Our last tribe to visit was the Maasai tribe. These people can be recognized by the long, cape-like clothing and the large holes in their ears from the earrings. I think they are usually herders of goats and cattle as well. Similar to the other tribes, Shauna had inquired what gifts would be appropriate to this tribe. Sugar, maize, pens/pencils and learning books for the children to learn their letters. Travis, Shauna and Missy brought the learning materials from the States and we all pitched in for the sugar and maize. Joel is from a Maasai tribe, his family has since moved to town. One sibling is a doctor, his sister lives in Tennessee as a nutrisionist and Joel went to school for 3 years to be a tourguide....very different than this village we visitited. The sign upon arriving said www.maasaivillage.com if you are interested....hmmmmm.
This tribe is off of the beaten path and do not regularly receive gifts or tourist visitors. We were SWARMED!!
The women laid out their hand-made beaded jewlery and would latch a bracelet on our arm and try to make us buy it. Each of us girls had 2 or 3 bracelets on each wrist at one point and not wanting to buy any of them. One woman put a necklace over Missy's head and then plucked a dollar bil from her hand, "I guess I just bought this" Missy said. These women were extrememly aggressive, bickering if one told us 2 dollars while another one said 3 dollars. They were pushing amoungst themselves and than wanted to charge us a dollar to take their picture!! Joel and another tribal gentleman handed out the writing materials and candy to the children and forced them to line up. Pushing and shoving, the little ones didn't even stand a chance.
The man sitting by the hut w/ a stick in his hand was the chief of the tribe. According to Shauna, he was a very nice gentleman....
The housing was well built I thought with a doorway which you had to dogleg left, then right into the hut. This prevented the dirt and wind from coming in. The beds were off of the ground and they built primitive storage racks above them.
At one point, our cook, Abdula was yelling at us to get in the jeep, the crowd was overwhelming us. I don't know if these people are so poor that they just didn't know how to act w/ us or what the deal was. The gifts we brought bc we wanted to help and do something nice for them. I don't need a thousand "thank you's" but I don't want to be swarmed and then given a hard time for not paying a dollar for a picture.....Joel said that the Maasai tribes in town have more "tourist" ettiquet. They let the tourist have some space and browse if they want to shop......Only one woman seemed to be gracious, they younger one w/ the beautiful smile and child on here back. Unfortunatley, Missy and I both didn't enjoy this tribe very much.
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