Morning conversations in Nanyogie

Together with some people from the village we gather to exchange stories. Every morning starts with the exchange of stories of what happened since we last met.

We continue the conversation with an exploration of questions and our first question is about what is on the mind of the women here. They are a bit reluctant in speaking up and suddenly the discussion goes in the direction of the situation for the livestock keepers in Tanzania.

The Maasai are pushed back even though the laws are in support them.
An important task is to inform people about their rights.

Next topic is about how it is to be a warrior. We set off a question which ignites a lively discussion among the elders. After a while we understand that the elders sort of prepare the topic before handing over the story to the young men.

So what are the feelings of the young ones. There is a shortage of resources leading to the young generation go away for work and money. But the long term ambition is often to return to the clan and to find a piece of land and get some cattle to herd.

What about dreams?
Young generation see that there is a big shortage of things. There is shortage of land and livestock. Diseases är a big problem. Sometimes they feel "stuck" to traditional life because their parents often does not recognize the need of education.

But we should find a way to let the different worlds remain, let it be the modern world, the traditional world, and the academic world.
We should go to school which means that we will lose some culture, but this is a necessary sacrifice.

We get a question around the fast development in our part of the world. Leif told a story about his grandfather who was a farmer who remembered the change from oxes to horses.

This lead to a question from the group: "how come the fast development in your country? How did it happen? Was it because you went to school?"

And as this conversation continues I will send this posting from my phone, right here, right now.