Day 8 with theMasai

#8 My week and a bit with the Masai

Day 8

            Today is marked day, an important day to the Masai. They come to this market from miles away. Many will walk easily 30km or about 20 miles to come. The life of the Masai is all focused on their livestock. Each animal plays an important role.

            At the market they bring their animals to sell or trade. It is mostly all done in auction style. It is amazing to me how they all know which animal is mine and which one is his.

            A goat or sheep will go for about $30-$50. Younger cows go for about $150-$200. A mature bull goes for around $500 and up. Even the cattle are survivors, it is a special breed.

The cow is life for the Masai; it is not only for the milk, meat, the skin, but it is their main source of income, it is their survival, it’s their very identity, their pride, their statement to other tribes, it is also relationship, the cattle brings prestige and power, a good name or a bad name.

            This is so important to understand when working with the Masai. We as outsiders just look at the cow as a cow and that is as far as it goes but if you are going to work among the Masai and do not acknowledge their highest value ‘the cow’; they will not respect you. So when preaching or teaching I will always try to bring up this value ‘the cow’ and incorporate it. The whole entire life of the Masai is valued around the cow. Often the older boys will be out with the cattle for a whole year before coming home.

            The sad part is that this value or very strength of the Masai ‘the cow’ is also a big weakness for them. Difficult to understand but the cow is more valued than their own children. (Boys become valued around age 12-15, girls become valued around age 8-12, more on this later.) The men value the cow more than his wife or wives, the women struggle very much with this of course because they are forced somehow according to culture and tradition to value the cow more than their own children. The cow is valued more than education, even the health of family.

            Now bringing in the gospel is crucial to understanding this value. I heard a Masai chief say that he had a hard time excepting the white man’s religion called Christianity because their God does not have room for the cow.

 Let’s look at my good friend Mark. When he sold one or two of his cows to build his church he was ridiculed, mocked and lots of shame was spoken to him by the whole community. But year after year Mark has held strong, he has started three churches now out of his own small herd. He sells at least one cow every year to help support the conferences that we started 6 years ago. Witchdoctors have tried to put spells over Mark but he stands strong. Mark has a strong faith, a deep conviction in his spirit and a strong love and vision for his people. He is looking for motorcycle now to take him around all his ministry points. If you are interested in supporting Mark please get in touch.

            Meanwhile back at the ranch these cows are getting restless because our driver is still not here. I can see in Dr. Rick’s eyes from time to time that we need to ditch this guy. The problem is this is like the only vehicle around for hundreds of miles so we are at the mercy of this vehicle.

            The market was full of Masai, imagine that. They came in all shapes and colours. Out here in the rural areas they are all thin and fit. Many of the men are tall and fair looking. It is very common that the men wear ear rings. Some times their ears hang so low that they can actually tie them in a knot. I saw a guy once with a small plastic container in his ear, maybe he kept his tobacco in it.

            Oh yes I forgot to mention that we did get yet another flat tire on the way here to the market. This guy needs some new tires.

Dr. Rick was busy pulling out teeth so he did not get much time to walk around the market. I enjoy walking around and watching everything and see how it all works. The Masai on the outside can look to be a simple people but the opposite is quite true. Their culture is deep with tradition, beliefs, and certain ethical behavior must be followed.  It is very complicated really. There are about 7 stages that each Masai goes through in life starting at a young age. Stages for girls are different for the boys. I don’t know but the Masai know which girls are married or not by the types of beads they wear. When a woman is pregnant she wears something different, if she is the 1^st or 2^nd wife it is something different again, it just goes on and on. It may be a bit of a boring thing for you but I find it all fascinating learning to understand so I can in turn help them understand. It often takes an outsider to actually show you your own worldview and mindset.

            As we headed back to Pastor Musa’s house about an hour's drive we saw zebra and wildebeests’ grazing on the open plains. When I am out here like this I wonder why in the world do I live in Kabwe town, the beauty out here is just fantastic. Anyway I hope to get home without a flat, we have no spares and then we have to take the whole tire apart out here and this is not fun.

            Actually we passed a witchdoctors house on the way here this morning, he has 39 wives. A powerful man in the spirit world and has lots of respect and feared by the community. The community got together a few weeks ago and sacrificed 49 cows to honor him and thank him for all he has done. They also know that this gives him more authority in the spirit world over the life of the community. Hard to explain all this but when one’s eyes are open the spirit world is very much alive. Talk about a book. I have seen and heard stuff here that challenges the best of us.

When we met this man he was sitting talking with some of the community elders, I greeted him in Swahili. As we drove off I encouraged Pastor Musa and James to invite him over for tea some time and build a relationship with him. With a bit reluctance and fear they agreed, although Mark was all up for it, but Mark lives quite far from here in Tanzania, we shall go to his place tomorrow.

            This evening we are off to pastor James’ house. He lives high up in the hills, we look forward to it.

Karibuni – Welcome