Volunteer Journals

Amie Wystrach, July 2007

Posting from Ngong, Kenya.

We have just walked two hours to town through the Ngong Hills, at the top an absolutely beautiful view of the valley that houses our Maasai village named Kimuka. Deirdre and I have now been there a week; which seems hard to believe as our homeland of civilization is a million miles away. We are staying with an incredible Maasai family, and have learned so much from them about their culture and the history of this part of Kenya during our short stay. They are very social people, day and night traveling around from one mud hut to the other, having tea and talking over the mundane details of their day.

We are roughing it by any American standards, but have the best the village has to offer and have been treated like we have been sent directly from God. Everyone we meet is so grateful just to be in our company. We stay in a small house that has been built for volunteers; unlike the traditional mud walled and dirt floor Maasai houses; ours has concrete floors, wood walls and a tin roof. We have a shower curtain hanging at the end of the hall, a small hole in the ground through the concrete completes our bathing quarters. Every morning a member of the family carries in a bucket of water, just warmed on the fire, for us to wash with. We then have our first of many servings of hot tea (called Chai, but very different from your Starbucks variety!) for the day and head to Kimuka Primary school by 8am.

The school is just about a 10-minute walk from our cluster of homes. There we are local celebrities. The children run at us, sometimes all 450 of them, yelling "Hello, how are you?" We have so far taught English and Science; if we were here for longer than two weeks the head teacher, Joshua, would be more than happy to give each of us a class of our own. Many of the children are so poor that their shoes are more holes than leather, they have tears in their uniform sweaters and the little ones are covered in dirt… but they are very seldom without a smile.

I have, many mornings, gone into to teach the pre-unit, the Kenyan equivalent to kindergarten. The little ones only know a few words in English, so this class has been particularly challenging. We are working on learning the ABC lullaby and 'Itsy Bitsy Spider'. The classrooms are made up of wood benches and one wall painted with the color 'chalk board'. A classroom is lucky if they have an eraser, most just use a crinkled piece of paper. By our standards, the state of their school is horrific. None the less, the kids are so grateful just to have the chance to learn; their attitudes are amazing.

We go home for lunch at about 1pm and spend the rest of the day on tour... visiting different women in the village, going on mini-safari to see the giraffe that inhabit the valley, learning to make Maasai jewelry, and comparing customs between America and Kenya. The people are blown away by how old we are, and are so concerned that we are not married. Those are the two questions most asked after ‘how are you?’.

It is obvious that the standard of nutrition is so different here; one of the 5 year old boys in our village looks like he is about 2. We eat about 90% starches (Maize, rice, potatoes), another 8% vegetables(cabbage) and occasionally have a bit of meat. We had goat last night for dinner, I knew it was goat because as we made our rounds from wife to wife’s houses for evening visit; one of them was taking meat from a goat neck and head in her back yard. In our family there is one dad, four wives and several sister-in-laws. I have not yet attempted to count how many children are in the Kinayia family, but the average is about 7-8 per household. Each woman has her own mud hut somewhere situated around the corrals where all of the cattle, goats, and sheep are brought every night.

While it is really hard and so different; it has been a truly incredible experience. The Maasai people are really wonderful, and I am learning so much every day. I think my visit here have a lasting impact on many of the natives; but am more certain that it will change me forever.

Ole Sere (goodbye in Maa)
Amie

Casey O'Connor, July 2006

I spent the last day and a half in Kenaya Village at the base of the Ngong Hills. It is absolutely beautiful. The scenery is like nothing I have ever seen. The Ngong Hills are misty and blue above the long, flat, acacia-tree-filled valley. I arrived with my host David who brought me in from Nairobi where he goes to Theology school. He was very kind and very generous. Once in the village I met Mama Moses who would cook all of my meals for the duration of my stay. After a period of observation she gave me my Maasai name, Nasarian, which means peaceful.

I then began my crash course in Maasai. The village is made up of manyatas which are classic mud and stick style huts. The villagers are amazing. Everyone was so kind and warm, especially the children. The village was composed of the Dad, his four wives (the Mamas), their respective families and one of the older sons (Amos) and his wife and children. I felt very much during my time there that I was having the traditional African experience. I gathered firewood with Alice (Amos' wife) and we carried it back to the village on our heads. I worked on beads with Mama Moses I went to the primary school and watched the weekly flag raising ceremony.

I have many pictures to share and some are very funny. The Maasai have a wonderful sense of humor and laugh all the time. The children love to sing and dance and performed many of the songs they learn in school for Carley (the other volunteer) and me. Carley was very helpful in showing me the ropes as she had been there for nearly a week. They called her Nashipai which means happiness and suits her well. She is a teacher from Portland and is much better with meeting and conversing with everyone that I am. I am so thankful that she is around. It is challenging to be in such a foreign world and it is nice to have a companion while doing so. We took a long walk yesterday evening along the road near dusk. Some of the children joined us near the end and we went closer to the bush to look at the giraffes which come nearer in the evenings. The children like to touch our skin and hair and correct our pronunciation of Maasai words. They laughed at our blue veins which they can see so well on white skin.

Many of the older children have gone through primary and secondary schools and many plan to attend college. They tell me that they are modern Maasai and they seem so invested in their tribe and their families. Of all that I spoke with who plan to attend college or university not one said that they wanted to stay away. They have set up many youth and women's groups which meet often to discuss life and problems. The youth groups are AIDS educators and go around to the various villages speaking with their elders about prevention techniques and working to dispel myths that AIDS is a curse and not a disease. They are so empowered, strong and intelligent.