Today I woke up at 6 to cool weather and a yummy breakfast go hard-boiled eggs, beef sausage, and watermelon with Masala tea and fruit juice. Then, Baba took me and Mama to TCDC where we got a safety and history presentation and a tour of the facilities. after that, we had tea and met students from other universities before heading to our service agencies. My service agency was supposed to be the Maasai Children's Organization, a school, but when we contacted them they were on safari and my professor doesn't think they will be taking students. So, last minute they sent me to Neema House, an orphanage for babies and toddlers. It was very interesting because when we showed up they wouldn't let us in. They told us to leave and seemed very upset by our presence, which was not helped by the fact that they did not know we were coming. We explained who we were and why we were there and after some time sitting outside the main gate, they let us in. As it turns out, immigration had been there earlier and was giving them a hard time because some of the students did not have their practicum visa (which we don't have either, and wont until next Tuesday). From what i'd heard, immigration does not usually stop in and check on service agencies, so we were all pretty surprised.
However, they eventually let us in and we got a tour of the facility which was very nice and was given by an older lady from Fort Worth, TX who had a wonderfully strong Texas accent. They have 30 little ones there currently and each one has it's one interesting story. One of the children, a little girl named Malikia, sparked my interest because she was born without corneas so she cannot see and never will. She has no iris or pupil, and i'd never seen that before. Even with her lack of eyesight she is a vibrant little girl who is constantly smiling and dancing. After our tour we played with the toddlers and fed them, but soon our time was up (we only spend 2 hours at our agencies each day, and the drive is a solid 45 minutes).
After the Neema House, we returned to the TCDC where we had a delicious lunch and chatted with each other about how it went with various agencies. OU has never sent students on a Journey trip where they did internships, so this is new for everyone. As it turns out, many of the agencies were not expecting us and a few ended up not working out for various reasons. Now our professors have to work out new placements.. I don't envy them. Anyway, once lunch was over we packed into a bus and started out on what turned out to be quite a long drive. Noone knew where the driver was taking us, not even the professors, but we were excited to find out.
Me on the bus to the cultural center
As it turns out, we were going ot the Maasai Cultural Museum and Snake Park. I was stoked! We had a Maasai man give us a tour of the museum where he explained the culture of his tribe and what it means to be a man. He told us that when boys are 13-15 (usually) they are circumsized with no antiseptic or anesthesia and if they cry or scream, they will not be considered men and will bring shame to their family. If they prove themselves, a celebration is held and they are given a new wrap to wear. The Maasai dress according to age, and once you're older and have been circumsized you get a new outfit. He also told us about what they use for weapons and how they do not kill animals that are not dangerous. They do not kill animals for food usually, instead they wait until they are dying already before eating them. It was all very interesting!
Next, we explored the Maasai Women's Market where I bought some hand-made jewelry for cheap. I liked it because the women are given a hut a piece to sell their wares and try to make some money. After that, we went to the snake park which was really a little zoo. They had all sorts of deadly snakes that are native to Africa as well as crocodiles, monkeys, baboons, vultures, and turtles. The baboon even came up ot the front of the cage and reached out to me. When I put my hand in his, he gripped it lightly and shook it! It was super awesome. Seriously.
After everything we returned to our host families for dinner. We had cooked bananas (not yellow bananas, but a type that is grown specifically for cooking), beef stew, greens, and avocado followed by oranges and ice cream for dessert. It was so nzuri sana (very good)! Afterword however, we were exhausted. Honestly, I could have gone to bed at 7:30pm, but I stayed up and hung out with Mama and Amber for a few hours. Mama taught us some swahili words and we watched some odd soap opera.
It was, of course, another amazing day in Tanzania!
4 comments:
Bria my heart is overjoyed because you are having such a good time. Thank you again for posting. I look forward to reading your blog each day. BTW how did the cooking banana taste, what were they like?
Hi baby girl, I look forward to your blog daily. I loved the video of mama and baba I wish I could meet them. I'm sorry your class didnt work out but you are good with the little ones! I love you.
Meeting Maasai people! Learning Swahili! That all sounds sooo great! Hello to both of you!
I just.saw the pictures. It is all so interesting. Thanks for the pictures I know you are learning so much about the country and in turn teaching us. I love you
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