TAN: Mwarabu Boma

We were up again with the cries of the rooster. It was decidedly overcast when we poked our noses out of the tent. Not good for filming. Fortunately the cloud cover burned off fairly quickly. We followed the kids to school again, getting more footage. They were more comfortable with the camera and a little more relaxed.

The remnants of some children playing “house.”

The schoolkids sweeping the schoolyard clean. In no other country have I seen so much effort put into cleaning so little. A young warrior idling near the school.

Adam, Sandrine and I waited outside while Chantal got more footage in the school room. The students were a little less distracted with just one person disturbing their environment. Exams were on again today and we hung out until the three kids had had their oral exams. Maiko did quite well, while Mateyo and Monika fared less well.
In the afternoon we had an invitation to visit a neighboring boma. The boma was quite large, belonging to a very wealthy man with ten wives. We spent a bit of time watching the men play mancala, betting their cattle on the outcome. They barely acknowledged our presence.

The elders engrossed in their game of mancala. Each stick represents one of the cows being wagered.

After we had gotten our fill of the elders, we moved over to talk with the ladies of the household. A highlight was the presence of the patriarch’s aging mother, we was still quite feisty. After a couple of minutes it became quite clear to me that we were really the ones on display, prizes brought by Adam for the ladies perusal.
The ladies were primarily interested in topics involving motherhood. They wanted to know if mothers in Europe and the US breast fed their children. This brought about a long discussion amongst ourselves that ultimately led to Sandrine being completely disgusted with the absurdity of breast pumps and male nursing bras. The ladies were also curious about diet while pregnant. They have milk without cream in order to keep the weight of their newborns down. They were also very curious about how we were able to tell each other apart, us looking very similar to their eyes.
As it got on toward dusk we decided to pack up and head for home. We looked around the boma for a bit and played the camera game for a while.

A budding young Maasai filmmaker. These two young ladies were having their earlobes stretched.

Had a slide show for the family of the pictures I had taken over the last couple of days.