Halls

Halls
July 2015

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Lyle's Week With the Maasai - Part 2


Day 4
Up early to see my surroundings; a few men are guiding their yoke of oxen as they pull the plow behind, preparing for the upcoming rains. Mark soon joins me and off we went to his mother’s small cow-dung hut. Mark disappears inside and welcomes me. Easy for him to say, I can’t see a thing in here. Through this black doorway I go, head down (low ceiling) I bang along till I come to the central room of the small hut. I greet mom and get seated on the bed which is sticks of wood covered with cowhide, no mattresses here. Mom stocks up the fire and my eyes adjust to the dark and with the small fire I am able to make things out. There is only one small hole in the wall and this is it’s the single source of light. It lets the light in and lets the smoke out. After my eyes stop burning from the smoke, the place becomes quite cozy.

Some culture
Over a cup of chai (milk tea) I ask Mark to tell me his story. He was born to the second wife of his father who had passed away some years ago. He is one of 60 children. His father had 6 wives in all. It is common to have many wives in the rural Maasai communities. He told me of the chief a few hills over, ‘he has 32 wives’. So how many children does he have? “Somewhere around 200,’’ he said. “He is a powerful man; he has a thousand cows or more”.
Each of Marks ‘6 mothers’ has their own hut. When married, each wife builds her own hut. It is here where she lives and raises her children.
Where a particular family lives is called a boma. It is like a yard as we know it. There is the main common hut which all family member use. Then there are the small huts for each wife. The boma or yard is fenced in by thorn bushes and branches of acacia trees. These thorns are to keep the cows and goats in during the night and keep the lions and hyenas out. Every time there is a new ‘wife’, the boma increases in size.

The common hut is made of mud while the huts of the wives are made from cow dung. Not sure why, but there is no smell in the hut at all of dung, it is warm and well insulated. Once you are of a certain age for a young man, even before married, he will move out of his mother’s boma and build his own mud hut. Pastor Ezra and I are staying in Mark’s little mud hut just a stone’s throw from his mother place. When a young man marries, his wife too will build herself a little house and then they in turn will start their own little boma.

When boys are circumcised here, (I will talk of the girls also) somewhere between the age of 11-18, this is a very important stage in their life. There are 10 stages in one’s life and for each stage they are given a cow and/or a few goats. They keep these animals with the bigger herd until there are enough to start their own and then they will separate and put their own brand mark on their individual animals. I have seen a single herd up to 200-500 cows all belonging to one family.

It is quite common here that girls are married as early as 8 years old, but mostly by the age of 10. It is the responsibility of the girls and women to be cooking, to be at home taking care of younger kids and do most of the milking of the cows and goats. They are also responsible for bringing water to the boma. During the dry season getting water is not an easy job. Often they will go 10-20 miles for water. They bring it back on the backs of the “Maasai 4x4” which is called the donkey.

The men and boys are responsible for protecting the cows first, then the family. The cow is the highest value and it is believed by most Maasai that all the cattle of the earth belong to them. It was not that many years ago that the Maasai often had war against other nomadic groups claiming that they have stolen their cows a long time ago and now we want them back.
The men are responsible for hunting and carrying on the family line. I have seen young boys not much older than 4 years of age out all day with a small herd of goats. At the age of 6-8 these boys are taking young cows and up to a hundred goats and sheep for several days out in the bush or plains. With no food or water from home, they stay out with the herd. If they are out for several days generally a group of these young boys will travel together.

Amazing, I am still trying to get my 10 year-old to clean up after herself, and to think that if we were Maasai, she could be married by now or out in the bush for several days all by herself watching over a herd of cows. Am I missing something here……?? When the boys grow older and have entered the stage of manhood, this is after circumcision, they will be out with the cows for several years, not returning home at all. Moving throughout the plains with the herd. Living on meat alone.
Mark told me that when he was out there he was gone for 3 years, ate nothing but meat. He also said there are many times that they would be out of water for days, he said once he drank no water for 7 days. So much for the theory of dying after three days with no water. But then these are the Maasai, they can survive the bush.
It is often during these times where the boys will shoot a small arrow into the neck of a young cow and let the cow bleed into a bowl and they will then drink the blood. Often they will mix it with cows’ milk. This custom not only takes place when there is no water but at most celebrations the drinking of blood is part of the festivities. Mark said that he does not follow the drinking of blood tradition now that he is a Christian. Although he did ask me if I wanted to try it! No thanks, I’ll stick to Dr. Pepper…

12 noon.
Today is the first day of the seminar and people are beginning to make their way to under the tree and blue tarp. Most will be coming for the evening sessions once their cows’ are safely in their bomas. 12 noon is the official starting time but likely start at 2 pm. Concerning the subject of time, time is irrelevant here. One is really never late, if things don’t get done today, well tomorrow (or next week) is always coming. In our Western world time is of most importance. Time is more valued than even money in many cases.

In most cases in Africa people would rather spend the time than the money. So if I have to walk 3 hours to get home, well that is better than spending a few coins to take the local bus. Valuable time is always coming so what is the hurry? As outsiders the sooner we understand this cultural difference the less frustrated we become when people don’t arrive ‘on time’.

After our meeting and a goat-and-rice supper we make our way to a small boma to have our evening meeting. It was scheduled to start at 7, but it was just about 9 when we started. Overhead just outside the little hut was a nearly full moon, just about bright enough to read my bible.
The time started with singing and dancing. A time of celebration. Singing in the African context seems to generally always be a time of celebration or praise. Very little ‘worship’ songs as we know it. Seems to never be a time to settle the spirit down and worship, but everything is loud and busy right from the start.
I understand nothing of what they sing, their language is very different from Swahili, but I get in a dance with them and they all laugh at this mzungu. I shared this evening again, finishing up my story.
In the first session this afternoon I told the almost complete story from the beginning. Very often people only know about Christ and salvation but very little of the whole story before Jesus, the foundation of Jesus and the forefathers of the faith. And here in this culture knowing about the forefathers is a very important part of their social system. So today was trying to give a foundation of Jesus and salvation which gives him a place of honor and respect here in Maasai Land.

I am back in my little mud house under the light of a flickering candle. My goat skin covered bed is not the most comfortable, but not too bad except for this board that runs right across the middle of my back and there is nothing I can do about it because pastor Ezra shares the same bed with me, so not a lot I can do but whine and complain about it…

To be continued.....