that night we ate our sheep nyama choma (roast meat) as a stew, plus a few ribs to gnaw on,

and were then joined by an eighty year old mzee (respected elder) called ole Njabbit, and an elderly midwide, called Pere, the mother of a neighbour of John’s.

Ole Njabbitt’s father had been part of the Maasai moves from northern Laikipia as part of the 1911 agreement with the British.  The mzee told us his father had been quite sanguine about the move, accpeting the new place as a good country with water and grazing for animals.  We chatted into the evening about the changes facing the Maasai community.  Ole Njabbit felt that while many of the changes were good, four things were important in the future:

respect:  that the young should respect the elders, and the blessings that come with this would ensure a long life

livestock keeping, as their father’s had always been maintained by this

land sub-division (into individual plots), as an elder he did not praise this, as it creates a lot of eminity, quarralling and practical difficulties

circumcision of children, all children should be circumcised at home and not in hospital, while the celebration ceremonies that go with this should be completed properly  (a reference to the importance of the age set rites and initiation ceremonies that have been so central to Maassai life for generations).  

These ceremonies are dying away under the influence of the westen church religions.  The confirmation of an adult male in the ceremony of the bull (Orkiteng) for example, and which preceeds the married man’s own initiation of his children to be circumcised, is not being undertaken by John, as he is a member of the local Anglican church community.

Plenty of time for offering the wazee (elders) beer and food and for open and honest discussion comparing our lives and our stresses with that of our hosts, all done via translation with John into the late hours.  Stars twinkling, insects chirping, the hubbub of maasai conversation, gentle and reaffirming, and old friendships being strenthened and new ones formed