Kenya Massai

I arrived in Kenya on January 8th. Africa is a completely new experience for me and totally different from anywhere I have been thus far! I was very excited and also a little bit unsure of what to expect. Luckily, I have been extremely happy here!

Kenyans are very friendly and most people greet me with a smile. Children are especially excited when they see a Mzungu (foreigner) and they will often call out to me: "Halo" or "Mzungu!" I am staying with a host family in Massailand. The Massai tribe is one of the last tribal societies and inhabits rural areas in Kenya and some of Tanzania. The Massai people are slowly starting to modernize, but they are still also trying to hold on to their culture, traditions and way of life.

My host family is very nice! They speak to me a lot in Kimassai dialect and I am starting to pick more of it up. My Massai name is Namunyak, it means lucky, and they all call me by it. Our house is in Kimuka - a small rural area of grassland and accacia trees. The house is very basic (it is made mostly from sheet metal, has no running water, and limited electricity). The kitchen is separate from the house and is a small hut made of wood and mud/cow dung. Almost all of the food we eat is grown on the land or from the farm animals, and it is cooked over a fire in our kitchen. I am currently quite happy with the lifestyle! It actually feels a lot like camping to me!

I am volunteering at Kimuka Primary School in Massailand. The children are great! They are all very eager to talk to me and to learn. The school is about a 20 minute dusty walk from my homestay. I am teaching a couple different subjects to children from Grade 4-6. I have found it difficult to learn names, because they all wear uniforms and must keep their hair extremely short. They have all been giving me these beaded bracelets that they make and trying to out-do each other with their bracelets. It's quite funny, but troublesome when they catch you without THEIR bracelet on!

I saw about 9 giraffes yesterday on my way home from school! I am excited to see more wildlife, apparently there are frequently baboons and hyenas also in my area. Yikes!!