A Glance at Africa

While in the misty hilly highlands of Tanzania we were welcomed with highs and lows from the jumping of the Maasai. This was common since I had seen similar in my country but to experience the same culture in a different environment has a new exciting feel to it. Like watching a film that re-sparks your passion or a book that takes you to that place. We walked around the village fenced with twigs that could be broken by any man without any hurdles. Only later to discover the fences was in their hearts, pride, courage, and belief in the strength of each other. A dark glimpse into the smoky Manyatta(a mud made home) which was cozy, dry and adequate comfortable shelter for them and a question was posed to my dad! “hauna mke mwingine? ” translated to don’t you have another wife? And there was so much sincerity behind the question. The answer was “huyu hawezi itikia?” (she cannot agree). There was disbelief in the Maasai’s eyes. In his eyes, you could see he could not believe that he could not deny himself that. Or at least still have the choice of not to do that. I look back at that moment and see the disparity in both responses. The answer should have been I love only her or she is the only one for me.This is a result of not owning openly up to what you disagree with. But this was said unconsciously and was clear from the beginning. This was over a decade ago. The Maasai was clearly surprised as he was brought up in that belief system. We have all been brought up in a belief system where morality write and wrong are predefined. We take the time to revisit how education systems are built yet we take no time to question the norms and assume certain beliefs. We take time to say how the government is failing and yet we can not grow our homes. This is not meant to attack you but your way of thinking. Big didn’t start big it was once small. What do you think?