"Amazing, emotional, and a bit awkward"

The title is a direct quote from a journal entry I made on Jan. 3rd. It accurately summarizes how I felt during most of my time spent in Samburu. For the next few blog entries I make I will summarize my experiences and use direct quotes from my journal. Many pictures can also be expected :)

On Jan.2-3 we spent our time in Umoja familiarizing ourselves and getting to know the women and children. We watched a goat be slaughtered and saw the joy in the children's eyes at the prospect of fresh meat for dinner.

Goat meat. I have one piece of advice: don't go to Kenya for the cuisine.

The 3rd was an incredible day because we were invited to be present at a circumcision ceremony for a boy named Isaiah. Brett was extremely honored because he was chosen to stand in as Isaiah's father. We arrived in Umoja around 5am and were invited into Rebecca's hut to wait until sunrise. It was totally surreal to be laying on cowhides listening to the warriors sing just outide the hut.

This is a recording I took of the warriors singing outside our hut. Unfortunately it doesn't sound too great because you can hear me moving. Just listen close :)

To give you some background, according to their tradition 13 yr old boys are circumsized by an older man in the tribe. The circumcision signifies a transition from childhood into manhood, and is one of the most important experiences in their lives. The boys are expected to remain completely still and not flinch, blink, move, or cry. If they do any of those things then they will be beaten by their father (or mother, depending) and if they cry then hot ashes will be dumped on the father. Of course Brett was really hoping that this didn't happen. After the procedure they stay in their hut for a few days and recover by drinking incredible amounts of blood mixed with milk (it is believed that this gives them strength). Once the boy is feeling better, he is supposed to go out on his own and kill a large predator - this is now a part of their oral tradition and is no longer practiced because of the fragile ecosystem. He is also expected to kill as many birds as he can in an alloted amount of time and hang them from a head dress he has to wear. I know that there are many other expectations of him and his family that span throughout at least a year, but I don't know what they are.

Sunrise, morning of the circumcision

Ok, back to my story. Once the sun rose the ceremony began in full force and the men gathered in a group in front of his hut while the women stood at a distance. Since I obviously wasn't with the group of men and warriors during the circumcision, I heard from the other guys that it seemed to take a long time, and Isaiah looked like he was in a trance. Luckily for Brett, Isaiah didn't cry and his head was in the way so he didn't have to watch. The rest of us females were standing with the women just waiting for it to be over. Once it was clear the procedure was done, all of the women started sobbing and I couldn't figure out why. I found out later that they were crying because to them it is the loss of a child. The mother is also especially sad because once a boy is circumcised he is considered a man and can no longer eat with his mother or other females.

Once the women recovered, Rebecca motioned for us to follow her to the cow pen. Unbelievingly I watched a warrior shoot a blunt arrow into the neck of a cow and collect the blood in a cut off milk jug. It took several minutes, and Rebecca had me so close that I could smell the blood. I was a little nauseated but I managed to stay and watch out of politeness and the fact that I had no clue how to react to that situation. There was a mother cow next to the one that was bleeding, and a younger warrior was milking it. Once they had enough blood the got a stick and mixed the milk and blood into a thick drink. They took it into the hut for Isaiah to drink to make him strong.

The warriors and children on the day of the ceremony

After that the ceremony was over and I spent the rest of the day sitting under the acacia tree with the women and children. Some of the people in our group helped Rebecca and a few others make the roof for Rebecca's hut. The "cement" they use for the roof consists of very fresh cow dung, sand, and water. I helped gather the poop in buckets, but I drew the line when it came down to mixing it all together and smooshing it on the roof. I just couldn't do it. The mixture definitely works, but I couldn't deal with handling warm, fresh, smelly cow poop in the middle of a very hot day.

Terrance and Cortney walking with Rebecca, Jenn, & Jackieo (and buckets of poop)

Putting the roof on

While they were working on the roof, we sat under the acacia tree and drew pictures