Into the Bush

On Wednesday, July 21st, Amy, Lindsay, Kurt, Jennah and I packed our belongings and crammed into Dr. Lace's old Land Cruiser and began our trip to the Masai village in Lengasti. We made a quick stop at orphanage's office for medical supplies. Our itinerary for the day: meet Gladness (our contact with the Masai) at the Rafiki Orphanage, spend some time with the kids, drive to Lengasti, meet the women at the Masai village, dinner with the village's representatives.

The drive from Arusha to the orphanage took more than two hours since we stopped by corn fields along the way. Once we got to the orphanage, we unloaded donations for the kids and took a tour of the facility. Instead of mud walls and dirt floors, the kids now sleep in clean rooms with bunk beds. They now have a classroom, a small kitchen, and bathrooms with running water. All the little things that I take for granted. A group of about twenty kids greeted us at the entrance with song and dance. They were absolutely adorable in their purple t-shirts.

After lunch, we got back into the SUV and continued or road trip to Lengasti. The bumpy ride through the desert was a trip. It felt more like a roller coaster ride than a car ride. There were no paved roads; they were more like dirt paths somewhat cleared of trees and large rocks. All around me were miles and miles of open space full of dried rivers, baobab trees, termite mounds, mud huts, roaming goats and donkeys, and Masai warriors traveling by foot or bike through the barren fields. It was a completely different world. The landscape in front of me was rustic, untouched, and absolutely breathtaking. Here was a place that has yet to be marred by modern civilization. After two hours of trekking through the desert, Dr. Lace finally pulled into the "Gladness Hotel". The "hotel" was a one-story building with a small courtyard, a kitchen, a small vegetable garden, and a few rooms with beds, toilets and showers. It was a palace compared to the mud huts that the villagers lived in. At the gate, we were greeted by a group of women garbed in colorful cloths and beaded jewelries. They circled us and began chanting and dancing. Not knowing the Masai customs or dances, the girls and I tried to imitate, but we ended up hopping up and down. Instead of looking like Masai women, we looked like a bunch of rabbits. After the welcoming ceremony, the women took us on a tour of the facilities and their work space. Gladness did an amazing job empowering these women and changing the male dominated social structure of the Masai. That first night, we had dinner with the village representatives. I noticed that the men and women sat separately. According to Gladness, this was the first time the men were not served by the women. They were asked by Gladness to retrieve their own meals. It was a historical moment.

The second day at the Masai village started at 5AM. I woke up to a knock on my door: time to milk the cows. By the time Lindsay, Jennah and I got to the boma, the cows had already been unsuccessfully milked by Kurt. But as luck would have it, the goats still needed milking. I rolled up the sleeves and had a grand old time. After breakfast, we hopped onto the back of Gladness's truck with our medical supplies and headed to the clinic. The majority of our patients were children and pregnant women. The women complained of aches and pains, most likely due to a lifetime of strenuous activities. Many of the kids came in with chest pains, trouble breathing, coughs, and watery eyes; all may be due to living in smoky huts. There was no such as a medical record, so we provided documentation by recording the patients' information, diagnoses, and treatments in a booklet provided by the clinic. With so many sick patients and so little medications, we ran out of supplies by the second day of clinic. Since most of the children suffered from malnutrition and worms, we gave away a lot of multivitamins and Mebendazole. But it never seemed like enough.

After every clinic, we would come home to elaborate meals prepared by Gladness's maid, Margaret. The food was amazing. Margaret even taught us how to make Chapati, the Tanzanian's version of pancake/crepe. I'm pretty sure I am 5lbs heavier when I left than when I arrived. Although we did not have water or electricity for a few days, we were still living like kings. During the afternoon, Gladness and the Masai warriors took us on a tour of the village. We climbed up the Masai Mountain, saw the local bar (a small mud hut), and visited nearby bomas (areas of the village that are sectioned off by groups of families and animals). Every evening, we get views of amazing orange-red sunsets followed by clear nights with brilliant stars. Dinners were also grand productions of various African dishes. In our honor, Gladness roasted a goat and had great fun watching us trying to chow down the goat penis. I pretended it was calamari.

On the morning of the third day, I woke up as usual to the croaking of the rooster and made my way towards the boma to milk the cows. As I got closer to one of the huts, I heard a woman's hysterical cry. It echoed through the village. I walked over and say Dr. Lace, Kurt, and Lindsay talking to one of the Masai warriors. The elder explained to us that a young Masai warrior, Paulo, passed away during the night. He had epilepsy and was not feeling well after the village campaign gathering. Dr. Lace examined Paulo's body and confirmed that he had seizures some time that evening. His wife found his body early that morning. He left behind a young wife and a one-week old baby. Based on Masai tradition, a person's dead body must be left on the outskirts of the village for the wild animals. After three days, if the body has been eaten by animals, that meant that the person has lead a good life while he/she was alive. Since Paulo was Christian, however, the village decided to hold a funeral to bury his body. According to Gladness, we were the first foreigners to partake in the village's funeral ceremony. After the funeral, Amy, Lindsay, Kurt, Jennah and I helped wash the women's hands and distributed food. After having been waited on by the maids, it was a humbling experience for us to be able to service others.

When I asked Gladness who will be taking care of Paulo's wife and child, she explained to me that the other Masai warriors will take over Paulo's role as protector. The Masai has a great sense of family and community. They take care of one another. However, their social structure is very different from the Western culture's way of life. The men, for example, are allowed to have multiple wives and can sleep with any of the married women in the village, as long as their husbands are away. As a result, STIs are very common and paternity is not always known.

To commemorate our last day at the Masai village, Amy, Lindsay, Kurt, Jennah and I went hunting for kids. We were loaded with bags of candy and were on a mission to supplied every child with candy. Good thing we are all interested in medicine and not dentistry. The road trip back to Arusha was bittersweet as I looked back on my experiences with the Masai. They are a nomadic people forced to settle and assimilate into modern day life. Yet they continued to hold on to many of their customs and traditions. Take their tradition of male and female circumcision, for example. For males, it is a rite of passage, a symbol of strength and masculinity. For females, however, it is meant to prevent pleasure during sex; the female body is used only for child-bearing. As an outsider, I tried to view their culture with an open mind and see the good and not-so-good that is innate to every culture.