Sorry for the long lapse since we’ve posted on the blog, but after returning from safari, we dove right into work at the Kilimani School. We have been busy creating a media center, teaching photojournalism to 47 fourth grade students, and cataloguing over 300 lbs of books in the school’s library. However, we took a day to rest and are now ready to pick up where we left off.
After our first cheetah sighting, we were warmly paraded in song by the Maasai morani (warriors) into the neighboring village. Immediately the villagers recognized Terri and Danielle and enthusiastically grabbed our arms and ushered us through the manyatta (group of homes) to meet new babies and take photographs of their families. Ellen, JoAnn, and Kevin got their first glimpse of Maasai village life, including dung huts constructed chiefly by women, celebratory dancing, zebra droppings as kindling, shepherding goats and cows, cleansing hollowed gourds with hot coals to store fresh milk, and much more. The chief of the village welcomed them and our stay was extended until sundown as the villagers invited us to join them in song and dance.
We left in the evening, humbled by the way the Maasai live in community and in a true symbiosis with their natural environment. We left this visit pondering the final words spoken by the chief regarding Maasai philosophy of family and community, “We have respect for a generation above and we respect, care for, and prepare the generation below.”
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