Morning in Maasai country

February 22
On Sunday we had a delicious lunch of goat and chapattis at a restaurant in Kisii with our new host, Emmanuel, who is the director of Nmunyak Massai Welfare organization, one of Village Volunteer’s partners. He drove from his home in the bush to pick us up in his 4 wheel drive vehicle, very necessary for the unpaved and often treacherous roads near his home. The rolling hills around his home are soft and green, with patches of trees on the crest. Very lovely. As night fell we could see hundreds of fireflies flitting about in the grasses , and the air was filled with sounds of tinkling cow bells.

We awoke this morning to a beautiful landscape. It is very peaceful in this rural setting. I am sitting on a bunk-bed in our round guest house with a grass roof. We both just took warm baths (we take baths by filling a bucket with water, and using our hands to splash water on ourselves), and I am listening to Emmanuel and a visiting medicine man speak in their mothertongue. It feels wonderful to be here.

As we drove here yesterday I was admiring the rural, largely cultivated landscape, and thinking about how to my eyes it looks very beautiful, but it might not look that way to a local. Geographers talk about reading a landscape, and it is interesting to begin to be able to see the land in this way. Maize and tea are two of the most identifiable crops from afar - both were introduced by English colonizers, and both shape Kenya in many many (not so positive) ways. The hillsides are farmed almost all the way to the top, having been deforested; from what we have heard about other areas of the country, the soil is probably eroded from the degradation caused by chemical fertilizers, and years of rains washing off the topsoil. Near Emmanuel’s home, which is where he has lived with his extended family since he was 6 years old in 1978, there are dense trees. He told us that when he was a child it was a much thicker forest, without any openings, where elephants, zebras and giraffes roamed. He knew as a child to not go into the forest during certain parts of the day because he might encounter elephant herds. Now many people are living in the area, as the population expands, and the animals have mostly been pushed south to the national park.

Emmanuel also shared with us some of the history of discrimination faced by the Maasai. While this traditionally nomadic tribe is really the symbol of Kenya, their lands have been reduced and reduced to the point where they really can’t be nomadic anymore and are taking up farming. Emmanuel stated that the Maasai have become a commodity – images of them are sold everywhere. Social services are completely neglected in their region – poor roads, lack of clinics, lack of schools. Emmanuel was inspired to start a school partly because of his own difficult experience growing up – he could only attend school 2 hours per day because there were water buffaloes on the path that would harm him and other children if they passed earlier in the day – and partly because of the shocking fact that not one Maasai student has ever entered the prestigious national high-schools due to poor test results on the exam everyone has to take when they are about 14. His academy is dedicated to reversing this trend, to educate young people – Maasai and other tribespeople - who will help the community.

We had the privilege of visiting the school, which is still very much under construction but has grown leaps and bounds since it first opened just a couple of years ago. The school includes a large garden, and Joshua Machinga will be giving a training there soon. Permaculture is included in the principles of Emmanuel’s organization, Nmunyak. The school is located in on a hillside with a STUNNING view. As with Joshua’s school, many of the students are boarders, and they gave more scholarships to girls to ensure gender equity. The classes are accustomed to welcoming guests, even in the middle of their periods, and we were welcomed warmly, including the 8 – 10 year olds who stood and sang a song for us as we were trying to duck into the classroom without making a disturbance. We sat on the small school benches with the children as they learned about water in their science class. It was super fun. Then we sat in on a Swahili lesson, and I also got to serve all 250 or so students their afternoon tea, each kid stepping up with their own cup, once cuter than the next. A highlight was their physical recreation period, when they played games like escape the lions, who are in the center, and you have to try to run past them without being caught. Lions really do take kids from some Maasai villages, so I’m sure this game was a complete rush for the kids. It was easy to imagine returning there one day to volunteer at the school – it is a lovely place.

Emmanuel is a lovely man, soft-spoken, gentle, and very sharp on many subjects. He is quite fierce under his gentle demeanor. When he told us about his vision of entering 20 or more Maasai students into the national high schools, his face lit up like a thousand suns, which I found very moving. In addition to expanding the school, Emmanuel has many other plans. Once he raises sufficient funds he plans to build a clinic and a community library including a strong digital component (he has a degree in library science). He also plans to build 4 other schools in his region. Part of his fundraising plan is to build an eco-tourist resort, and he has already purchased the land.