Maasai Camp

Every winter (Kenya's winter) a group of Maasai men from the community who are wealthy enough to afford it bring some goats or cattle and take them to a secluded place in the wilderness. They spend a month resting, slaughtering the animals, eating meat, and drinking boiled herbs. This way they build up their strength and go back to their homes rejuvenated and healthy.

When the chairman of the school district found out that we were volunteering at the Olorien Primary School he wanted to find a way to thank us. He decided to invite us to visit his Maasai camp for the day and take meat with the men there as a way to thank us for our contribution to the school. All the men in the camp agreed to let us visit and so it was arranged. We were the only foreigners to have ever visited their camp.

We set out early in the day with backpacks full of water and juice. It took us nearly four hours to hike from Alex's home to the Maasai camp. Nikki was in the midst of a nasty viral infection and wheezed a bit as we set out. Along the way we stopped at the chairman's home where his wife served us a cup of tea before we continued on our journey. After parting with the chairman's wife we met up with the headmistress from the Olorien school, Sentero (Alex's brother who teaches at the school), and a boy from class 7 who all accompanied us to the camp.

About an hour before we reached our destination Alex explained that there were two different ways we could proceed. One way was quicker but "a bit steep." The other way was longer but less steep. Assuming they were merely concerned about us foreigners we opted for the shorter steeper journey. About a half an hour later we approached the edge of a cliff, the basin of the Rift Valley. My jaw dropped, this was surely more than a bit steep. I couldn't believe that we intended to climb down the side of this incredibly steep escapement. Though I am usually quite comfortable with heights I was scared out of my mind as we began to descend. It was so steep that everyone slipped and fell on the way down. My knees were shaking as I stumbled and grabbed the closest thing, which unfortunately usually happened to be a thorny bush. At several points some of us choose to sort of climb down on our hands and knees to avoid slipping. "Let's try not to die," I kept saying to Nikki, half joking half serious.

Finally we made it to the Maasai camp. They were warned of our visit beforehand so that they could put on clothing. Several men were sitting around a fire roasting meat. One man was attending to the boiled herbs, distributing them among his comrades. We entered the natural cave area where they slept at night and relaxed during the day. The chairman greeted us enthusiastically, taking us aside to offer his special personal thanks for our time at the school. At the camp we also met and talked with the local representative from the area who serves in the government. He emphasized his commitment to improving education in Kenya and also thanked us heartily for our contribution.

Before it was time to eat meat we gathered for our special Maasai naming ceremony. They took their traditional Maasai blankets and clothed us with them before giving us our names. Nikki went first and the chairman slipped a cowhide ring on finger as he named her "Naeku" which means "early riser." I was the wrapped in a Maasai Shuka, given my cowhide ring, and named "Nashipae,"or "ever-joyful." After the naming ceremony the chairman brought out a spigget with beef that had been slaughtered the day before, the same cow from which our rings were taken. He would slice off a bite size piece, give it to a person in our group, and proceed in this way until the entire spigget of meat had been eaten. We ate the equivalent of about three of the most delicious steaks I have ever tasted.

After eating and tasting some of the herbs we said our goodbyes to the men in the camp. The chairman walked us back up to the top of the rift valley basin. This time we took the less steep way and were able to walk comfortably up to the top. We parted ways with the chairman and walked the nearly four hour journey back home, exhausted but at perfect peace with the world, having spent the most amazing day of our trip.





This is the chairman's mother-in-law who we met at the chairman's home.


This is the chairman's wife who accompanied us for a short portion of the journey.



The edge of the rift valley basin.

The headmistress, a boy from school, Alex, Nikki, and Sentero


Beginning our descent

Climbing down

A man in the camp stirs some of the fatty meats




The herbs boiling


Me in the Maasai camp


Nikki becomes Naeku





I become Nashipae




Eating meat



Leaving the camp





Heading back up

Olorien Primary School

This main building houses classes 4-8.

This temporary building houses classes 1-3

This is inside some of the classrooms. In each small wooden desk, 2 students squeeze next to each other. Most of the classes contained 50 to 70 kids.


This is the staff room where we prepared lessons and marked papers. Our weekly schedule is printed on the chalkboard in the back.

Here are most of the teachers standing. The older boys in front prepared traditional Maasai music and dance for us on our last day.

Here we tried to join in and even took a stab at the jumping. Although we were called "white Maasai" by some of the locals I don't think we lived up to our name here!

This is a typical scene whenever one of us took the camera out. Students would race towards us to be in the picture. We had to endlessly convince them they didn't need to be inches from the camera lens, or give the thumbs up.

Lunchtime! Food consisted of a bulgar (oats?) mush donated by the USA.

Annalisa got her hair braided by some of the students.

Annalisa is engaged teaching Social Studies (top) and reading an English passage (bottom). Nikki is busy lecturing and helping students with math homework.

Annalisa has class 8 students act out a passage from their English text.

We did a finger painting activity with class 1.





We will never forget these children. Every single day they were so happy and whenever we caught their eyes they would give us the biggest smiles. They were so appreciative and thankful of us coming to Kenya to teach them, however, they gave us much more back. We do plan on returning in a couple years to Kenya and to this school and perhaps for a much longer visit. There are still more posts to come...