Today we went to one of the Masai villages next to Amboseli National Park. We got a welcome dance from some of the villagers, and we also got to dance. The dancers put beautiful handmade necklaces around our necks and welcomed us happily. We were invited to dance with them, and we did. Then they prayed for us. The Masai people are Christians.
We then went into their village. There was a fence made of thorn bushes to keep unwanted animals out and their livestock in. There were also similar smaller enclosures inside to keep the cows, goats, and sheep inside the paddocks, inside the village. There were so many baby cows, goats, and sheep running around. We were led to chairs and saw how the Masai make fire. They made fire by rubbing a stick in a notch in a piece of wood to create friction and then fire. While one of the men was talking, a baby goat ran under my chair and stayed there! It was adorable, but I wanted to see what was happening, so I stopped gazing at it.
They next brought out three kinds of traditional medicine. It was all different types of wood! And there were so many uses for it all. Such as helping with headaches and stomachaches and treatment to block diseases from mosquitoes.
We got to tour one of the huts. The doorways were shorter than me! The inside was super dark because there was only one tiny window close to the fire area. There were two rooms, one for the adults and one for the kids. The walls were made of elephant dung and sticks, and the roof was made of thatch and sticks. I would not want to live in this type of home. It didn’t make me sad because these people were keeping their traditions and choosing to live this way.
After the house, we went to their market. All the ladies had beautiful stuff, but they were kind of pushy. They kept trying to put bracelets on my wrists, and one bracelet was too small, but the lady wanted to get it on me. Emmy and I did find some cool things in the end, but when it was time to pay, we discovered that everything was more expensive than we anticipated. I went from about six items to three. Emmy and I got gifts for a friend and one thing for myself.
While mom and dad were settling the prices for what they were buying, us kids got to hold a three-day-old goat! It was so tiny and so cute! We got plenty of good photos, and I wanted to keep it, but I knew I could never carry a goat around Africa.
We went to the school. The kids there were super cute! Three-year-olds knew their ABCs and 123s fluently! They all had the cutest uniforms, and I adored them all. We had to leave after school, and I was glad because I was super hot! I loved seeing the village and I wish more people knew about it. I would go again to see more and learn more.
