This would have to be one of my most special blog posts ever. Hands down. These photos aren't of some tourist Maasai show, they are pictures which capture one of the most privileged days of my life. The beautiful women of Sakina's hillside showed me first hand what it is like to be a part of a working Maasai community. The group got together as a thank you present (best gift I've ever received) to farewell my time at Hill Crest - where their children go for food, safety, affection & of course education.

As you can imagine, I wasn't expecting this. We could tell that something was a bit amiss when Isaac was a bit evasive but asked us to come back to the school after work for something, but nothing in particular. Then before we knew it, the women came assembling in one by one, dressed in their full traditional clothing. 

After the women, the men & chief arrived. My heart was beating at 100 miles an hour, and I couldn't really talk. So lucky my camera was on hand so I could capture what was about to unfold. For the next 2 hrs or so, I got to be involved in an intimate Maasai ceremony, with food, dancing & a lot of warrior jumping! I'll put posts up of the men in another post, but for this one I want to focus on the ladies. 

I won't presume to know for one second what it is like to be a Maasai mama, but they shared with me enough to know that it's not an easy life. They work hard, they have next to nothing, they are at the mercy of their husbands (who have many, many wives), they keep producing children till it's no longer biologically possible & you bow down to your male counterparts, to the point where you can't even walk in front of them without it being an ordeal... but most of all, if you break the rules, you bear the brute force of the culture against you. An outcast of your community, with nowhere to turn. 

The Maasai are stubborn, they keep their culture strong despite the temptation of modernity. Good on them. And so I don't want to glamourise their culture, I truly feel privileged to have been able to live with, and amongst, these spectacular people for the last month or so. And not just live amongst them. I genuinely felt like they welcomed me with the most open arms, and let me be part of their tight-knit community.

For the life of me, I don't know how I was lucky enough to be a part of this. Like I said, not as a tourist, but as an honoured guest. Most humbling experience I've ever had. I'll never forget it. Thank you Elisabeth & Isaac. I didn't cry on the day, but that's cause I was trying very hard to keep my s*!t together. I assure you I cried my eyes out as soon as I turned my back on the school gate.