Maasai Land

Hi!

So I made it to Maasai land about a week ago and so far have learned a ton. The Maasai people are so interesting. They are known for being honest and kind and I have definitely experienced that. I immediately felt welcome in their home. They make their living through tending cattle and goats...my family owns about 100 cows and even more goats. The animals stay in a big fenced in area outside and the older brothers spend their days taking care of the animals.

The scenery is BEAUTIFUL!

About my work: My days are pretty chill. The school is only a ten minute walk from my house so during the day I will go over there and help clean or play with the kids or help build shelves for the night school. Every night from 7-10:00 there is a night school that I help teach. It was started by three volunteers (one of whom I live with right now- she is amazing). It is the only Maasai night school in Kenya and it is a fully functioning primary school for people who have to tend the animals all day and can't attend school. The first day they started the school in December, there was 17 students. Now there are 40 students and 2 paid teachers. The students range in ages 12-30. They are all at different places in school; some are at a pre-school level and we are teaching them their letters, while others are at a grade 8 level. The school is completely free for the students! It is a really great program - it gives people the opportunity for education who otherwise wouldn't have one. They hope to expand to include women in the program and open other schools throughout Kenya.

About my family: I live with a family who has a total of 3 wives and 19 kids though there are only 2 wives around and 10 kids. The youngest is just over a year and he is adorable (he is actually one of the kids' kids) and the oldest is in their late 20's. It is so interesting - the wives build their own houses and live separately from each other. The dynamic is very interesting with the father; we rarely see him and he doesn't really talk to us or the kids. He always stays with one wife - not the one I live with.

A couple of my little Kenyan brothers - Tanango and Saalosh

The house mom I live with, Grace is soooo nice! She barely speaks any English but she makes a huge effort to talk to us through the kids. The kids are also amazing. They are so quick to make friends and they felt like brothers and sisters even on the first night when they were already making fun of my laugh haha!

I don't have a picture of my host mom, but this shows how the traditional Maasai people dress. I mostly only see the elders dressed like this - with elongated ear lobes and lots of jewelry.

About my living conditions: There is no electricity here. The house is a 45 minute motorcycle ride away so most of the time I keep my phone off to conserve battery and save myself the long and expensive trip into town. There is also no running water at all and since it's so windy here I am really dirty all the time! There are bucket showers but it's only half a bucket of cold water so it's hard to get clean. As soon as I step in the water my feet make it super dirty. The toilet is a hole in the ground and the floors of the house are dirt. Oh, and I have fleas from all the animals around...the bites are so itchy! The days are really hot and dusty and the nights are super cold - I sleep in a sweatshirt and long pants most nights. The kitchen is a mud hut where they cook over the fire. It gets really smoky.

Making chapati - my favourite! It takes about 3 hours to cook though-such patience

Overall, I am learning so much about the Maasai and what it's like to live like them. The thing I find most inspiring about them is their desire for education. One of my brothers is 20 years old and is in class 8. Three years ago he started paying himself through school and was fast tracked through primary since his family didn't have the money to send him themselves. And some of the night school students walk 3-5 hours EACH WAY to get there every night. It's truly amazing how badly they want to be educated. Being able to read is something I never really appreciated before I came here and I see how hard people my age are working to learn.

Anyways, I only have a little over two weeks left here and I think it will be a bittersweet departure. I have loved my time here but I miss my family and friends. I am so excited to see you all!

Much love and see you all soon! 

Lisa

2 months in and life is good!

Hi everyone!

This is my last week in Nakuru! I am moving out to Maasai land for my last month to teach at a school there! I will have no electricity or internet unless I go into the nearest town so I will be basically off the grid. I am so excited but also so sad to leave my host family. The last two weeks I was the only volunteer here and we got especially close. Jane is so great - she has literally been my African mother. She has comforted me when I have been sad and supported me in all projects I took on. And James is so kind and honest. He always helps me with my Swahili and makes sure I'm happy with my placements. Finally, Lovelyne their daughter is SO cute...she is the happiest baby I have ever met! I will miss them sooo much.

Lovelyne!

My host family with my old roommate, Nessa

The last few weeks have been busy. I went back to the school thinking I would only stay for a day or two and then return to the women's crisis center, but I realized I had a lot to wrap up. Though I had finished the website and the Facebook page, no one knew how to use them! So I made a manual for them showing exactly how to update the website and I got anyone who had Facebook to 'Like' the Facebook page and the deputy has been updating it. They are now hoping to use the page to communicate with parents so I made business cards with the website, Facebook page and email on them to hand out to parents and teachers. I was very surprised at how few teachers had Facebook - I have been getting Facebook pages for some of them. The last few days I have been registering the grade 8 students for the KCPE which is a standardized exam that grade 8's all across the country must sit for. There are 123 students and I need to register them all and take all their pictures individually. Needless to say, it has been a lot of work!

One day I taught Creative Arts and they had a talent show complete with people singing duets and having dance competitions - was awesome!

I have also been working on starting an outreach program that I want to call 'From Girl to Girl.'
Who & Where? For the young girls in the Garbage slum aged 12-17. I want to target girls who are of school age who don't have access to their own source of income.
What and When? People will go once a month and talk to the girls about HIV/AIDS, relationships, self esteem, etc... and hand out sanitary pads.
Why? Education is critical in getting these young mothers out of there and stop the cycle from repeating itself. In order for the girls to listen to us, we need to bring something to give them and pads are the most relevant to our topics. The young girls use crude methods instead of pads and if they ever asked their parents to buy them something (if they have parents!), they would be mocked - either food or pads.

They have similar programs in some of the other slums and I think they are great so I wanted to start it here. Yesterday was supposed to be the first day, but unfortunately most of the girls in the age group I wanted to talk to were in school and could not attend. I was frustrated because I have waited for this to happen for the last month and I have worked hard to make sure that it happened smoothly but the person that I was working with was not so organized. But alas, this is Kenya! It's alright though, we still gave out the pads and some other women came with us who gave food to the children.

I have 2 Kenyan women that are going to take over the program now that I am leaving and they are amazing. They are going back next week and now that they know who to talk to directly, they will get it done.

Jane, my host mom broke her leg last week getting out of a matatu. She had to visit four hospitals to get a temporary cast since one hospital would have an x-ray machine but no doctor, and the next would have the opposite problem. The government hospitals are on strike so the private hospitals take advantage and overcharge for everything - it is quite a nuisance for her!

In closing, my time in Nakuru has been amazing. I have learned so much and met some really great people. The most important thing that I have learned is that Kenyan women are so strong. The culture here dictates that all kitchen work belongs to the women and it's a common story for the woman to be raising a child on her own or, if the husband is still around he is often a heavy drinker and leaves it to the woman to work, raise the child and also do all the house work. (obviously my host family is an exception!) These are some of the wonderful women I have met:

Edna - She is a friend of my host family. Since my house mom is pregnant with her second child (and now has a broken leg!) she has Edna come and help with the housework. Edna is so kind and so hardworking, I hardly ever see her sitting down. She found out about 2 months ago that she has cancer, but she took the news in stride. She took awhile off work to recover from her first treatments but now she is back to coming every day and working as hard as she can. Cancer tests and treatments are incredibly expensive here so she is worried about the money but I just can't believe her attitude. You would never know she was sick and had recently received such bad news from talking to her.

Grace - She is a 15-year-old girl who goes to my school. Her father passed away and her mother is in jail so it is left to her to care for her two younger siblings. Everytime they misbehave she blames herself for not raising them well enough - but it's so unfair for such a young girl to have to act as mother, father and sister to two children! When I think back to my problems when I was 15, they were just soo trivial - I have no idea how she does it. She is so selfless and never asks for anything except someone to talk to. She is a wonderful young woman and I will miss her so much. I hope there is a way we can keep in touch!

There are many, many more but I don't want to make this post too long. So, wish me luck in Maasai on my next adventure!

Safiri Salama,
Lisa