Birthday in a Boma...

Wow, such a crazy past few weeks. I am now back in Arusha and interning at Shanga Shangaa (www.Shanga.org/) There I am working on marketing and looking for possible prospect customers in the U.S and Europe. I spend many hours on the computer, but it is fairly interesting and the business is an amazing place. The rough overview of the Shanga mission is the idea of employing and empowering disabled Tanzanians. The business currently employs 57 workers and creates jewelry, clothing, glassware, greeting signs; the list goes on and on. Most of the materials used to make products are recycled, meaning not only does Shanga employ and empower but it is also ecologically responsible.  They also have amazing food and coffee that is to die for.

This past weekend my group headed out to Longido to stay at a Maasai Boma, there we learned about Maasai culture and how the Maasai people live today.  The Maasai are a group of people who traditionally live in huts made of sticks and cow dung with a giant surrounding fence made of bramble. One Boma houses an extrended family, uncles, aunt, fathers, mother’s, etc. The Maasai don’t have chiefs but rather have age sects that people are born into and grow up with. These sects have stages of initiation and help govern and protect the traditional Maasai way of life. The Maasai raise sheep, goats, and cattle and are known for their beautiful jewelry and traditional clothing (and more uncommonly known for their terrific knowledge of where things are.)  There are of course Maasai that live in modern houses and dress modernly, but there are also Maasai who still live the same way their ancestors have for 100s of years. No electricity, no running water, no cars, no modern conveniences… Well,except cell phones. They do have cell phones,  which is a bit puzzling to me because they have no power outlets to charge them, I am wondering if they might have solar chargers or something like that. Anyways, the weekend was amazing despite the lack of warm blankets, soft beds, and actual bathrooms. It was like extreme camping, with cows. Not too bad if you ask me, we watched them slaughter a goat, and as we ate it the sun went down leaving us a spectacular African sunset.  That night we sat around the fire and taught the kids camp songs and looked at the stars.

The next day I woke up to watch the sunrise, which seemed only like the appropriate thing to do on my 20^th birthday, and the only reason I would ever really want to get up before 6 am.  Ohh wait, did I not mention that yet? I am 20 now, and I spent most of the first day of my 20s in a Maasai Boma surrounded by donkeys, cows, lambs, and baby goats…  If any of you don’t know me too well I should probably tell you that this was probably the most perfect and ideal way to spend my birthday due to my strong affection small ruminants and adorable ungulates. We also attended a Maasai church and held 2 week old puppies. Kristin also saw a Giraffe, but I was too engrossed in looking at the hills during the bus ride and missed it entirely, but oh well. This next weekend we are going on Safari, so I suppose I will make up for my lack of giraffe seeing there.

It is amazing to me how complicated we live, I mean I am currently writing this post because the internet at my work is not being compliant to us employees, and I just had a coke and texted my roommate about meeting for coffee after work… Anyone who is reading this is at a computer, on a smart phone or some other internet capable device and is actually spending their time reading about my current life in Africa. I have grown up with no worries about food, water, clothes, housing, I mean financially my family has not always been on the bright side, but we have never been in need. I attend an amazing University and have access to knowledge, opportunity, clothes, and freedoms I didn’t even know I had. I have been coming to the realization that my entire life I have been blessed beyond belief and have taken for granted and even complained about things I didn’t like. It baffles me now that I use to beg my parents for channels on our TV and not just movies. Many of the people here in Africa, not just the Maasai live with much less than electricity let alone a TV with channels. Power outages are common; nearly everyone takes some form of public transportation that varies in safety from type to type but as a general rule is high-risk, and rather dangerous. People don’t have closets of clothes, or lots of furniture, they just have what they need. In the US we are always told we have so much, but I cannot emphasize enough the reality of that truth. We live in such abundance that some people cannot even imagine and we have no clue. All that said, the Maasai (and in general many of the people) I met/meet are the kindest, happiest, people.  They are far more grateful than anyone I have met before this trip and have more integrity than many people I know. It astounds me.

To be honest even though we didn’t have bathrooms, blankets, running water, electricity, or really anything that would be normally conducive to “normal life”  I could probably have lived in the Boma much longer then a night, I would have really liked to study the culture more closely and been able to ask more questions. Maasai still have their native Maasai tongue, and  only a few that we met knew Swahili and none in the Boma we stayed at knew English. But I can learn right?

 It was a bit like stepping into National Geographic, very un-real feeling. But very very cool, while I am only 20 and have no idea where my life is heading as a social science/ art major I have a feeling that I would quite enjoy staying in a Boma for a time and learning more about the Maasai culture and society.  So, maybe someday I will be back. J

SHEEP AND GOATS!

The head of the family in the boma. I didn't catch his name but he was very kind and knew a little Swahili. 

Me and a day or two old baby goat! :) I kept getting flashbacks from my earlier sheep raising days. :) 

Most of the area looked like this, red dirt, Lion King trees... And yes, in my mind they are called Lion King trees. Some areas had more shrubbery but for the most part this is what it looked like all around the boma. 

The outer wall of the boma and Longido mountain. 

A hut inside the boma. 

Beautiful sunset.