Maasai Village!

I almost forgot! I mentioned the Maasai Village and the people there, but forgot to go into detail about that. The afternoon on Wednesday, we were able to visit a village. They live completely in the wilderness, and usually raise cattle, sheep or goats for a living. The village we went to had 250 people living in it, with one chief. The men, called Maasai Warriors, dress in red to show their warrior status. The boundaries of the village are multiple branches of trees that have been gathered - the men do this job. The women are in charge of building the homes, which take 2 months to complete. They are built out of sticks and cow "dung". Yes, it's for real. There is one tiny hole in the wall to allow air into the building. There are usually 4 rooms - one for the children (usually 3), bedroom for the parents, a room for the fire and cooking, and a room for the family goat or cow. Room is a loose term; they are all connected and bedroom just means a place to sleep - there aren't actual beds or anything. In the center of the village is the cow ring. This is where the herd of cows stays over night to be protected from any intruders - like lions! They kill one cow for the entire village, everyday! They use the cows for their main means of nutrition - milk, meat, and BLOOD. And no, I'm not kidding. They poke a hole in an artery of the cow, and then drink it, straight from the cow. They say this helps build up their immunity, I say it's gross. Then, they are only allowed to kill any other animal if it has made its way into the village. Sometimes a lion will get into the village, and then they can kill it.

The men and women also have special dances that we were able to participate in. The women's is much less interesting than the mens, and I'm still not sure what we did when we danced with them. The men was cool. They go around in circles singing and chanting then they have a jumping contest. They can jump sooo HIGH! The guys got to jump with them, and they did alright, but the warriors could all jump much higher. The kids there melted my heart. They were so cute, but it was difficult to see them covered in flies. There were so many flies there because everything was made out of cow dung. Some had flies all over their faces, and they wouldn't even care. It was also cute to see them jumping as the men were dancing. It wasn't the most enjoyable experience, but it's definitely something that I'm glad I had the opportunity to see.