it's killi time

day 1 with the maasai:

get ready for stories...

our adventure began in an old land cruiser, probably a retired safari vehicle, with torn up leather seats and almost 400,000 miles on it. we were loaded down with boxes of medical supplies and our personal necessities, sitting 4 girls across the back seat with kurt packed in the back on a bench seat with all the stuff, and dr. lace driving. I wrote about this surreal day by the light of my headlamp, lying in a small bed in the middle of nowhere tanzania. it was definitely one of those moments when I wonder exactly how I found myself in such a situation. I had an idea of what to expect on this trip, but I was somehow very unprepared to spend several days living in a maasai village far from where mzungus usually travel. if we thought we drew a lot of attention in arusha, imagine what show stoppers we were in this isolated village. wzungus are a genuine novelty and we were constantly reminded of it on this adventure.

it took us about six hours of travel time to reach lengasti, the maasai village that was our destination. about 30 minutes of that was on the paved road leading out of arusha. aside from the wild drivers passing in dangerous places and speeding around dr. lace as he putt-putted along in the land cruiser, the most you have to worry about is the dreaded triple bumps- three abrupt pavement bumps spaced just right so that as you come down the second with your front tire you’re hitting the first with the back, and again and again so as to get maximum shake-age of the care and it’s passengers. most vehicles all but stop for these bumps, but it took dr. lace a couple of times abusing kurt in the far back of the car to realize he had to take them a bit slower. the shocks on this ancient car certainly aren’t what they used to be. our other 5 plus hours were spent on pot-hole-ridden dirt roads that were a constant remind of the lack of shocks on the car. we had picked up an acquaintance of dr. lace’s before turning off the paved road, and he was directing us through the maze of back roads, instructing dr. lace right then left then right again, to the point where I was sure he was lost.

we eventually made it to the first of several destinations, an orphanage-type child care place called Rafiki. but not before taking too many detours and venturing through a side road so packed with men that I was genuinely concerned they might decide to overtake the vehicle. this hustle and bustle area was a hot spot for tanzanite to be chipped away and worked on so that it can be sold after harvest from the nearby hillsides. we drew some serious attention from the crowds and crowds of men, there was hardly a woman in sight and we must’ve drove for several blocks… um… if you can call them that… before finally escaping the male dominated mob and proceeding the rest of the way to Rafiki.

there we were greeted by 20 or more children of all ages, who were singing to us, one of which was an older boy with “I <3 obama” embroidered on the pockets of his jeans. the kids were too cute, and then our “guide” for the day went over to them and whispered our names one at a time to the lead singer, a young girl, and she incorporated it into the song. granted, the telephone that ensued from us telling him our name to him telling them our name, to them actually singing our name made the names almost indistinguishable, but it was sweet nonetheless, and their dance moves to accompany the song were pretty awesome as well. we got a tour of the facility, very nice and new, apparently this is one of the orphanages that dr. lace supports. they force fed us a meal though dr. lace insisted we had plans to eat in lengasti. people love, love to feed you here, as we learned all to well during the rest of our trip… I have never felt constantly full for so many consecutive days. our meal at rafiki was pineapple and passion fanta (yes, they have delicious fanta flavors here), and rice and sekuma wiki, the cooked green cabbage stuff that I actually really like. and we ate with our hands like true tanzanians. it makes you feel like such a child, food all over your right hand (it is rude to touch the food with the left hand) and lifting it to your face so sloppily, but a lot of fun just the same.

we left guide guy there and picked up the famous gladness. where do I even begin with gladness? she is spunky 40-something maasai woman who breaks basically every rule of the culture. when we arrived she climbed out of her toyota truck and strutted over to us in safari pants, a plaid short sleeve button-up, and a white baseball cap. this woman is somethin’ else. get excited for all of the gladness stories I have to tell, she’s a once in a lifetime kinda person. to begin, she entertains us the entire rest of the car ride to lengasti. she’s asking ‘how do you find the road? it shakes the breasts’ she says and we all bust up laughing at this unexpected comment. we discuss how someone who works with dr. lace’s orphanage foundation hit a goat the other day, costing 30,000 tzs. when a goat later crosses the path of our land cruiser, gladness says ‘no problem, that one is small, only 20,000’ joking about hitting it. she proceeds to lead our ‘safari’ to lengasti, pointing out farm animals like cows, goats and donkeys and identifying them as rare gazelle, zebras and lions. we passed some really incredible baobob trees – one gladness estimated to be 500 years old. they’re not very beautiful, but more interesting with their trunks disproportionately thick to the spindly, leafless branches. I like them. I also find the massive termite hills to be very interesting, and fun to photograph, though I don’t like the idea of the actual termites. The land cruiser was a beast, taking on pot holes, dry river beds, branches, and rocks. We past the occasional dikdik due (apparently they mate for life) and birds of every color. For how dull the bush is, muted red dirt, dry shrubbery and a lot of dust, the birds are bright and beautiful with feathers every color of the rainbow. The dull landscape also makes the reds, purples and oranges of the traditional maasai drapery pop out and the contrast is truly picturesque.

we made it to the village of lengasti with a plan that had been laid out by gladness in the car. when we arrive we were to greet everyone, tour the garden, and see where we’d be staying, then we had to go get cleaned up and ready for dinner. there would be no sitting with the maasai people before that point, if we sat to talk we would never be left alone, did we understand? everyone agreed to the plan. we were welcomed by a pink sunset, 15 plus women and a handful of men, all eager to shake our hands. we repeated the maasai greeting (great, just when we’ve mastered the basics of Swahili we’re thrown into a situation where no one understands swhaili).our bags were unloaded and we were led to the garden by the proud maasai women who sang the whole walk there. The people here do not have vegetables because it is too dry to grow them. gladness has created plant boxes lined with plastic and is working on growing fresh veggies so as to show the women it is possible. The women and children here are in desperate need of better nutrition and more varied diet, and gladness is trying to show them they can take charge of this and grow the veggies for themselves. Healthy kids are a sign of a healthy community and the children here are sadly far from good health. gladness is working to change that. the chanting of the cultural songs continued and we joined in, clapping along and following the brightly dressed women back to gladness’ house – what dr. lace calls ‘the gladness hotel’.

the women stopped on the way and circled up. we did the same. they were singing loudly and clapping along. the women would take turns stepping into the center and jumping to the beat of the music. the younger women would get goofy and do funny dance moves that would make everyone laugh. it was one of the those moments when I was standing in the circle with the maasai women clapping along to their chant, the sun setting over the huts in the distance, that I wasn’t quite certain how I had found myself in such a situation but I was thrilled to be there. what a treat to get to experience this culture!

We were finally permitted to head back to our two small rooms to shower. Amy and I were in one, thu and jennah in the other. The shower was a trickle from the ceiling of the bathroom and the water was icy, but it felt amazing after our long day of travel and it was quite a treat considering we weren’t sure we’d have water at all. it was also very interesting to shower to the sound of the women singing outside. Gladness had mentioned they would do this, but we thought she was joking. Wrong! Talk about a soundtrack for the shower.

dinner was as amazing as could be. Guests served first and we were all hungry despite our snack a few hours before. We dished up rice and beans and this amazing vegetable curry type stuff they had made especially for me, the lone vegetarian. The women served themselves next, which was apparently a big deal because in the maasai culture the men usually eat first and are served by the women. Instead, we saw the women serve themselves and go sit down to eat. Then we watched gladness go over and say something to the handful of men who were sitting nearby and they stood to go serve themselves. Gladness is a pistol! The food was the best I’ve had in arusha so far and we sat by the light of the lantern digesting after we had helped ourselves to seconds. They brought out tea and roasted peanuts post-meal, and I was perfectly content sitting there listening to the murmur of the maasai people as they ate.

We enjoyed our food outside under the stars. Mosquitoes are not a problem because it’s too dry and cool but the flies are the greatest nuisance! Those who attended the dinner were representatives chosen from the 7,000 maasai living in the area. The moon was bright, casting defined shadows as the night’s conversation began. Dr lace would speaker and a local teacher they had brought it would translate. He spoke of all that he plans to do and reminds them of what he’s done so far. He also shared several stories about when gladness went to the states. We’re learning about the dynamic as the trip goes along but from what I understand dr. lace and gladness traveled in the u.s. for a few weeks going to high schools and other places to speak and raise awareness (and money, but that didn’t so much happen) for the maasai. He had stories about gladness going in a hot tub, which was pretty funny trying to explain what that was. Also he told a story about her leaving the ‘maasai mark’ in a cave in central Oregon (aka peeing). The maasai would talk, ask questions, thank dr. lace and gladness and she would translate. She asked if we had anything to say and we went around basically thanking the maasai for having us and letting them know we appreciate them opening their lives to us. Then it was kili time! that the logo for kilimanjaro lager ‘it’s kili time, make the most of it’ or the one I like better, if you can’t climb it, drink it :) the three of us, dr. lace, jennah (a nursing student from an ohsu satellite campus – did I already explain that?) and kurt (a college student and canadian contemplating medicine) followed gladness into her house for some drinks before passing out to the sound of a rooster - yeah, i thought they were supposed to crow in the morning too... unfortunately not.