Tanzania Journal: Engakaret, a Massai Village

Engakaret is a Massai Village just east of Arusha. Massai people cling to their culture and have changed very little over the years. They follow very defined gender roles with women expected to be submissive with no say in what happens to them. With a harsh and limited diet, their lives revolve around their cows. Men may own anywhere from 500 - 6000 cows but it is the women's job to milk them. It is an abomination for a man to milk a cow.

I spent a week in Engakaret from 07/11 to 7/15/2011. There is a central part but people live in small sections of huts arranged in circles called Bomas. The number of huts in a Boma is equal to the number of wives the head of the Boma has. The more wives one has the more powerful leader the man is. While many wives means more sex which is important to these men, it also has a practical aspect. One woman could not milk 500, much less 6,000 cows.

Another interesting aspect to this culture is their jewelry and in particular the size of the holes in their ear lobes. I was so fascinated to learn that they keep putting larger and larger objects in their ears until the hole becomes quite large. I've included some pictures below to show the jewelry on both men and women.

One other fascinating fact is that of Newcastle Disease which is fatal to chickens. The Masaai traditionally did not raise chickens because the disease is so prevalent that the chickens just ended up dying. The agriculture program has found a vaccine that prevents the disease so now most Bomas have lots of chickens around which helps their diets. How does ones vaccinate a chicken? By putting a drop of the vaccine in one eye. But first one has to catch the chicken. We lured them into the huts by putting down corn and then one can catch them one by one. Here is a picture of a volunteer placing the drop in the eye.