mean.  Our last ‘first meeting’ was set for a national holiday so everyone could be there, but when they all met in Ngong to come out to the house, they decided it would be a good thing to go get a Tusker or two, and no one showed up until the next day.  *sigh*

Our driver, William, had asked Vipul and I if we wanted to do an all day drive on Saturday rather than morning and evening, back and forth over that horrid road, and then we could relax on Sunday morning before we headed back to the city instead of getting up at 5 a.m. for the 6 o’clock drive.  He said he would get the kitchen to make us a picnic lunch to take along.

I wondered a bit, since a lot of the animals will hide out during the mid-day heat, so was afraid there might be some we would miss.  I went along though, as a couple extra hours of sleep next morning sounded pretty good.  It was a mostly overcast day, so we were lucky on that account.  Also with the drought being so bad and the destruction of habitat so fierce, there just isn’t much for the animals to hide in.

In fact, lions and hyenas don’t even really hunt any more.  There are so many cattle and zebra especially, dropping dead, or just down with starvation or thirst, that they virtually walk along and take what they want without having to bother hunting.

The choice is so great that they seldom even eat the whole animal.  Once it’s down, they just open the abdomen and go for the nutritious bits like the liver, heart and kidneys and leave the rest for the buzzards.

I was amazed by the landscape as we drove up there and on the drives.  So many skeletons and bleached skulls on the ground that I felt as if I was passing through the set of a John Wayne movie.  I kept expecting to hear Riders of The Sage wafting in over the distance.

Apart from that, it was a grand day.  We saw many, many animals – elephants, giraffe, zebras, ostrich, marabou storks, little birds.  We also got to the river near the border of Tanzania, which we wouldn’t have had time to do on a regular morning or evening game drive, and got to see the crocodiles and a couple big pods of hippos.

The Mara is the largest river in the park, and is completely dry in many spots.  Even in the pools that are left, the hippos usually don’t have enough water to completely submerge.  The ’small rains’ of November are filling up a few pools, and some green is showing, especially on the verges of the tarmac roads, and all that is a blessing, but surely not enough.

But, the biggest deal of the day – WE SAW RHINOS!!!  A mother and a juvenile (not this year’s baby) were sleeping in some bushes so we could get quite close.  What a charge to see those creatures close and without a fence or bars.  We went off a while later to see some more lions, and when we came back the rhino and calf (?) were walking along, grazing as they went.

There was another incident with a mother and baby.  Elephants this time.  The baby was laying in the grass sleeping and its mother was grazing around it, but was always careful to keep her body so that it shaded the little tyke.  She also kept a wary eye on us, and we stayed a bit farther away so she would not get too concerned and think that she had to challenge us.

The tour I went on is actually a regularly scheduled run, and anybody can go, but this time there were just two of us, and that was kind of nice, since we had more room to spread out in the van, and more time to ask questions.

Vipul was a nice young Jain from India, and was only in Kenya for 4 days, then off to Dubai for another 4 days.  The Jain diet certainly gave the kitchen staff some challenges, but in the end they managed quite well.  I was telling Vipul about the project I’m trying to get going in Kajiado, and he volunteered to have someone in his company put together the website for us.  He apparently supports a lot of animal rescue and self-help groups, all around the world.  That is wonderful for me, since my HTML is *so* old, I would have had to go on a learning binge to get this done properly, and I likely wouldn’t have had time to get that done until spring.

And I went into the bank HO downtown on a hunch to ask if there were any special requirements for opening an account for a non-profit, and was given a whole list of things that have to be done and submitted.  SO glad I thought to do that because it might have been weeks more before anyone on the board thought of it, and it would have been just another hold up.

Anyway, I kind of strayed from the topic here.  The drive went really well, and we were rewarded with numerous sightings.  Back at the lodge I was approached by one of the staff who had heard of my project, and he wanted to give me contact info for his uncle who is the MP for that area and was interested in the project.  I was not too sure about that involvement so SMS’d to two of the board members, who vetoed the suggestion that he be involved.  So I guess that’s one call I won’t make.

Then it was supper, singing and back to the tent to watch the bush babies watch me, and another night drifting off to sleep to the tune of a gazillion frogs and night birds.

Shortly before the New York Marathon, I was visited by two very friendly and interesting Maasai warriors from Kenya who were getting acclimated to our town before they participated as runners. I’d visited Kenya and Tanzania about twenty years ago and met a few Maasai people on that trip, so I knew a tiny bit about their rich culture. I am impressed by their care for the environment and their cattle. This visit had nothing to do with my long ago trip, but I am glad to see that these proud people are preserving their culture.

My first impulse is to yell out “HELP!” but our Father in heaven already knows our needs.  Praise be to our God Most High and His wonderful hand of provision.

It took nearly two weeks to get over the effects of all those nasty shots.  Praise the Lord…we not only endured but we are victorious.  Looking back, I am ashamed to say that I complained about the shots (we’ll who likes shots anyway).  The Lord has shown me that many, many children and adults go through life without the privalege of being able to get what comes so easy to us Americans.  Father forgive me.  Allow us to see the way you see.

Please pray that the Lord will help to take all distractions away from us so we can focus on Him.  These next two weeks are so important for our preparation.  Pray that God will finish the work in each of us before we leave.

We are so pleased that we have another $1,000 in support pledged.  Thank God for your generosity.  This brings us to a total of $2,251 out of the $5,000 that God laid on our hearts.

We have set it before the Lord and asked Him when to get the Malaria pills.  God gave us favor again.  Ann Marie talked to her pharmacist and got a reduction in costs plus they will give us a $25 gift card for using them.  After we pay for our prescription, we can use the gift card to buy all the necessary travel supplies.  God keeps supplying!

God bless you all.

What a day!!  The good, the bad and the ugly.

The trip there, was just that – a trip!  We stopped for a restroom break at a lookout over the Rift Valley.  the views were breathtaking.  the lookout was lined with craft stalls, and the owners of the stalls had put in restrooms precisely so that the guides with their tourists would stop, as there are really no other restrooms on the 4+ hour journey to the park, except those put up by the craft sellers.

And what advantage they take!!  I figures out afterwards (much too late for my wallet) that the prices they started negotiating at were about 20 times the reasonable sale price.  I got the prices for what I wanted down to the acceptable 25% of the start, so figure I only paid about 5 X what I should have.

Another scam they have is to say that they’ll take things in trade, if you say you don’t have nough money.  One guy offered me 500 KS credit against a purchase for a 90 KS lighter – so that made me wary right off, and I didn’t compound my stupidity.  They also ask for T-shirts, pins and so on, offering ridiculous “credits” for them – but at the profits they are conning out of unwary tourists, they can afford it!

I’ll post a photo here later of the main scam artist, though they all are cut from the same cloth.  My advice to anyone going to Maasai Mara or out to the Rift Lookout, is to buy NOTHING there.  They have decades of practice in this haggling business, and you will NOT win.

Another thing I learned later is to smell the blankets before you buy them.  If they smell like laundry soap instead of sizing, they have been used, and you don’t want them.  this is apparently something that happens a lot at the park gate, where you will be swarmed by women and girls selling things, and the stuff is all junk.  You will get much better almost anywhere else.  Keep your car windows closed – they will actually throw things into the car in an attempt to get you to buy them.  Another scam is to tell you that a carving or something is old – and they have liberally rubbed it with cow poop and mud to make it look like it wasn’t made yesterday, which it was.  And on the way back, we stopped at another craft stall – with a washroom of course – and I went out back and found the ‘factory’ where the “ebony” carvings are made with black paint and shoe polish.  Caveat emptor reigns here!

BUT – once that was over, and our van had struggled its way across miles of, to me trackless (or more precisely, too many tracks, mostly for goats) savannah, we made it to our camp, a tented camp, 8 KM (supposedly) outside the park.  I found out later it took an hour to drive those 8 km, so you can imagine the roads.

A tented camp is a great place to be.  Tembe, where I stayed in SA, was a tented camp lodge, though I stayed in the reserach cabins.

The tents are huge, 300sq ft at least – high ceilings, double baffled so that there is good air circulation. Sealed floors, double flaps on windows and doors, one netting, and the other a storm flap for closing against the cold or rain.  Proper flush toilet and hot shower, and all that stuff.

After lunch and a half hour to rest, we set out on our evening game drive.  We saw so many things – elephants, giraffe, a couple types of antelope, one of which I dearly want to bring home for a pet, cutest thing you ever did see (Thompson’s gazelle), about a dozen different kinds of birds, zebras, and . . . .  drum roll . . .

a pair of cheetahs!!!!!!  (Which I’d also love to bring home)  I saw cheetahs – real live, beautiful cheetahs in their natural habitat.  What a thrill!

The park closes at 6:30 p.m. due to poachers, and all tourists have to be out, except those staying at the hotels and lodges right in the park, and they have to be in their hotels, not out gadding about or they might be mistaken for poachers and shot.

I’d love to have stayed at one of the hotels in the park in order to be right there and not have to make that hour drive, but their prices start at about $380.00US per night, per person.  Way too rich for my blood.

Our place was really excellent though – staff was wonderful.  Food (I really love to talk about – and eat – good food) was really good.  Hot water bottles were placed in your bed while you are at dinner to ward off the damp, and your room steward closes all the storm flaps and turns on your porch light.

Before and after dinner a chap with a guitar, who did some grounds work during the day, starts a big bonfire in the firepit outside the open air dining room and sings songs in several languages.  I suspect he was Congolese, both from the timbre of his voice and his rotund shape – not to mention I couldn’t see where his trousers waist was (Congolese wear them up almost under their armpits, very au courant in Lagos), and he did sing some rhumba in Lingala – but his English was too lacking to be able to really find out.  I did find out that he played with several bands in Mombassa, where he lived mostly.  He was good fun, doing everything from My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean, to Congolese Rhumba, to Swahili gospel.  I had fun doing some harmony singing with him when he did some ’60s and ’70s favourites like Country Roads.

Then, off to the tent.  Sat outside on the porch for quite a while just listening to the birds and frogs – and this animal called a hyrax, which looks like a tailless possum, and makes the loudest noise of any animal I have ever heard.  Silly looking thing is most closely related to an elephant, of all things.

It’s vocalisations start out with this bloodcurdling scream to mark territory, and then progresses to this sound that I can only liken to a stick being run along a wooden picket fence, with the sound magnified a zillion times through a loudspeaker.  You just cannot credit how such a small critter can make such a horrible, but fascinating racket.

As I sat there, the hyraxes quieted down and the cutest little bush babies started jumping out of somewhere and coming to hang on my tent poles, just staring at me.  I had to be perfectly still, as one movement larger than a small breath and they would be off.  And talk about jump!  These little things must have been 6 or 8 inches high, but seemed to have no trouble jumping 15 or more feet into a tree from a standing start on the ground.  It boggled the mind!

I have always been enchanted by bush babies, and in SA all the photos I tried to take resulted only in a pair of perfectly round, glowing eyes shining out of the dark.  But this time, the second night, I tried my video camera with the night setting and the backlight activated, and I think I got them!!

Tucked my weary bones into a lovely comfy bed, and drifted off to sleep lulled by the chorus of owls and frogs.  I could live like that for quite a while without tiring of it.

More later – someone else wants to use the computer.

Thought you might be interested in just how a wedding is planned in the Maasai culture.

When a couple decides to get married, whether on their own, or at the “suggestion” of relatives, a family meeting is convened where the wedding date is decided.  The bride price is set and agreed on – how many cattle the groom will give to the bride’s male relatives.Then the combined assembly decides what the couple needs to set up house.

There will be a big bed, a cupboard where food and dishes and a lot else can be stored.  Pots and pans, pillows, blankets and so on are all decided on.  Then each person there makes a committment to supply some of what is necessary, or contributes a sum of money to be put towards one of the larger items.  All of this is written down – BTW, Ma is a language written pictographically, it doesn’t have a phonetic alphabet – and a strict accounting is kept.

On the wedding day, the gifts will all be piled outside the house for viewing during the reception.  The reception includes much food, soda to drink, not alcohol, and many, many speeches.

Speeches are given by people chosen to represent the bride and groom’s parents and so on, not by the actual parents themselves.  I’m not quite sure why this is.  Then, if the couple is in dire financial straits, as most are, a donation parade is started where all in the community can contribute their few shillings to the couple’s welfare. Each person donating is introduced and can make a little speech.

As I had brought a wedding present, I was encouraged to go up and be introduced, but I declined as speechifying isn’t quite as much my natural inclination as it is with most Africans.

Then came the blanket exchange – or maybe just    from the bride’s family to the groom’s family, I haven’t got that straight.

There are three types of “blankets”. ‘Shukkas’ are the red type that all the Maasai men have – or purple in Tanzania.  They are an all-purpose protection from sun, wind, sand, and a sort of identifier too.  Then there are ‘kikoi’, which are heavier, and used for warmth.  The third type are ‘lessos’, very light patterned cloths that the women use to tie over their skirts and tops.  They might wear two or more for festive occasions.  Lessos are also used as a sort of bathing sarong for when the women  when they are taking what they call a shower, but which is really a bucket bath.

I think that all of the above are not really “traditional African” dress, as little these days is.  Most of what is considered traditional tribal dress is actually their particular take on what the missionaries imposed on them.  All three of these blankets, I think, fall into that category, as there is no cloth making anywhere near here, so they have always been imported.

There are other African “traditions” that my common sense tells me also fall into this category, but I won’t get into those here since this is a family page and also don’t want to get overly political.  I’ve just trained myself to take a “Yeah, whatever” attitude to these things when I’m told them.  I had thought at first of taking the attitude that a tradition is whatever has been going on for a couple generations, but that kind of makes a mockery of the age of African cultures.

Oh, and about the wedding.  After the church service, which incorporates lots of entertainment, gospel groups and the like, the bride and groom are walked to the reception surrounded by a group of singing, chanting women.  It’s pretty neat, and I got some video which I will post as soon as I can.

There seems to be nothing equivalent to a honeymoon for the Maasai, though I was told that some middle-class Maasai are starting to take trips.

I have probably forgotten things which I will post back here later as i remember or as I find out the things I didn’t know.

BURNING QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Has anyone figured out how to get the soap out of your armpits with those stupid “rainforest” shower heads?  I can’t contort sufficiently, nor can I splash convincingly enough and have had to resort to taking a cup into the shower.

ttfn,

~m

Lots of good things today, but first I want to tell you the night-time scary story I forgot to tell.

While I was living in the boma, my suitcases were on the floor, as were a few plastic bags I had with laundry, books and snacks in them.  I woke up in the pitch black one night because something was rattling my plastic bags.  I thought first of the wind, but it wasn’t blowing just then.

Then all I could think of was  . . . RATS!  I was really nervous, since I really am quite fearful of rats.  Mice, OK – but rats are a different prospect all together.

It happened again the next night and I was even too nervous to reach my hand out of my sleeping bag for my flashlight to see if I could spot what it was.

The next evening I told Simon what was going on, and he said he thought it was his mom’s cat sneaking in.  That kind of made sense since cats love to play with crackling plastic bags.  And all the cats I’ve seen in Kenya are just kitten sized, even when they’re full grown.  So it continued for another couple of nights and I didn’t worry too much, though I had begun to wonder just how the cat sneaked in every night.  I could see that happening occasionally with no one noticing, but every night . . . ??

Anyway, one evening when we were all sitting around chatting, I hear it again.  I told Simon and we got my flashlight and the paraffin lamp and went to look.

Well, what did we find but the strangest frog I have ever seen.  It was a chameleon frog.  The first time we shined the light on it, it was completely transparent – you could see the outlines of its internal organs.  Within a minute it was as dark brown as the wood it was sitting on.  What a trip!

So I ask Simon if he will take it outside, and my big Maasai warrior tells me he is afraid of frogs and lizards.  Knock me down with a feather!  Well, I wasn’t picking up any strange frog if I didn’t have to, since I know that some frogs have an irritant on their skin to prevent them from being eaten because they taste so bad.  Anyway, one of the young girls found an empty plastic bag and we got it in that and outside.

Now it seems certain to me that I’ve written this story before, but I can’t find it here, so excuse if I missed it and it’s a repeat, OK?

Now for today – I found a great lawyer.  A lady who did her Uni at Wellesley in the US, and is really pro-active with projects like mine.

We spent a long time talking, and she is going to look into all the legal stuff, but is confident that the current registration covers what we need, but we will have to keep really good books and hand in audited info each tax season.  That sound much like home, so I was glad that it was a bit familiar.  She has offered to “donate” the auditing, by getting her auditor to do the project’s books when he does hers, and she will pay for it.

We talked a lot about projects, aid and NGOs, (I seem to be doing an awful lot of that lately) and she wants to take me to meet the Minister who is in charge of those things, as they are friends and hold similar views.  And she has invited me to tea at her house too.  Really, really nice lady, and I’m so glad I met her.

Before that I’d gone and paid for my Maasai mara trip, so that’s set for Friday, until Sunday.

Then I bought a couple of bird books, one for me and one for the stiff-necks’ guide we need to train back in the bundu.  I love the bookstores here and would love to stay long enough to read all the good books written by Africans, as we seldom see them at home, and some look just wonderful.

Rain really thundered down again late this afternoon, and it had been sprinkling all day, off and on.  I’d love to come home from Africa with the tan people expect of you when you come from Africa, but I think likely I’m going to shrink with the damp.

So that’s about it for today – Oh, except I got a bottle of both grape and orange Fanta (in glass bottles), favourites from childhood, to see if they are as good here as I remember them.  I had already tried the Bitter Lemon and Stoney’s Ginger Beer, both nice and nostalgic too.

ttyl,

~m

They say that travel is educational, but forget to tell you how dumb you can feel before you get educated.

Today I went to another plaza, looking for an internet cafe recommended to me so I could see if finally I would be able to pay my bills and start the website.  And I wanted to see if I could find a good book to buy.

Well, I asked at the plaza where the bookstore and net cafe were, and was told the 2nd floor.  Couldn’t find them.  Came down and asked someone else – same answer – so went up and looked again.  Still couldn’t find them.  Repeat.  It took that long for me to remember that Kenya uses the British system of floor numbering, so what they call the 2nd, we would call the 3rd.  DUH!

Internet cafe still couldn’t handle my thumb drive though, so I’ve been busy e-mailing all my utilities and so on, asking for them not to shut anything off or start collection action until I get home and can pay them.  It sure helps to have a great credit rating when something like this happens, and to never have been in arrears, as a couple got back to me within minutes with the OK.  Maybe by tomorrow I’ll be able to let my breath out.

Wish I knew more about stars – and birds and lots of things.  When I was out in the boma, the stars you could see were so numerous and so bright – one especially, that it was hard to believe that you couldn’t just reach up and grab one.  I think the night sky is the most beautiful I have ever seen.  Wish I knew what the biggest brightest one is though – the one that seems directly overhead.

And was thinking today about the cattle there, and how the herdsmen seem to sing them home.  And how sad it is to see so many dieing.  One half grown youngster dropped virtually on my doorstep and died there a day later – there was nothing they could do, apparently.

And the strangest thing – their goats and sheep are virtually indistinguishable.  Sheep have no wool, except for a few throwbacks, and they have the same pointy faces as the goats.  Really weird.  Sironga was given his first goat by his dad while I was there.  A new kid from this year, and Sironga is so proud to actually have one of his own, though he is quite the little man when it comes to helping bring the herds in, cutting brush or other ‘manly’ chores.

And Natasha copies her mom and sweeps the floor with the straw broom.  (I forgot to tell you that the cattle are so hungry that they sneak into the houses looking for the straw brooms to eat, then you have to fight them for the broom.  Also, a side-thought, the bulls here are so mellow, none of this aggressive nonsense like ours or the poor things they fight in Latin countries.  the bulls here wander free just like the cows, can be patted and pushed around by hand and no sass.  Amazing!!)

It’s an odd feeling to be in a society where children can still get along just by copying and learning what the adults do.  I’m so glad though that most of the parents realise that that situation won’t last long enough for their children to live their lives that way.

the Maasai seem on the whole to be wonderful, gentle parents.  I’ve never seen one yell, or hit a child – which makes them saints in my book, since I know well the temptations that children can put to you.  <G>  but there again, their society is much more like what I’ve seen in N American native homes.  Not so many rules – maybe hardly any at all.

I know for Sironga and Natasha, furniture was for climbing and jumping on, windows were for crawling through, and the corrugated metal wall behind where the guest was sleeping was for running a stick along. Different values and different necessities for different places, I guess.

The hyenas were fun at the boma too.  Every night they’d come sniffing along the thorn fence, looking for a way in to the cattle and sheep, and the dogs would set up such a racket.  This could go on all night long, and usually did.  To say that Kenya has not been kind to my acqusition of a proper night’s sleep is to make a real understatement.

So, maybe I’ll go and try to catch a few winks now.  ‘Night all . . .

According to a piece posted over at Digital Spy, Edward Norton once said “I haven’t personally really engaged in a lot of this new kind of social networking stuff like Twitter or Facebook or MySpace. I mean, the notion of people following what I am doing every day is like torture for me.”

But all of a sudden, all that’s changed! Over on Twitter, Norton can now be found right here, as Edwardnorton. Why the change of heart? It’s simple. He’s got a cause!

Norton has teamed up the Kenyan Maasai Warriors and a number of other activists to raise money for Wilderness Conservation in Africa. The efforts will culminate in Norton and a team running the New York Marathon for sponsortship.

It’s a great cause and he’s been raising a ton of money with giveaways and contests as he gets sponsors for runners and his own team. Prizes so far have ranged from movie posters to running shoes to Blackberries pre-loaded with personalized videos from Norton himself. It’s a great way not only to interact with one of our day’s most celebrated actors, but also to give to a good cause.

The day has turned out to have had a nice ending.  It didn’t start too well, as I was looking for a new place to stay.  This place is OK, but very noisy for someone who likes to be a night owl and sleep in mornings.

The laundry is right behind my bathroom and the noise comes through my bathroom window right from the crack of dawn.  The office is right above me and it’s tromp, tromp over my head from 6 a.m.  No sleeping in here.

And when I get some photos posted, I will post some of this little apartment and have a contest to see who can guess most closely what it costs a month.  I’ll have a little prize for the winner.

Anyway, I stopped to get my new quarterly, then went to an internet cafe that was recommended in my guide book in order to pay my bills only to find that the cafe had been closed for several months.  Found one nearby, but the mouse clicks wouldn’t take and the machine wouldn’t connect with most websites, so didn’t get anything productive done though I tried for almost two hours.

After that I decided to wander around the area I was in and look for a used bookseller and lunch.  Found a place that looked nice for lunch – and it was.  Spotted a guy with a newspaper on his table, and since I hadn’t seen the news since I got here, went over to ask if he was through with his paper.  He invited me to sit and talk, so we talked for several hours.  He was self-employed, so didn’t have to punch a clock.

He gave me ideas about where to go for certain things and how to calculate what to bargain for when I’m shopping.  We discussed Kenyan politics (the newspaper contains nothing but government financial scandals and sports), travel, NGOs and other types of aid.  He made a sly comment about whether I’d been to the Canadian Consulate yet (not if I can help it, thanks) and told me where he thought the best net cafe was.  It was 4 p.m. when I called my taxi guy to pick me up.  It was such a nice change from my constant diet of goal-centered discussions and playing ‘all around the garden’ with the kids.

Anyway, I told him what I was currently doing here, and guess now I’d better finally tell you-all too.

It started with the discussions at the homestead about the volunteers, and my sad experience and those of my fellow inmates at the hostel.  The discussion was mainly started on a night when the head of the local Maasai outreach program and my hosts were all together.  We discovered between us that this was an on-going problem, and even worse than I had understood, since the large amounts of money that we were paying for these programs that were supposed to be filtered down into the community were being kept by the middleman and never making it where they were intended to go.  He was co-ordinating for 4 different volunteer organisations who sent people into Kenya, and the projects were getting zero, and the hosts were getting barely enough to feed the volunteers at a subsistence level.

So I asked them why they didn’t take it over and run it themselves and then the community could decide how to allocate the money coming in.  All I got were blank looks, since self-empowerment and organization are not really big skills here as much as some try.

| kept jotting ideas down over the next day (and night) or two, then called another meeting with those who had been at the first discussion and a few more.  I laid out my ideas for having a locally based community org to co-ordinate all Maasai volunteer experiences, value added options, how to set up a board, what they’d need to check out with a tax attorney, ideas about how to allocate any earnings and so on.

Well, we’ve had several more meetings now, and it seems to be taking off, along with a grey-water recycling project combined with container gardening that I proposed to the local nutritionist and clinic doctor, as well as to the local women’s initiatives group.

I’m really excited about the grey-water and container gardening, since what little water they do use for bathing, dishes, laundry etc just gets thrown out and if they had appropriately sized containers could be used to grow veg instead of having to take the ‘truck’ a half-hour into Ngong (on a good day) and buy week old wilted crap with no taste.  They love kale, tomatoes, onions, cabbage – all could be grown in containers and be fresh for the picking.  I also proposed chickens in movable pens.  The Maasai will eat eggs and love them, but they’re quite expensive here.  Chicken not so much, as I discovered that like some other middle eastern and African cultures, they traditionally only eat hooved animals, not those with toes or claws.  But the eggs alone would add so much protein to their diets, it would be wonderful.

When I was at the clinic – the nutritionist had invited me to come and see the feeding program she was running (which had run out of the high-nutrient porridge they were supposed to be handing out) – the child she was charting was over 10 months old and only weighed 4.9kg – not much more than the weight of an average newborn.   It really rips you up to see that kind of thing.

Anyway, the upshot of it all is that I’m back in Nairobi to see if I can find a net cafe where there is sufficient equipment that I can get started on a website for the volunteer project (with my pathetic HTML 2), and to check out the legal stuff.  I’ll be spending most of my time here from now on probably, and going back to the boma for meetings every week or two.

I’m also going to contact the Uni to see what types of veggies and ‘brands’ of same they recommend for growing in sandy soil and low water conditions.  And to find a good Kenyan bird guide, as one of the young folks up there will have to train themselves as a stiff-necks’ guide as that could be another source of income for the project.

There’s more, but you get the general idea, eh?

So I’m spinning, emotionally.  Going from being really excited about the projects to being absolutely devastated by the culture of thievery and the possibility that the project will just lose steam after I’m home and not gently pushing.

And I really appreciate all those who have taken time to drop a comment here and keep in touch.  Some days I’ve been feeling as if I’m the only sane, honest person left on the planet, and a word from home really helps to ground me again.

And for those days  I just update on my laptop and don’t have a chance to edit it here, please forgive any spelling etc, as much of what I write on the blog on the laptop can’t be seen as it scrolls off the side under the sidebars, and nothing I’ve found will make it visible.  If any of you should ever visit the Rift Valley and see a little green laptop way down a cliff, you’ll know whose it is and how it got there . . .

Well, things are changing very quickly.  But I’ll get into that later.

Right now all I want to tell you about is the magical evening I had.  It was a dark and stormy night (sorry, I couldn’t resist that . . .)

The wind was howling and it was raining hard.  All of us, Ruth, Simon, the kids, the three herdsmen and me had squeezed into the kitchen where it was warm, since Ruth was cooking and the wood fire was going. (I forgot to tell you about the large calf that was brought in too, since it was an orphan and they were afraid it would get cold in the rain with no mother to keep it warm)

You have to picture that – all of those people packed into an 8′ x 8′ room, with a small fire in the middle.  Things were friendly to say the least.  Then the ‘boys’ got into the mood to sing, and they started singing their ‘age set’ songs.  These are the songs that are given to each age group of boys upon their (group) circumcision.  There is a lovely melody and a background of what I can only call ‘huffing’ to accompany it.  I had tried to record it, but it didn’t seem to take.  I was entirely enchanted.

What an extraordinary and beautiful evening.

Some singing from another night: (sorry, you’ll have to copy and paste the links)

http://www.livevideo.com/video/8E8138A9BF5C42EA9A21902B7886EBE2/maasai-singing.aspx

http://www.livevideo.com/video/393112D296544D3E90431BA984D1479E/more-maasai-singing.aspx