Endulen Diary Vol. 23, #11 November, 2008
Kenya trip, Earlier this month, I spent a week at Lemek on the edge of the Maasai Mara game reserve in Western Kenya. I had gone there for a workshop sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Ngong. We gathered priests and catechists, to continue our efforts to acculturate our church services among the Maasai. The discussions lasted four days and during two of those days our discussions were interrupted by the attacks on the local Maasai by bands of Kipsikese warriors. Piercing cries of women prompted us to run outside and see what was going on. It developed that the Kipsikese and attacked and four Maasai were variously injured. One man was shot in the head with an arrow, two more were hit in their legs by arrows, and one man, running away, stepped into a hole and broke his leg. Another day, we again heard the cries of Maasai women. Rushing out, we were told that the village of the local chief and been attacked and a herd of cattle stolen. No one seemed to have been hurt in this second assault. Asking the people there what was going on; I was told that hundreds of years ago that part of the rift valley was Kipsikese land. Resentment over the Maasai appropriation of their land had been simmering over many generations. The eruption of violence at the beginning of this year after the Kenya elections had given people the opportunity they had been waiting for since times of yore. As in other places, violence erupted, homes were burned, and people were killed. Now, many months later, and after the political problems have been resolved, or at least patched over, sporadic violence goes on. After the workshop, those of us from Tanzania were lucky enough to get a car from the Mara to Nairobi. In Nairobi we caught a "daladala" to the border. These are the small mini-buses holding about ten people. It was the most frightening ride of my life, without exception. We traveled at an average of 75 miles per hour on the two lane highway south, dodging articulated lorries, huge buses, cows crossing the road, donkeys, bicycles and people. NEVER AGAIN!!!!
Infant care Maasai style, The new born baby’s bed is beside the bed of his mother, whose leather skirt serves for him to lie on. Here the child lies on his side when his mother sits beside him, or at night. At other times she carries her baby about with her, as a rule on her back, less often astride her hip, or on her arm. Only very small babies are carried in her arms, and then only in the first month of their lives. The baby still remains on its mothers back, while she works, held fast in her leather upper garment. Only if the baby proclaims its discomfort by continued screaming, is it handed to one of the women nearby to be quieted, or if it is rather older, the mother seats it on the ground in some clean safe place. The father scarcely ever holds the baby in his arms, but only takes it up occasionally for a moment. As soon as the child cries, either at night or in the day time, its mother gives it the breast, or in her absence another woman suckles it. If that does not help to quiet it, it is rocked in the arms, or a lullaby is sung to send it to sleep. Such a lullaby, universally known, is the following: "Oh my little child, I say to you, grow and become strong in our village filled with cattle." Till next month, Ned |