About Light Of Maasai

THE INSPIRATION

The Maasai are one of the few remaining tribes in Africa who continue to live by their culture and tradition. They continue to dress in their traditional clothes and live in the traditional mud and cow dung Manyatta. They are a proud and peaceful tribe who think only of their animals and who try to be happy no matter what difficulties they face.

We don't want to change their way of life, we simply want to ease the hardship they face due to drought, the killer disease AIDS which is spreading rapidly amongst them, lack of basic education, lack of clean water and the lack of a basic healthcare system.

THE PEOPLE INVOLVED

The Light of Maasai was founded by a group of four people, four Maasai and one “musungu” (Irish NGO worker Elaine Bannon). These three Maasai men are:

• Joseph Nkanoni Lempira
• Elijah Kilempu Joseph
• Jonathon Kipanu Ole Nampa

These three Maasai men have been educated to secondary school level and some have had the opportunity to travel to countries in Europe. This gives them a unique insight into the problems to be faced in a changing world by the Maasai who predominately remain un-educated. They recognized the need to improve the standard of living of the Maasai people and the enormous difference being educated can make to a persons life. Before the arrival of Elaine Bannon they had been attempting to provide employment for Maasai warriors and ladies some of whom were educated and some un-educated. Elijah, Jonathon and James had moved to Mombasa and formed a group of Maasai who performed traditional dance in the tourist hotels along the coast. While selling their jewellery and dancing for the visitors they also tried to teach those visiting about the life of a Maasai. Each time they returned to Rombo for a visit to their family they were struck by how little had changed since they were in school and how the tradition of not educating girls was still continuing. They also saw that there were no active groups in Rombo who were attempting to show the people that a better way of life is available. These three men have the language and knowledge of the area while Elaine focuses on trying to raise funds to make the impossible possible. Joseph had lived in Rombo all his life and had been working as a volunteer in the Catholic Mission. He was involved in HIV/AIDS awareness programmes but knew that only the tip of the iceberg was being reached.

Together these four people have a vision where the Maasai will continue with their traditions and culture, but with the help of willing sponsors, suffer less hardship. Our greatest wish is to see a day when no woman will have to walk 20 or 30 km for water every day and where girls can start school at the age of 4 or 5 years happy, in the knowledge that they will not be removed from school at the age of 13 or 14 years to be circumcised and married. We wish that children won’t have to walk more than 3 or 4 km to school and will be educated to a level that will allow them to achieve employment later in life.

About Elaine Bannon

Elaine Bannon is originally from Dublin, Ireland. She left her job and comfortable lifestyle to live and work in Rombo, Kenya as an unpaid NGO worker (non governmental organisation) in 2002.

Elaine was already very aware of the plight of the African people but only when she first visited Kenya and witnessed the extreme poverty for herself did she decide to try and help by joining the Maasai community. Four years later by working with the local maasai men and women, Elaine has adapted to her role as teacher, project manager, builder and doctor. Elaine has been heavily involved in fundraising and subsequently building small schools, a medical clinic and water wells.

One of the major achievements in Elaine’s life was to became a Paul Harris Fellow* in 2005. This recognition for the work she has done in Rombo has benefited all those involved in the Light of Maasai project as it has raised awareness and encouraged Rotarians to become involved.

*An award given by the Rotary Foundation (www.rotary.org) in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world. To find out more about what the Rotary Foundation has contributed to the Light of Maasai see our ‘How Others Have Helped’ section

Here is Elaine’s story in her own words:

“In July 2003 I paid my first visit to Rombo, the most southern part of the Kenyan Rift valley and an area populated by the Maasai tribe. Prior to arriving the only thing I was sure about was that I would have a clear view of Mount Kilimanjaro every day and that most people would not be able to speak English. So after a 9 hour journey covering only 250kms (on roads that left every bone in my body rattled) we finally arrived in Rombo. I had travelled with my Maasai friend, Elijah, who had been living in Mombassa and with two other Maasai friends also from Rombo. I now freely admit I was totally ignorant of how people's lives can differ. I was over awed, over dressed and totally unprepared for the sights that met me.

It’s one thing to read the travel brochures, look at the pictures and hear the stories of the Maasai but meeting them in their home ground is something that no book can prepare you for.

We arrived at the village. Now I thought a village was a collection of houses and shops where a minimum of 10 families lived. I discovered the village was two houses and one family and not a shop within 10 kilometres. I use the term HOUSE very lightly, for the house of Elijah’s grandmother was the traditional Maasai mud and cow dung, one room set in the middle of an area reserved for the cows and goats. The other structure was a wooden 3 room house with about 6 people living in it and that was where I would stay. It was a far cry from my beautiful 2 bedroom semi-detached bungalow in the suburbs of Dublin, but I came to love that little wooden house as much and maybe more than my house in Ireland.

The people seemed to appear from everywhere and before I knew it I was surrounded by 30 or 40 ‘mamas’ spitting on me and singing to me. Yes I did say spitting on me, you see that is the traditional Maasai blessing. Each one wanted to touch my hair, rub my arms, examine my eyes, check-out my clothes and in general give me a good going over. While I was a little intimidated at first, I found them to be most charming and good humoured and very innocent. The women wore the traditional maasai red and blue and white clothes and the men red and black. The men's clothes are just a piece of material tied at the shoulder and left to hang down then clasped at the waist by a belt which in most cases contained a HUGE knife. Over this they wore another piece of material which was slung around the shoulders. The women have two layers of clothes, a red under skirt/dress with a blue and white over dress and then like the men a piece of material over the shoulders. Each and every man, woman and child was adorned with rows upon rows of beaded necklaces, row upon rows of beaded bracelets and earrings which hung from enormous holes in their ears. The singing and dancing went on until the early hours of the morning and even though I was exhausted I found it hard to drag myself away from the party.

Next morning, I woke very early and needed the toilet badly. I asked Elijah where it was, he told me ‘there’ pointing his finger. Looking in the direction of the finger I saw nothing only trees and the penny dropped that the ‘bush’ was the toilet. While I never admitted it to anybody at the time I was terrified, I was imagining scorpions, snakes and various other insects running up my legs. When I got back I decided to make myself some coffee. It took me an hour to get the fire going, the smoke nearly blinded me and having done all that - NO WATER. The nearest water is 5km away and somebody, always a woman, has to go carry a container on her back and bring the water. Needless to remark it was not me who volunteered. Later in the day when asked if I would like to shower I jumped at the chance, ‘get in the car so’ I was told. Of course I wondered where we were going and eventually found myself at a stream filled with cows and goats that were drinking, urinating and God knows what else in the water, along with young warriors washing their clothes and a group of Mamas washing cooking utensils. This was where I was to shower. Going round the bend of the stream I found there was nobody there and the water, since it was flowing from here to where everybody was, was a little cleaner. Being a little shy, I decided not to remove all my clothes and stripped down to a pair of shorts and my bra. I proceeded to wash myself and my hair in this cold but refreshing water and then I heard it - tsk tsk tsk tsk. Looking up I found I had an audience, a group of warriors openly sitting watching me and chatting about my progress. Since they didn’t seem to be embarrassed, I decided no need for me to be and I continued.

Later that day, I was invited to my pal Johnathan's village for food. This time the village was a collection of 5 mud and cow dung houses all occupied by his brothers and their wives and one occupied by his mother. Entering her house, was like entering a black hole. There was no light at all apart from the fire in the centre of the room. I was told to sit on the bed, which was made of a cow skin stretched over wooden posts, extremely comfortable and beautiful to look at when my eyes finally adjusted. Chai (tea) was served as it always is in a Maasai village. The tea is made mostly from milk, tealeaves and sugar with a drop of water. After tea I was given a plate of the most delicious food I had ever tasted, chicken slaughtered in my honour and rice. I couldn’t have eaten more tasty food in a top class restaurant in Europe.

Every day brought a new surprise and treat. A Maasai wedding, a ceremony for warriors, a goat slaughtered in my honour and on and on it went. I felt as though I had been propelled back in time, no electricity, no running water, no cars, no noise and a sky at night that twinkled with stars. Entertainment consists of sitting around the fire telling stories with much laughter and an occasional tear. The radio is a luxury and a TV is a wonder to behold. Life is simple but tough yet everybody seems to be smiling and making the most of a very hard life. The women sit with the women and the men sit with the men. Youths stay on their own and children with their parents. Girls know nothing of eyeshadow or lipstick and nobody worries about the hair salon - they simply shave their heads!

Having stayed for a week, I found returning to the ‘modern’ world extremely difficult. I saw all that I saw through the romantic eyes of a person falling in love with a people and a place. While I saw the hardships, they didn’t seem soooo bad. After all they didn’t have to worry about phones ringing, bosses shouting, cars breaking down or any of the other modern day problems. What I didn’t see was that people were starving, children were malnourished, women were suffering extreme back pain from carrying all that water and firewood, illness was rampant since the same water was used by the animals and the people. And while they suffered all this with smiles on their faces, the future for the children didn’t look good. So I returned to the modern world of Mombasa and returned to the village of Rombo as often as possible, each time I visited I was thrilled by the sights and each time I was more aware of the hardships the people suffered. After a year I went home to Ireland for a 3 month visit. It was then I decided to come back to Kenya and pitch my lot in with the Maasai and try to make a small difference for the people I have come to love and respect.

These people are noble and proud and open and innocent. I hope that the ‘modern’ world never comes to destroy them as it has so many tribes in Africa and I hope that in some small way I can improve their lives without disturbing their culture. They gave me a Maasai name – Narikuinkerra (‘Nariku’ for short) – this means brought by children. I hope I can not only live up to this name by helping the children but somehow help to shape a better future for the future generations of Maasai children.”