Maasai School's One Year Anniversary

Today was the one year anniversary of Projects Abroad's involvement in a village to the west of Arusha, first with a building project and, secondly, with a teaching project. We were all invited to the village to join the celebrations. The journey there took about forty-five minutes through one of the busiest roads in town, before heading out into the countryside. Along the way we were granted some great views and as we travelled further away from Arusha, the small shanty towns were gradually replaced by Maasai bomas dotted around the landscape, with the Maasai themselves wandering the endless plain. It had rained heavily in the morning so some of the guys had to get out and push the bus at one point. A bullet I managed to dodge. We arrived at the school without further incident and we were immediately taken to see the goat that we were going to be eating for lunch. This was important for the Maasai as they had killed what is their commodity in order to honour us as guests in their village. As it turns out, it was one of the volunteer teachers who works there who had the honour of killing the goat himself, of which I am envious, but then was duped into eating raw kidney, of which I am rather less envious.

The day started with prayers and a song by the church choir, which was sung beautifully. Then it was the introductions, first by prominent members of the village community then by the volunteers and Projects' staff. We were treated to another song, this time in Maasai rather than Swahili, before we were split into groups to play with the children. We went outside for the first game of the day: sack racing! The children dived into the game with great enthusiasm and were rewarded for their jumping, screaming and falling with sweets at the end of the course. For the people giving out the sweets, it was was manic. They were suddenly mobbed by a sea of hands grasping at the first sign of something sugary. After the children’s sack race, it was the turn of the volunteers. I took part and fancied my chances, however, it wasn't to be as poor preparation meant that during the race both my hat and my glasses fell off within a second of each other and, in the process of bending down to pick both of them up, I ended up flat on my face. Overall I came fourth or fifth, I think, but certainly will need to adjust my strategy for the next race. More pit stops maybe. There was a three-legged race and a game of piggy-in-the-middle with a football before we stopped for lunch. Lunch consisted of rice, goat stew, banana stew and some fruit. All to be eaten with hands. Different people attacked their lunch with differing levels of enthusiasm but personally I have no problem eating using my hands. The lunch break was a welcome pause from running around with the children even if the day itself was not particularly warm.

After lunch we continued to play with the children, carrying them on our shoulders and pushing them on the swings. The children seemed so happy to be able to play with all the volunteers. Finally, we went back to the church for more songs and each volunteer was gifted a Maasai necklace each. As the closing speeches were given, I had one adorable child on my lap who was particularly interested in my headphones and, when I placed them in her ears and turned my music on, began bobbing her head up and down to We Are The In Crowd. As we left the children burst out into song for their teachers and waved us goodbye as we boarded the bus. It had been an unbelievable day.

The next day there was no social due to the Maasai trip but all the volunteers were meeting for dinner before heading to Via Via after. We ate at Maasai Café, where I just had a pizza and headed to Via Via for one of the funniest nights I've had in a while. Via Via has really grown on me since I've been here but the one annoying part about Tanzania is some of the men can not take 'no' as an answer. There was one man who constantly tried to grab one of the girls in the group and grind on them, even when he was clearly told no. This probably happens in every country and I've definitely seen it in England but this happens almost every time we're at Via Via. I spent the good part of an hour, pulling the girls away from him and repositioning myself in between him and the rest of our group. Yet he still kept trying it on with them. Things like that really annoy me. Just because Tanzania is still a largely patriarchal society does not give men the right to do whatever they want. Apologies for the dark note to end but there you go.