~* Giraffes, baboons, and some other small rodent looking thing that I never really got a good look at... Oh my! *~
Hello everyone! Thanks for posting the comments - it's nice to hear from people back home. It's Saturday afternoon here in Ngong Hills, and the place is jumping. Wednesday and Saturday are market days, so everyone comes into town to make their purchases. It was a bumpy ride in the back of a tiny pickup from Kimuka here, but kinda fun. The weather has been kinda bi-polar lately. We've had some really hot days, and some fairly cool wet, cloudy days.
I forgot my notepad at home today, so I don't have my notes for the past week, but I will try to recollect what I can from memory. The post will likely be long and disjointed, but whatever, I'm in Kenya and you owe it to me to read my blog ;o)
I think it was on our second day here, a baboon ran into the manyatta. I had seen him walking around the fence earlier, but then we heard the dogs barking and everyone ran outside just in time to see him bolting out the back gate with the dogs giving chase. Apparently they not only like to steal crops, but will also steal baby goats. I think it's because they're lonely and want to keep the baby goats as pets. They're really cute. There's one goat (Dustin named him ADHD) who is totally insane. We were playing soccer the other day with Peter and George, and another boy who I can't remember the name of, and ADHD kept running up to us and getting in the way. We kept having to pick him up and carry him away, but then he would just follow us back to where we were playing. When I say "field" I mean an area behind the manyatta that is somewhat flat and somewhat free of brush and rocks. Dustin and I were winning 7-0 before I headed in to get some water. It was insanely hot.
Okay, what else...? Oh, well I guess I should talk about the reason we're actually here - to help the Maasai. There was a Chinese couple from Ontario who came and visited the Maasai a while back, and really liked their jewelery and commissioned them to make 3000 beaded crosses. Virginia - the head of MEAC, and who's family we're living with - is a fairly influential and active member in the Maasai community, so she had 42 members of the community create the crosses. Each member had a fixed number they were supposed to make in exchange for payment. It worked out to about $.80CAD per cross. Well they all came to the house the other day and Dustin and I helped count and organize all of them so we could ship them. Unfortunately there were some keshal (lazy) Maasai who did not make their quota, so there is still around 500 to make. The Maasai jewelery is very nice and some of it is very intricate and time consuming. Dustin and I thought it might be a good idea to contact groups, people, businesses back in Canada to see if they'd be interested in purchase bulk items from the Maasai to sell in Canada. We're going to be contacting 10,000 Villages in Edmonton to see if they're interested. If any of you have any suggestions on places for the Maasai to sell their goods, let me know. I will take some pictures of their jewelery and post them in the next week or two.
Dustin and I also went to the local school yesterday. It's about a 20 minute walk from our manyatta. It's got pre-nursery, and grades 1-8. Dustin and I will likely be doing a bunch of work there for next little bit. We're meeting with the school committee on Tuesday to go over the issues that we think need to be addressed. The school needs a lot more desks to comfortably fit all the students, and is also missing two blackboards in two classrooms. The toilets were also broken and in need of repair. We're going to - hopefully - go over the financials regarding all those issues to see what can be done. It sounded like we'd be purchasing the materials and then making the desks ourselves - but I'm not too sure. Also, when I say desks, I mean a bench made for three, with a 'table' in front of them to write on. Right now they are sitting 4 to a bench, and are missing some tables. However, there are two entire classrooms that are unfurnished. The school has 500 children enrolled. Dustin and I are going to be contacting people, groups, schools and other organizations in Canada to see if they would like to help with the costs. Carly, the other volunteer here, said that she's going to be contacting her school to see if they'd be interested in doing something like adopting a school for a semester - or something like that. Again, if any of you have any ideas, or contacts, or would be willing to get involved in fundraising, please let me know. I should have a better idea of costs next week after we meet with the committee.
MEAC is also in the process of creating a web page, which we all think is a great idea. It would be a great way for them to reach the Western world, which we believe would be a great opportunity for them to increase the revenue coming into the community. I could see some good tourist possibilities here. Once they have the traditional manyattas all built, I think it would be an interesting idea to have westerners come to the village and stay with the Maasai for a few days or a week and immerse themselves in the culture. I know it's not very mainstream, but I think there would be a small market out there for people wanting a different kind of vacation experience.
Yeah, so those are some of the ideas and projects that we're going to be pursuing while we're here, and hopefully we can accomplish some of them.
Just as a last note for all you worriers out there - there are no issues here regarding our safety. The family is very interested in our safety and is doing its part to help keep us informed (we watch the news every night). There has been no violence, protests, or issues of unrest anywhere near where we are staying. It is a very relaxed atmosphere in Kimuka where timetables, and schedules don't mean a great deal.
Well that is all that I have for now. Thanks for taking the time to read, and again, if any of you would like to get involved with what we're doing here, please let me know. Also, if you want more information about the Maasai or MEAC, or anything Kenya related, please feel free to contact me through this blog, or by e-mail at oilersrock99@hotmail.com. Also, I purchased a cell phone last week, so I do have a number here in Kenya that I can be reached at most of the time. I don't have voicemail, and we haven't figured out how people can send texts from Canada, but you can call me at 0711 654 301. The international code from Canada is 011, adn the Kenya country code is 254. So if you were to dial from Edmonton, it would be 011254711654301. You drop the 0 at the beginning of the number when dialing from outside Kenya.
