Arrival in Lesoit Village(city)

After a full day of driving we arrived at Lesoit(City) village. During the trip Mrs. Askew taught us how to greet in Maa. So after a little practice during the trip I exited the car into the pitch black, moonless night to be greeted by tall dark silhouettes.  I Crashed and burn my Maa entrance exam, but the rest of greetings were said in Swahili. We all sat outside the Maasai Boma (house) Chris and I would live in for the following two weeks and drank chai maziwa; A milk based black tea lightly spiced with cardamom and ginger I think. As we drank tea Chris and I were acquainted with Paapaa, Juma, Mary and a few others that resided in Lesoit. Being bad with names it would take me some time beyond our initial acquaintance for me to keep faces with names. After tea we were introduced to our new living quarters; a mud and dung exterior with a stick foundation. The boma was decorated with, goats, chickens, roosters and a cabinet constructed from wood planks.  Chris and I got settled in and prepared for bed- a large wood frame with hay under a goat skin all of this under a large cover. We threw our sleeping bags over the bed and hit the hay (literally). The next morning we’d experience our first goat slaughter.

(from the left) Juma- kneeling, Chris, Paapaa, and me leading the goat out of the village

We woke up around 7:30 in the morning for chapattis and chai maziwa. After breakfast we went on to prepare lunch. Frank and the others led out a single goat from his boma. It would be slaughtered in honor of Chris and my arrival to the village. We all began to walk out of the immediate village to the area the slaughtering would take place. Chris and I led the goat as it struggled to escape. Oddly enough it seemed to have an idea of was going to happen next. It would spontaneously turn around from my direction towards the village in vanity. The whole scenario became uncanny as the rest of the goats back in the village began to bleat as if they were in the know as well. Regardless we continued  about 70 yards out of the immediate village. The traditional Maasai goat slaughter is on the more humane side; the goat is traditionally suffocated then harvested. But, due to the presence of our Muslim driver Tano who would be eating with us, the ceremonial goat’s throat would be slit. The goat was laid on leaves cut from a tree, one man held it’s horns, another secured the goats feet, and a warrior took out his simu (a small machete like knife) and began cutting through the goat’s neck. It’s body began to writhe in struggle for it’s life for nearly a full two minutes until it went limp. A gaping hole now encompassed the goat’s neck, the men around us began the process of harvesting the goat. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to skinning, cutting, and eating the goat. No part of the goat was wasted Chris and I sampled nearly every part from the face to the liver. To quench our thirsts we drank a sort of soup that was created from combining a wood known to contain medicinal attributes and meat. After a long, filling, and drawn out lunch we set out to tour Lesoit Village (city).

The entirety of Lesoit is comprised of smaller villages or Kraals  owned usually by the man of the family. The size of the Kraals are determined by the quantity of wives and cattle a man had. A larger Kraal usually had multiple bomas, wives, and (as one could imagine) children to the tenth degree. To the Maasai there is no greater importance the children, it equivocates to wealth. The children, excluding those that attend school, take care of the life stock of their father so the structure of Maasai life never collapses. Frank’s Kraal was named Cha’ ngombe (many cattle) and was on the smaller side due to the fact that Frank has yet to take a wife. As we walked through the sandy bush land of Lesoit we saw the it was like walking on mars, seeing the large candelabra trees, the massive sisal plants tower over me It was nothing that I was used too.

Three of the five secondary school class rooms.

As we toured the village center which was surrounded by the primary and secondary schools we got a peek into Maasai student life.  Campus included a small store which sold snacks and pop as well as a soccer field and what seemed to be a basketball court… After the tour we laid under a tree after  sipped sodas until the sun passed and the shadows grew long (around 6:30) then headed back to the village for dinner to close our day.