I had come in with no expectations at all, but my mind has been completely blown away!!
My first month volunteering in Tanzania has been located in Endulen, which is a Maasai Village in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (where the Ngorongoro Crater is located). Tourists from all over come to the Ngorongoro Crater for Safaris and we are lucky enough to be working here in the midst of all this wildlife. The village itself has approximately 15,000 people (50,000 with surrounding villages). The Maasai people are an incredible bunch of people. They live an extremely extremely simple life - which has been incredible to see considering the world we live in back home. There is no electricity in Edulen, and most of the houses and/or huts are built with wood or straw or tin. There are the few that are built with cement. We are staying at the Priests residence (there are 2 Catholic Priests with 1 house and 2 small lodges for volunteers that were just built). We do have western toilets and cold showers (usually we wait until evening when they boil water and we'll take a hot shower out of a bucket - but on the really hot days and after a tough day of digging trenches a cold shower feels sooooo good). Our lodge where Graham, myself, and Father Matteo are staying is nicknamed the "Zebra Lodge" because our very first night here, not even 20 yards away from the lodge were 3 Zebras just grazing in the grass. Apparently they come by on the odd night......as do some other wild life :)
Everyday we walk though the Endulen village and there's cattle, goats, chickens, and donkeys all walking around. There are women and children who go down to the river (which can be 1km-10km away depending where they live - or even further) and get water in buckets for drinking, bathing, and washing clothes, which they carry on their heads back home. The Maasai people have a very deep routed tradition. They all wear symbolic clothing (mostly the colour red) and jewelry. Most of the people when they are young get their ears pierced (with a blunt instrument), and a lot of them (men &women) have the huge long holes where they put in special earrings during special ceremonies and parties. The men at a young age (between 10-20 years old) will get circumcised by one of the elders with a very sharp knife or machete - which most Maasai men carry with them (when we heard this story - the men in the room were horrified!!!). From there they will dress in black clothing and have their faces painted white for a period of time during initiation. They will serve as junior warriors for the tribe for a few years and then as senior warriors (it's more symbolic - they don't actually hunt or kill anything). When they transition from a warrior to a junior elder they will get married. Then as they are older they will become senior elders and help run the village. Maasai people are polygamists which means they can have more than 1 wife (and many of them do!). If you have more than one wife it's seen as a respect thing and you are held in a higher status. The Chairman of all the villages here has 7 wives and many many children. As with some other cultures around the world, many of the first marriages are arranged by the parents. However, pending the circumstances he or she can choose not to go through with it. The Maasai people do not kill wildlife or cultivate land. So they don't grow their own gardens or farm land. However, if they buy chickens, goats, pigs, etc they will sacrifice it and eat it.
The water project has been going really well. We (Projects Abroad) are working hand in hand with an organization from Brisbane Australia called BridgIT Water Foundation (which is a non-for profit organization that specializes in setting up these types of Water Projects in developing countries). They have done 5 thus far across the world. Mark & Wendy from BridgIT have been absolutely fantastic!! In November they had the well dug - which is 60 meters deep. Now in January our first week and a half was spent trenching (digging) a 500 meter ditch from where the well was setup to the top of a hill where we were helping build the water tank (28,000 liter tank). We have 10 volunteers, and had another 20 Maasai people (which quickly went down to a handful by the 3rd day) helping out with the work. They were an extremely huge help though! In addition there was another company (Maji Blockz) brought in by Mark & Wendy to build the water tank and the Generator Shed for the well/pump/generator at the bottom of the hill and trench. All materials, supplies, and tools are all purchased here in Tanzania to help with the local economy. BridgIT Water Foundation has funded the whole project with a portion being also contributed from Projects Abroad, and of course all the help from the local community in helping dig!! There are 10 of us in total volunteering: Mark, Wendy, and Stephanie (daughter) from BridgIT Water Foundation (all from Brisbane Australia). The other 7 are from Projects Abroad - Jean-Cristophe (France), Mia (Denmark), Debra (Australia), Delphine (France), Graham (New Jersey, USA), Len (Atlanta, USA), myself (Canada). The volunteer group has been absolutely fantastic and everyone has clicked extremely well.
Below are photos of the trench digging, water tank build, and the Maasai people in the village.
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