Elizabeth's Visit

Thursday, January 10, 2019

I had asked Beatrice, one of the staff members here, to find me some kitumbura this morning. So about 9:00 she appeared with 6 little fried balls of incredible deliciousness. The mandazi that many people know about are often likened to donuts without holes, but kitumbura are much denser deep fried pastries made with rice flour, and I am addicted to them. I took one to Mary Lou, who was on the restaurant terrace, and Beatrice served us coffee while we savored our treats. John had joined us, but he had tea instead of coffee with his kitumbura.

Enjoying our kitumburas and coffee, with Beatrice serving us.

This was the day Elizabeth had said she was coming to visit us. I have known Elizabeth since 2012, when we went to her Masai family’s boma with Whitworth students. Her poise, command of English, and obvious organizational skills were impressive, and I knew she was a very atypical Masai woman. We spoke little to each other that first time, but I asked for her contact information and was able to stay in touch with her and assist her with getting her higher education completed. Initially after graduation, she had a good position with an NGO doing anti-FGM work among the Masai. She was remarkably capable and successful, but she was hired on soft grant money which ran out after several years. Now the issue of female genital mutilation is no longer the popular cause it once was though it still persists. (Our western attention spans are so short-term!)  So, she has reinvented herself into a thriving entrepreneur with a small shop on the Tanzanian/Kenyan border. She still gets occasional short-term employment assisting NGOs which want to set up projects with the Masai, particularly with Masai women.

Today, Elizabeth was bringing her younger sister Ngaisi to Arusha for prenatal care. Ngaisi is the young woman I wanted to help get surgery for a large abdominal hernia a couple of years ago, but her father refused to allow the surgery and quickly married her off to a man too poor to pay a dowry for a better wife. Last year after Ngaisi became pregnant, she miscarried, so now that she is pregnant again, more precautions are being taken. So far, all is well at seven months, and  Ngaisi’s due date was set for April 8. She is now 18, but still small enough to look 15.

They were to arrive between 10:00 and 12 noon, but because the clinic was so busy, they didn’t come until 1:30. Once Elizabeth had texted me that they were on their way, John ran off to the kuku shop to get chicken and chips for their lunch. He got back at the exactly the same time our two guests arrived, and we set up our veranda table for them. Since Masai don’t ordinarily eat chicken, this may have been only the second time Ngaisi for  to eat it, but Elizabeth had told me that chicken was Ngaisi’s request.

Elizabeth with Ngaisi having a lunch of kuku na chipsies

Reunions with Elizabeth are always wonderful. I love getting caught up on all the boma gossip, and today the news was very good. Rains last year brought lots of grass for the cattle who are now fat and healthy. This good situation has decreased the stress between brothers and now they hold regular meeting to discuss their affairs instead of trying to stab each other as Elizabeth’s father did one of his brothers a year ago. Elizabeth reported that her shop up on the Kenyan border is doing very well, too, and she is able to support herself and help her family now.

The less favorable news was that cholera is now a crisis in Masailand. The government has ordered the Masai to build rudimentary latrines or be put in jail. However, even though the men are digging and building as ordered, they still declare that they will not use them. Masai have never used stationary latrines, and they find them smelly and disgusting. Being a very free and roaming people, they don’t see any possible way they could be running home to relieve themselves when they are out in the empty land around them. Perhaps women and children could be taught to use a latrine, but even they might resist. I doubt that even cholera is going to change their minds either.

The other bad news is that now elephants have come in and invaded the area in which Elizabeth’s family lives. They have eaten the grass and other vegetation cattle could eat, and worse yet, they have entered and damaged bomas. They have also damaged the bore hole and ripped out pipes there. One huge rogue elephant is by himself, and he is particularly destructive and even trampled a small child in one boma.  The other day, according to Elizabeth, this rogue came to her family’s boma, and while it didn’t destroy the thorn wall around all the houses, it did rub against and damage the big tree near the entrance. That’s definitely close enough! Now, children are afraid to go out with the cattle and goats, and women and girls are worried about going to get water. Game conservation officials say they will drive the herd away and even kill the rogue if they have to, but up to now the elephants have continued their invasion.

Last year before we left to return home, I had told Elizabeth about how candy goes on 50% or more sale after Christmas, Easter, and Halloween. She wished she could get some for her shop. So, this year, I stuffed my one suitcase with about 10 pounds or so of post-holiday candy for her. We hadn’t spoken of this after our initial conversation last March, so today when I carried it all out for her, she was very surprised and immediately began calculating how much she could sell the different candies for. I had made sure that each individual candy in each bag was wrapped separately so resale would be easy. We had to explain M&Ms and bubble gum Easter eggs to her, but she understood the taffy immediately. There was a lot of laughter and happy exclamations before she and Ngaisi had to leave to catch a bus for their homes. We’ll likely see them again in February when Ngaisi is to return for another pre-natal exam.

What are M&Ms?

Thinking of how the candy will sell in her shop.

Until next time, perhaps in February.

Once Elizabeth and Ngaisi left, life collapsed back to normal. I cleaned up, while John went on a walk to get matches and dish detergent. Then, we unsuccessfully tried to take naps, giving up just before it was time to make dinner. Fortunately, we had a lot of leftover eggplant stew we heated up and a delicious avocado we sliced. We also reheated two of the kitumbura we had left and had them for dessert. Yummy!