Masai Village

Our visit began when Chief John met us at the door of the van and introduced himself. He explained that we came at a very good time because the village was beginning a celebration of a wedding of one of their young warriors. The warriors were preparing the food for the wedding banquet away from the village because warriors are never allowed to consume any cooked meat that the women have seen. We were all allowed to taste the food.

This red cloth was always the dress that the Masai men and women wore and you could see people dressed in that way on the streets of all the small villages in the area.

Above, the cooking party. Below, the cooked goat.

The young warriors.

Me tasting the goat. It was pretty tough and not seasoned. Walter wrote: "Lorena tried to warn me--too late--how they cleaned the knife used to cut the meat after it had been sharpened. It was by wiping the blade on a pile of cow dung. Honest. Ask Iris.

This is the lucky groom. It is his first of many potential wives. Most warriors have as many as five wives in their lifetime, and with each new wife, they get richer and have more cattle and belongings. This is because with each wife comes a dowry consisting of goods provided by the family.

We were then treated to a warrior dance which consisted of singing and energetic jumping. Larry joined right in.

Line dancing included Iris for awhile.

We finally entered the circle of village huts. Each hut looked exactly alike with a door that made a turn to discourage animals from entering.

The lockwoods are sitting on a bench which serves as the woman and child's bed.

Then, were were treated to some very interesting singing by the village women. Here, Phyllis and Elaine are there, but I doubt if they are singing.

They then demonstrated the building of a fire without matches. It was clearly an exhausting process since three warriors took turns spinning the rod. Below shows the fire after 10 minutes.

But this women is singing. She is the soloist that sings between each of the chorus lines.

This is the bride standing next chief John, the brother-in-law of the bride. She is well beaded, and yes, Kris, she was married barefoot -- just like you were. We promised we would send her a picture of her in all her beads.

We then visited their Masai school. The girl in the dark blue top is Susan and we were very impressed by some of her exquisite art work. To the right, she was happy to show me her notebook.

And Susan's work was proudly displayed on the wall by her teacher. It is really a shame that a talented girl like that will probably never be able to use her ability on the outside. Very few Massai women ever leave these villages.