Seeing, Recognizing, Celebrating

The Kimokouwa Village Chairman, left, with members of the village sub-groups

During the past week, I had a phone conversation with TEMBO staff Mary Laiser in Longido. It was about some photographs I took a year ago during the Circumcision Blessing Ceremony in Kimokouwa. It is so easy to mis-communicate with the many challenges we encounter in the space between Canada and East Africa - both in earth-space and in cyber-space - and we managed to do it regarding photos some of the elders had been expecting to receive. The disappointment was smoothed over with a promise to deliver what the men wanted during my upcoming September project visit.

The Maasai are unique and irreplaceable

This got me thinking about the importance of "seeing" ourselves, whether it be photos from a camera, a cell phone, a computer, on a mirror, or on paper. It was something I realized on my first trip to Africa in 1998 when I was still using a pre-digital camera. Images I took were stored inside on film and could not be instantly viewed on the back of my camera. There was, however, a family from New York who were part of the safari group I was with and they had a small, new, digital camera that did what mine could not. Everywhere we travelled they were mobbed by people who willingly posed for them in exchange for a view of themselves.

Ceremony and ritual that celebrate universal values are important 

Seeing ourselves is a way of locating ourselves in time and space. When we like what we see we walk proudly and confidently without being envious of others or feeling "less than" in any way. The endangered Maasai people and culture are at an important point in their history. Their way of life is being infiltrated by western influences that can work against their very survival - things like consumerism, individualism, and materialism. It is important that the good traditions and values of the Maasai tribe survive because they are just as irreplaceable as the uniqueness of the Native Peoples of North America, or the Amazon, or the South Pacific are.

Actions that promote creating rich tapestries of colour, language, and behaviour serve us better than those that promote assimilation. Taking photographs in Longido and Kimokouwa is not an attempt on my part to preserve a culture under threat, although this is important to do. It is my way of celebrating and sharing what is today. If what I make visible through photography helps the Maasai to stand taller, use their voice, and experience pride, I am satisfied. I want my photos to reflect back to the people a simple message: You and your culture are unique, and beautiful, and irreplaceable on this earth. This is what I will be communicating in September when I give the leaders the photos they have been waiting to receive.