Maasai Oral Histories Project
Field Journal, January 8, 2005
By Morton Beebe

Yesterday we visited Sekenani Primary School, a school of 475 students aged 5 to 14. Only 20 students were present. This low number illustrated the difficulty in communication. Landlines, cell phones, faxes, emails are all the modern tools we take for granted. Stanley Mpoe, the head teacher explained that at school break the children had been told to come back on the 10th of January. A change in opening date could not be communicated to all the children, some of them living as far away as 15 kilometers from school.

Today we visited the village of Olonchura on the edge of the Maasai Mara Game Park. On the way we saw a pride of lions. The village creates a corral of sharp barb brush about 7 feet tall, to protect themselves from animal intruders. Their circular krall, or corral, encloses several enkang'itie or manyattas, sleeping quarters, made of mud and dung with neither electricity nor running water. At night 70 head of cattle are herded into the corral.

Upon arrival, the women from our group gathered underneath a tree with the eldest woman of the village who shared her knowledge of the maasai culture and lifestyle. Her key comments were that she hoped the children would go to school but not forget their heritage. Out of her 13 children, she sent several to work and marry outside the village, but she is making sure that some stay with her to take care of the cattle, and at least one daughter to take care of her.

Whereas the male contingent sat with a village elder who told them two stories after answering questions concerning the Mau Mau uprising. He felt that the partition of lands at the settlement was not to their benefit. As to the future, he advised the youth to respond to the offerings of the modern world but not lose their manner of dress and identity. He was more animated and had a clearer mind than the elder who addressed the school yesterday. He was a true storyteller, listening to him was like watching a movie -- one could visualize the story. He was just as concerned as the elder of yesterday about the Maasai losing their culture, but he was optimistic. He then told two legendary stories about giants who were feared and conquered. In the first story, a girl was used to lure a giant to his death, and the second story told of a young warrior pretending to be an old sickly man. It was a treat for the elder to have such an audience. He normally does not find so many people listening to him; he was thrilled to have the young village men sharing his past, a rare situation. We are eagerly waiting for the full translations.

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