Melinda...das me!: MIS Tanzania Projects 2013 - Days 9 - 11 - Sponsored Student Day & Kambi Ya Chokaa, Maasailand

I'm going to write about the Sponsored Student Day and then our visit to Maasailand for a night with Dr. Ole Kuney in his village - Kambi ya Chokaa...aka National Geographic mind warp.

Day 9 - Sponsored Student Day

Today started off differently than expected. We had our breakfast at 8:00 (after a 6:30am run...and time-out to watch monkeys play in trees) and were told that sponsored students would start to show up anytime after 9. This wasn't the case though...people didn't really start trickling in until 1pm! This wasn't such a bad thing though - it gave the students (and adults) time to relax and chat...even though we were still wondering what was going on and where all the people were!

Around 12:30, a number of students finally showed up (some with friends and family members, others alone) and we had lunch together in the ISM cafeteria. The MIS students mingled with the sponsored students, got to know them and interviewed them so that we could keep record of who was in attendance, what they looked like (with photographic evidence provided from a student run photo booth) and what they were doing. Any special messages for their sponsors were exchanged as well and they received gifts from their sponsors as well. After lunch, more mingling took place and a football (soccer) match was initiated by some of our students against the sponsored students. In the dorms where we were staying, some MIS students arranged shirts, ties, scarves and other dressy items so upon departure, the sponsored students had a choice of these donated items to have for dressy occasions.

Despite the day starting later, the day was a success in that many smiling faces left campus and our students enjoyed the interaction with these native Tanzanians. After dinner, we had an impromptu meeting with Dr. Ole Kuney who was on hand to answer some student questions about the ways of the Maasai before our early departure the next morning for a surprise that would be waiting for us in Kambi ya Chokaa!

Day 9 - Kambi ya Chokaa

Rise and shine...well not the shine part because we woke up at 3:30am for a 4:00am departure for Maasailand! Dr. Ole Kuney promised us that we'd have a surprise, that only happens every 15-20 years, waiting for us and our 6am arrival in Kambi ya Chokaa. All of us were curious as to what this surprise may be and many predictions were thrown out there - I thought it may have been something to do with an early sunrise with a giant sun...but I was wrong.

After a long drive through bumpy, bumpy dirt roads (although they weren't really roads!), we arrived at Dr. Ole Kuney's home in the bush. We were greeted by several curious kids and a fast approaching sunrise. We dropped our bags and had some time to kill before Dr. Ole Kuney came back for us after getting a shave and his Maasai leader wardrobe on; we interacted with the kids, took some photos of the sunrise (not a giant sun and not the surprise) and finished up our packed breakfast bags. When Dr. Kuney returned, he was looking very chiefish and he led us all out into the bush where we were greeted by a large group of Maasai people. Cue the National Geographic mind warp...and cameras!

So, the surprise? It was a very special ceremony where junior tribe members were being converted to eldership status. Like Dr. Kuney said, this only happens every 15-20 years so it was really special and I felt honoured to be a part of this ceremony. Words can't really describe the feelings and emotions that ran through my mind as I stood by watching everything happening around me. Even just seeing the Maasai in their traditional wardrobe was a completely new experience for me and to see that many people, all standing by watching this happen, was incredible. There were a number of speeches in Maasai that I obviously couldn't understand and my senses were overwhelmed. As they were talking and going through the ritual of this ceremony, there were a number of cows and goats standing by and at one point, a couple of men started to stab and then extract blood from a couple of the cows' necks. A number of Maasai children were also hanging around and were just as distracted by us as we were by everything that was happening around us. The kids, like the ones at Muungano Primary School, were grabbing at our cameras, watches and anything else that could be removed from our bodies. For me, it was my Ardene sunglasses bought specially for my Macho Man Randy Savage costume and my camera; they all wanted pictures of themselves with the glasses on but wanted to take the photos as well. I love the innocent curiousity.

After an hour and a bit, we were then taken by a group of women to separate huts: the boys and girls. Here, we were taken into rooms and fitted into our own Maasai clothing. Very cool. We then hung out for some time, wandered around taking photos and admired the bush landscape. A few students saw a cow being killed which I'm glad I missed. We headed back to Dr. Kuney's house around 12 for lunch and after an early morning, this was a recipe for a siesta - I think all of us passed out in chairs, on tables...wherever we were sitting for over an hour! It was much needed though after the work project and early mornings since arrival in Tanzania. When we woke up, we went off to explore again until Dr. Kuney summoned us back to the celebration area where we got to see the traditional Maasai dance (can they ever jump high!) which was awesome. We then met in a group again for the students to hand off their cattle donations; all of the students fund-raised enough money to individually donate a cow, that they also named, and gave to Dr. Ole Kuney.

Next up, and whilst the sun was beginning to set, we headed over to visit the village's school that had quite a bit of support from MIS and mainly one other man that gave a hefty, one time donation to help out Dr. Kuney. On our walk back, we got a lot of great photos of the sun setting and witnessed a number of children herding up cattle and getting them back home for the night. We had a delicious meal, compliments of Dr. Kuney's wife, and then watched the stars outside - a lot of stars! Most of the boys slep outside along with a group of 3 girls, and given our early early morning departure that day, it's safe to say we all slept pretty well.

They look much better on them than on me! :P

The next day, we headed back to ISM after breakfast and arrived back for a nice, chilled out day on campus before heading off to Arusha the following day. That evening, we recorded scenes for our rap video that I'm still working on, starring Afzal, the ISM Visiting Schools Coordinator. More on that later!