Drought

It is hard to describe the effect the drought has on every aspect of life here. It affects one’s sense of wellbeing so completely that it’s almost as if people dry up as well as the environment. It’s like aesthetic starvation in a colourless desert.

Then it rains, the grass grows, new shoots appear, there is colour again and everyone has a new spring in their step. Our village is already green and lush but sadly it isn’t so everywhere yet.

We heard that it had rained in Maasaini and that the goats were better and the cows starting to eat again. Sadly when we went out there with food, we found it as dry and barren as ever. We were struck suddenly by how welcome the splash of reds and blues on the Maasai is in an otherwise brown land.



When we were camping there earlier in the year, we drank our early morning tea watching herds of cattle and donkeys walk past with gazelle and zebra in the background, all munching as they went. It was one of those moments that imprints itself on your heart because it’s almost too perfect to digest.



This is Melau with his first wife Tito. Then comes Nini, Naramatesho, Namayani, Natemuta, Satuma and Nosikito – yes seven wives, who have 37 children between them. And what is even more amazing is that they all say he is a good husband – an incredible feat for one man! Added to the 45 of his immediate family, are his blind mother, his daughters in law, his grandchildren, his brothers and aunt................ and those are just the ones we managed to identify.

Sadly, they have lost all 350 of their cows during this drought but when we turned up with food for the boma, there was nothing but smiles and genuine gratitude. They even killed one of their precious remaining goats in our honour to say thank you. It would have been great to have shared the privilege and the goat with all you givers!




We are not talking about starvation here, we’re talking about daily hunger, the sort that makes a man pick up every last grain of maize that falls to the ground as we pour it out.

Cows are like a savings account. Goats and sheep are the current account that you dip into as you have need. Some keep chickens as ‘loose change’ to buy and sell although they don’t actually eat them.



In one boma we found people so fast asleep that we had to shake them awake, having walked in through the open door of their huts. It was a Saturday afternoon, they had eaten on Friday and were passing the time until Tuesday when they could take a goat to the local market and buy food.

In another we were given a mug full of cold maize gruel as an expression of their appreciation – there is never any hesitation in extending their hospitality and sharing what little they have.

Again, thank you so much all of you who have given towards this food distribution. We wish we could 'beam you in' for an hour or two to be with us there!

A Sunday in Maasailand

The Maasai are considered a very romantic people by those of us whose lives seem drab in comparison. They are sometimes depicted advertising some earthy or exotic product that will stand the test of time in extreme conditions. There are many European women who have found romance with a Maasai ‘warrior’, chasing the exotic dream of power, rugged strength and pride, taking their place in the boma alongside their hero. It rarely lasts for long though. In truth, they are strong and proud but like every other people group, they have to ensure their survival in the unpredictable environment in which they live. And right now, there is little many of them can be sure of.



There is nothing romantic about living in the area we visited yesterday. The landscape is littered with dead or dying cows as people watch their beloved wealth fade away before their eyes. In the last 12 years I have never seen it looking as bad as it was yesterday. Where there was once grass, albeit dry grass in the dry season, there is now nothing but bare earth. Forgive us for such pictures, but it affected us deeply.



This is the scene outside the church at Baraka.



Thanks to the generosity of people back home, we were able to do another ‘food run’ yesterday. Everywhere we went, we were met with grateful thanks while we explained that we are only the channel through which the help has come. Whilst the Government is giving out maize to the very needy, the distribution process doesn’t always run smoothly enough for it to reach them.



Each family was given maize and beans and we have found soya beans that can be ground and made into soya milk porridge. This will be great for the children who have not had milk now for several months. We will have to teach people what to do with them as they had never heard of such a thing or seen the sample we took out to show them.

As we drove back to Arusha, it poured with rain in random patches. Even once the rains start properly, it will take 2 or 3 weeks for the grass to grow and then much longer for the surviving cows to return to health. Thankfully, we have not heard of people dying, but it will take a very long time for the Maasai economy to recover.

We've been to market!

There is much in the news at the moment about the drought in East Africa and many people are indeed very hungry. For the Maasai, the drought has caused massive losses of their most valued asset – their cows. We hear stories of huge numbers of cows dying, of herds being reduced from hundreds to tens and of some bomas losing their entire herd. Outside most bomas there is a place where they are burning their dead.



One woman this week arrived on our door step having walked over 30 miles looking for food. Her husband has left her with their 6 children and all three of her cows have died.

It is raining in Arusha but the rains have not reached all the outlying areas yet and cows are still being sold for a song. Once the rains hit Maasaini – which we are hoping they will very soon - the prices will rocket with so few cows left in the economy. With this in mind, we have been to market – several times – and this herd of scrawny specimens is the result. They will take a long time to bring back to good condition and we are feeding them up slowly and carefully. Some will be ready to give sooner than others.



Today’s total is 23 enabled by supporters of this project.

The black stone remedy

This woman had been stung by a scorpion on her foot and was in considerable pain. She is sitting here with a black stone on the wound which Lekoko had opened with a knife. The stone sticks to the wound and as she sat there for an hour or so, she said the pain was slowly drawn back down her leg until it left her foot all together and the stone dropped off. Black stones are an age old remedy for snake bites, stings etc all over the world and are made from animal bones. No scientific study is known which proves them to be effective and their value is debatable. However, this woman was happy with the result and that’s all that matters! Scorpion stings, although not fatal in a normal healthy adult here, are extremely painful and we have found that the stone helps every time.