Two fires

Over last weekend, in an action to do with a land dispute, a 4–star camp near Mt Kilimanjaro was torched by Maasai villagers. The arsonists also destroyed several vehicles though no people were injured. The tourist camp is on an 1100Ha foreign owned farm. It is also on Maasai ancestral grazing land. The land had been overgrazed and was in a poor state when it was taken over by the current management in 1995. The new owners have fenced and rehabilitated it and made it a wildlife haven. Locals see grass and want it for their cattle. It is a difficult problem with both sides having legitimate moral claims.

Maasai Market (Not my photo - stolen from web)

Last night Arusha’s Maasai Market burned to the ground. The cause is not yet known but arson is strongly suspected with there being several reasons to suspect it – take your pick. It may be related to the double back-flip by government authorities over the eviction of 40,000 Maasai people so their ancestral home can be turned into a hunting ground for Middle Eastern royals, though it’s hard to see how this will help! The Tourism Minister authorized the eviction last year but after world-wide protests the Prime Minister declared it would not happen but there has now been a reneging on that promise – the money is just too tempting! A 1,500 km² 'wildlife corridor' around Loliondo, next to the Serengeti national park, is scheduled to be handed over to a commercial hunting and safari company based in the United Arab Emirates for their exclusive use. There is no moral ambivalence or ambiguity on this one!

The fire could also be because a local businessman wants the land for his own purposes and it is now cleared so available for sale or lease to him with no encumbrances. Again, totally immoral and unethical but common in Tanzania in the toolkit of corruption.

Also not my photo - and now it's too late to take any!

 Or it could be the start of general unrest to do with next year’s constitution referendum and presidential elections – the local political groups have had a few rallies already where police have acted in a heavy handed way to move them on. This is my least preferred reason as the implication of increased violence in the next few months doesn't bear thinking about.

Whatever the reason it is a tragedy because the livelihoods of the traders have been destroyed and many will be left in debt as they borrowed to buy the goods and now have nothing. It is also one less tourist attraction for Arusha! And the Ebola outbreak in west Africa has decreased tourist numbers here in east Africa - there must be many geographically incompetent travellers out there - so traders were already struggling.

This afternoon there were truckloads of young men heading into town – “truckloads” is not a euphemism for many, they were literally filling the trays of trucks and utes, and piled three to a motorbike – honking horns and making a racket. I suspect a protest about the burning is underway this evening and town is somewhere you wouldn’t want to be tonight. I hope it wont be another night of destruction. I'll keep you posted

Women’s rights are human rights.

This week I’ve been learning about Land Rights in Tanzania in preparation to teach the students about it – googling-up and reading, copying and pasting, printing and laminating! – and luckily stumbled upon the work of the Pastoral Women’s Council of Tanzania. I discovered one of the women I hike with on a Sunday morning is a program manager with the group so I’ve asked if she can come and talk to the students.

I wrote a few weeks ago about my journey into Maasai Land. This week I have found out more about the difficult situation Maasai women can find themselves in.

This is a story from the PWC website -

"My husband died when I was very young, I didn’t know anything, I didn’t know my rights. My husband’s relatives took our 100 cows. The clan fought for me but I was only given back seven. I had to return to my parents’ home. I suffered but now I see widowed woman are not suffering in the same way, they go to PWC and find out what their rights are. 

Relatives tried to marry off my daughter when she was 11 but I resisted. I went to PWC and my MP and the relatives stopped, they were scared they’d be put in prison for trying to marry a girl under 18. My daughter now has a qualification in animal husbandry.  Education is a priority for me as I can see that girls who go to school understand their rights and people treat them differently. They have freedom to decide who to marry and what to do. PWC has sponsored another of my daughters. They're the only organisation in this district that's serious about girls’ education.”

There are many similar stories – about abuse and empowerment, about rights and how difficult is to get and keep what is rightfully yours as a Maasai woman. Tanzania’s legal system isn’t always helpful as Tanzania’s adopted British common law - Women’s rights to own and inherit property are protected in the Land Law and Village Land Act - is contradictory to customary law - Women cannot inherit if the deceased left male relatives of his clan – and customary law usually wins out as women do not have the resources to fight it in the court system.

Proponents of Women’s Land Rights are hopeful that the new constitution – still in draft form though due to be voted on next April – will clear up the confusion and give women the rights they deserve.

I’ve also been looking at economic empowerment of women with microfinance groups.  Another story from the PWC website –

“In 2011 I was glad to attend training on bead making facilitated by PWC. The knowledge and skills I gained has enabled me to make beads and take them to the cultural boma. I have also been training other women who did not attend the training. The loan I got from the SACCOS (Savings and Credit Cooperative Society) has enabled me purchase more beads.

Before I joined the SACCOS I could only feed my family one meal a day and that was not assured. Now I am assured to feed my family two meals a day. I wish one day to be able to feed them three meals. We need more trainings and we promise PWC that we will help more women to be self reliant. I also request PWC to facilitate other trainings to diversify our businesses also to train us in ways on emergency savings to help us in drought periods like now.”

I hope these stories will give our girls the confidence to strive for what they want to achieve and not let the patriarchal Maasai tradition stand in their way. I can’t teach them to overturn their cultural heritage but I can show them stories where they will learn the truth for themselves!

ps Don't google PWC Tanzania - you'll get PriceWaterhouseCooper - and family, expect beads for Christmas!

Engaruka

I spent last weekend at Engaruka, about 50 km north of Mto wa Mbu and 4 hours by road from Arusha, right on the Great Rift Valley wall, having a Maasai "cultural experience".  It was informative and enjoyable.

Engaruka is in the dry season currently and its soil is bone dry. The only green is in the trees along the creek where the vegetation is quite lush. The locals survive because of this creek that flows year round.  There is a pipe from the headwaters down to the village so the water in the village taps is clean.

I stayed at Upper Engaruka in a boma owned by a friend of a friend. He is a Maasai born and raised but lives part time in Arusha so has a foot in both camps. Over the course of the weekend he tried to explain Maasai culture to me and the other three Australians I travelled with.

We watched the ceremony around the slaughter and cooking of  a goat.  I don't really like the idea of an animal being killed for my entertainment but the treatment of the goat was gentle and respectful and the warriors were happy to eat the meat!

Every part of the goat was used down to the intestines with the dog getting a few bits not deemed suitable for human consumption - the testes! Cooking was naturally over an open fire, barbecued on sticks. It was served on the stick too, pieces being cut off with a panga and passed around.  Some of the meat was eaten raw, notably the kidneys, and the blood was drunk by being scooped out of the belly of the carcass by hand. 

The women were not part of the goat slaughter party but we were told they would get one hind leg and part of the intestines later.  

The women make bead work for everyday wear as well as for ceremonial use.  They also make a little money by selling it to the tourists.  They showed us how the collars, bracelets and anklets are made and we even had a try.  It's very fine and fiddly work requiring patience and good eye sight of which I have neither!

The women do most of the work around the boma (the fenced enclosure where people and their animals live) including the building of the mud and thatched huts where we slept.

As well as going for the cultural aspect we saw some of the landscape around the area. It is quite stunning!  I watched the sun rise over Mt Kilimanjaro. The mountain is clearly visible until the sun emerges and then the mountain just disappears!  

The area where we went at dawn to watch the sunrise looks like a dry sea bed - sand and limestone rock. It is so dry it is amazing that any animals can survive there but we saw antelope and giraffes, and many small birds.

We finished our visit with a trip to see the local "pre-school". It is taught by a volunteer teacher. Eighty four pre-schoolers, aged 4 to 6 years, meet under this tree for lessons done purely verbally or with numbers and letters drawn in the dirt.  My friend Anna is trying to raise some money to build them a preschool in the village close to the water tap and has set up a fund. Let me know if you'd like to contribute and I'll arrange it.

It was a really worthwhile trip. I feel I understand the lot of the students I work with a little better; and maybe better understand the attitude of some of the boys which I admit has irritated me with its inherent sexism.  Change can only come "pole pole" or very slowly as educated girls assert their right to equality. I am torn though because the loss of an ancient culture is a bad thing, isn't it?  Something else for me to ponder in the lonely midnight hour!