Visit to a Boma

A Boma is defined as an enclosure and for sure that's what it is.  The Maasai live in bomas just like this one.

Notice the sharp poles that surround the enclosure.  This "fence" is made from special trees with sharp thorns to prevent animals from coming into the living areas.








The Maasai are nomadic, so will move from these dwellings every 5 years or so.  This is necessary because they depend on good grazing for their cattle.  Once the plain is grazed, they must move on and they leave their homes behind.







One day Clamian asked us if we wanted to visit his Uncle's Boma.  Of course we did!  We entered the Serengeti Plain and made our way towards a distant hill, seeing all kinds of amazing things on the way.

The Serengeti is vast and there are roads all over the place.  How they ever find their way around there is beyond me.  At one point, Clamian said to us, "We're lost right now, but we'll figure out where we are later, OK?"

No problem!  We knew the boma was at the foot of a distant hill -- it was pretty easy to keep the target in site.

These two hyenas are waiting for a chance at lunch!

 

 Ostriches were easy to spot and there were lots!








After a long drive and lots of animals, we arrived at the boma to a heartfelt welcome.

This lady is a relative of Clamian's, an aunt I think, but he called her his "Mama".  He hadn't seen her for 20 years.

She was so happy to see him.  It was very touching to witness this tearful reunion.  Unfortunately Clamian's uncle was away, but we were welcomed with open arms and invited to go wherever we wanted and to take pictures of anything we wanted to.








We knew this was not a "tourist" attraction, but the real thing.  What a privilege for us!

Some people were happy to have their pictures taken.

These young girls were a bit shy and reluctant, but they did enjoy seeing their pictures once we had taken them.  They don't see a lot of tourists.






 



We were invited inside one of their dwellings.  The typical home is one room and does not have lights, windows, floors or furniture. Food is cooked over an open fire in the middle and there is an opening in the cone-shaped roof to let the smoke out.  Beds are made on platforms and cattle have a place too.  The people spend their time outside during the day and at night the only light comes from the fire.  It took awhile for our eyes to adjust from the bright sunlight to the darkness inside.

This lady was very hospitable and through Clamian, showed us around her home.

It's pretty dark inside, but look at the beautiful bead work!  Just a typical day at home!!

It was time to say goodbye and one of Clamian's cousins asked if we could give her a ride as we were going her way.  She and Clamian had a long conversation and he later explained that a couple of weeks earlier, 2 small children disappeared from the Boma during the day.  It was feared that they were taken by a leopard.  So sad, but reality of life in the Boma.

See my next blog for pictures of birds and animals.  The diversity is incredible.  What a country Tanzania is -- so rich in culture and nature!

Claimian and the Maasai

Synchronicity -- our whole trip was based on a series of seemingly unrelated events that came together to create one of the most memorable experiences of my life.  By some act of Providence, Clamian, the owner of Warrior Trails, decided to come with us on safari.

Clamian Kitesho

Discussing the day's plan

 Each day was customized for us. Our main goal was to see animals, but Clamian would organize the day to include other activities  about which we had expressed an interest.













 We had this comfortable Toyota Land Cruiser for just the 4 of us.  Lots of space and the vehicle is customized for optimal viewing for everyone.

Our ride

Clamian attended a school just like the one we visited.

It is often not a high priority for boys to go to school because they are needed to tend the cattle.  For the Maasai, cattle are like money, so it is easy to see how families focus on their livelihood rather than the education of their children.

Note the traditional houses in the background.

Tending the herd

It must have been his destiny to get an education because he had to overcome formidable odds to get through school.  A 7 km walk, each way!  A school with scarce resources!  Cultural values that did not support higher education!  However, he had inspiration from an Uncle who is well educated and this man encouraged Clamian to persevere and get a degree in Tourism.   He obviously had the spark within, because it is clear that he is doing what he loves.

 Clamian is an expert in the flora and fauna of his native land.  This herb is one the Maasai use to make mattresses. It works as a natural deodorant.

                             



 It worked well in the car too, on a hot sweaty day!













He worked for a number of years for one of the larger safari companies in Tanzania and then started his own company, Warrior Trails  http://www.warriortrails.com  Our safari was such a well-rounded experience because of the cultural aspects that were offered.  We had some long drives, but he entertained us with lots of stories and willingly answered our endless questions about the wildlife, Tanzanian politics, the Maasai culture, tradition and his own life.

Spotting the leopard

A teachable moment

"The Mamas"

In Maasai culture, female relatives are all called "Mama" and one day Clamian took us to meet his "Mamas".  This was actually a women's co-op created to help women support their families.  You see, when a Maasai woman loses her husband to AIDS, illness or anything else, she becomes ineligible to re-marry and must provide for her children.

Clamian is a Maasai Junior Elder, so it is his responsibility to help his people.  He created this co-op to help these women support their children.  He told us a story about how one of his clients bought a cow for one of the women, giving her milk for her children and a degree of wealth, as in their culture, wealth is measured in cattle.


This large group of women make jewelry to sell to tourists.  Each one of them has a story, and we were anxious to help.

 We had such fun buying pieces that we thought would sell in the new Etsy Store, Jambo Creations

Now we had the connection, the circle was complete.  We could support the "Mamas" by buying their jewelry as the starting point for our own creations, sell it online, and send the profits to help the school to buy textbooks. 

We bid the "Mamas" goodbye and Clamian assured us that we had helped some people eat better that day.

Jackson's story

First of all, there was Jackson's story. One of his clients, an Italian woman, wanted to help after he had taken her to his village to visit his mother. After seeing that Jackson's mother had to walk for miles to get water, which she carried home in a big heavy jug on her head, this woman went back to Italy to raise money to bring water to the village. As a result of her efforts, the village had water, the school had water which enabled them to give each of the 700 children fresh water and breakfast each day. We asked him how much the project cost, expecting to hear a very large number for something that would make a difference for so many. $5000 was the figure and we were inspired that we too, could make a difference in some lives in Tanzania.

Jackson tells us about a village water project

And then as we drove along on our way to the Serengeti, we knew we wanted to do more and Jambo Creations was born over the next 10 days in our Land Cruiser and midwifed by our guides, Clamian and Jackson. Andrea had the initial idea. Why not create a line of fashion products to sell on Etsy, http://www.etsy.com/people/JamboCreations?ref=si_pr with the proceeds going to help the school?

The seed is planted

Makuyuni Primary School Classroom

What can I do? How can I help? How do these kids ever get ahead in life? These are questions that just popped into my head when we visited this school in Tanzania, Africa just a couple of weeks ago. We went to Africa on safari and thought we would take some gifts for a village or classroom. On our first day of safari we mentioned this to our guide, Clamian, and he knew just the place to take us, to Makuyuni Primary School in a village outside of Arusha.

 The headmaster, Samuel greeted us with open arms and took us on a tour of the school.

Headmaster, Samwel

Samwel discusses the shortage of textbooks

The kids held up their textbooks: Only 10 in the classroom!

1000 students, 6 teachers, 160+ students per classroom, 3 to 5 children per desk. Order, politeness, beautiful children.  No chalk, no teaching aids, maybe 4 to 5 worn textbooks per classroom. Pencils, paper, crayons, the school supplies we take for granted, non existent. Hence the question, what can we do, right now?

 The first thing we did was leave money so they could buy chalk --- such a simple thing, we could have brought a suitcase full of chalk instead of soccer balls and frisbees!

Samwel accepts the Schrey's gifts

Shopping in Tanzania

Our idea for Jambo Creations was taking form and originally we were going to buy the fabrics, beads etc in Tanzania and create fashion accessories inspired by our travels there.  There was inspiration everywhere. Beautiful fabrics, lots of color, jewelry. Just look at how these women are dressed as they go about their daily round.  Much of their time is spent fetching water and wood.  It is not unusual for women to walk 5 to 7 K each way per day to bring home water.




















We knew that the beautiful pieces we saw would be marketable, but as we took a closer look we could see how intricate and labor intensive this work is.  However, the solution to this challenge lay in the future.  See my blog, "The Mamas" coming up to see how beautifully it all came together.




                                                                                   

Shopping was so much fun