A Village Photo Tour

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. It's true when it comes to describing Longido and Kimokouwa. In today's blog post I want you to get a feel for the places I write about - the place where TEMBO is located. This will give you some idea of the homes people live in and the business activities they are involved in. First is Longido, then Kimokouwa.

Above and below are photos of typical fruit and vegetable markets that are scattered around Longido.
Women buy produce in Arusha or Namanga and bring it to the village to re-sell.
Almost nothing is grown locally because of the persistent drought.

This woman can purchase better quality produce because of the loan she receives from TEMBO.

Here is a used clothing store that carries a bit of everything.

Chinese exports have even found their way to places like Longido.

A common sight is groups of women with their children selling food, 

bead work, or firewood, as they are here. 

Since there is no electricity food is cooked and water is heated

over wood or charcoal fires.

There is a very crude machine for milling corn inside this building. Maize flour is used

for making chapattis or ugali or stiff porridge. These foods are staples.

Women purchase corn kernels and bring them here for grinding.

There are perhaps a dozen butcheries located in Longido. Meat is slaughtered just outside town

and brought to these shops for selling. Goat is most commonly purchased. 

Beef is also available. Ten male goats from the KWGP (Kimokouwa Women's Goat Project) 

were recently sold generating an income for the women who raised them.

The meat would be sold in places such as this shop.

What village doesn't have a Hardware Store? 
Oftentimes you might be limited in what you can get for a project or repair.
It's amazing what works in a pinch!

Here is the Post Office. If you ever send mail to Longido
it ends up in this building.


A Beauty Salon? There are a few of them.


Here is a cement house with windows and screens. This is a very nice house
and is complete with a small garden. These are certainly scattered throughout Longido.
People who live in a house like this would have a steady income.

Many villagers live in accommodation like this.

Or like this. Entire families will share one or two rooms.

This is the pharmacy in the local clinic. The clinic provides very basic health services
to the local people - treating malaria and respiratory problems is common.
So is treatment for burns.

Kimokouwa is 13 km north of Longido. It is home to traditional Maasai herders.
Cattle and goats are everywhere.

You won't find any shops here, and none of the 'cosmopolitan feel' of Longido.
Just bomas and mud huts, like above, spread throughout the countryside
that are home to extended Maasai families.

Water for family use is still drawn primarily from deep, open, man-made wells.

A common sight in your backyard are animals like giraffes or elephants.
This photo was taken from inside a boma during an August 2011 project visit.
The Nursery School in Kimokouwa is in the background.

It's all about the people who live here. You won't find any better anywhere else.

Worlds Apart and Worlds Together

Paulina and Kokoyai in Kimokouwa.

The other day I came across this photo of Paulina, TEMBO Trust Project Coordinator, and Kokoyai, a young mother living in Kimokouwa I have known since she was 10 years old. The photo is a couple of years old - Paulina, who usually wears Western-style clothing, now has her head shaved, like Kokoyai. At a glance it's a photo of two young traditional Maasai women. If you've visited the TEMBO project area you know these women live very different lives - actually "worlds apart." Still, both play a very important part in the telling of the story of TEMBO and the work we do. I find myself thinking how these two women live "worlds together," too, each telling an important part of a larger story. It's a story about evolution, modernity, and the oh so fragile balancing act of moving forward in a world changing at lightening speed while still being true to a cultural heritage filled with richness and beauty. How will they keep it all together?

In Kimokouwa, Kokoyai is part of the Maasai people who choose to live a very traditional lifestyle. Though they cannot follow the rains to graze large herds of cattle like they once did, due to government laws restricting their movement, the people still live in mud huts, eat a simple diet, dress in colourful shukas, and observe tribal norms and customs. Kokoyai attended Kimokouwa Primary School, as mandated by the government, and she and her father opted for Kokoyai to marry when she finished Standard Seven rather than continue her education. She and her husband, Philipo, currently have two boys. According to custom, Philipo is free to have as many wives as he wants. Kokoyai  also belongs to the KWGP (Kimokouwa Women's Goat Project), coordinated by TEMBO Trust.

The power stick carried by men, now with the pen representing education.

Paulina grew up in a Maasai boma near Mt. Kilimanjaro where observing traditional customs and practices was very important for her father, too. He wanted Paulina to marry after primary school. Paulina wanted desperately to continue her education. With the help of her mother, her brother, and others Paulina succeeded in completing secondary school and earned a full scholarship to the University of Dar es Salaam. Paulina's father attended her graduation ceremony and gave her a pen and a notebook as a gift, symbolizing his wish for her to continue to study, if it was her wish. He had come a long way and was embracing change.

Over the years, I have observed striking images expressing the reality that the Maasai are struggling to hold two realities, two worlds together. The world of the 21st century is knocking at the door of the Maasai in Tanzania. It is a tenuous time filled with tremendous possibilities and wrought with danger too. There is a lot at stake. As in any culture, some practices of old need to be discontinued and left behind in order for people to move forward. Women like Paulina, because of the education they have received, have a pivotal role to play in reshaping the new world of the Maasai. Knowing how to change, what to let go of and what to keep, is best done  from within by those who understand and cherish the world of the Maasai. These strong voices must be heard over the noise and values of other societies that threaten to consume and assimilate them as they have done to other tribes and other peoples throughout time.

Receiving a cell phone message: Kokoyai's father, Paulo, is in his 80's and embracing change. 

Kokoyai and the Maasai of Kimokouwa and Longido, and throughout Tanzania, have a right to a traditional life if they so choose. Paulina, and many other educated women and men like her, are using their skills to help keep everything in balance: saying thoughtfully to the Maasai 'yes' keep this, it is good, and 'no' this practice is harmful and outdated and it must go; and to those outside who would exploit or deceive the Maasai they say 'these are our rights by law, our education has taught us so.' Those of us fortunate enough to have been allowed to play a part in this unfolding must only play a supporting role, actively enabling women like Paulina and Kokoyai to take center stage.

Celebrating the Girls and Women of TEMBO

The girls and women I know in Longido and Kimokouwa are some of the strongest and most resilient people I have ever met. This year, on International Women's Day, March 8, I celebrate and give thanks for their lives.

Our lives are worlds apart in many ways. Most Tanzanian women live without the conveniences and blessings I often take for granted: running water, electricity, affordable quality education, good medical care, abundant food, and so much more. It is good that I can leave the comfort of my own life and culture to live in their world when I can. It helps me to put so much in perspective. I always return home feeling so much more grateful for what I have been given simply because I have been born in Canada.

Members of the KWGP group, their husbands, and village leaders.

Since my first visit to Tanzania in July 1998, I have watched little girls grow into beautiful young women and mothers. Some have chosen to remain in their bomas as traditional Maasai; some have had no say in making decisions about their lives; others have had courageous mothers who have pleaded on their behalf that their daughters might go to school; and there is a growing number of girls who have both parents wisely including education opportunities knowing that the world is changing for the Maasai as it is for people everywhere.

And isn't the world in transition? Few on this earth are not caught up in the fast moving current of change knocking at everyone's door. The women I am thinking of today want life for their daughters to be different than it is for them and they are willing to pay a high price to make this happen. They walk miles in search of firewood and water, spend long hours selling foodstuffs under the hot African sun to earn small amounts of money, and have had their lives given value by the number of cattle their husbands have "paid" for them.

Penina with her mother, daughter, and extended family.

I laud all the girls and women in Longido and Kimokouwa who have the audacity to dream for something better then they have today. I honour the women able to make small positive changes in their homes and families as a result of their participation in the micro-business program. And I honour the girls requesting education sponsorship and working hard to daily overcome great obstacles simply to stay in school.

Future generations will reap the rewards of your hopes and dreams, hard work and quiet sacrifices. And leaders will come from among you, even in your lifetime. I know this because I know you. You are a part of a great momentum composed of so many mothers and daughters all over the world. You are not alone. Happy International Women's Day!

Some of the TEMBO sponsored girls at the TEMBO English Camp, 2011.

Stories About Remarkable People

In this blog space I want to share stories and photos about the colourful, hopeful, and resilient people I have met since first setting foot in Tanzania in July 1998. I want you to know about the world they live in including their challenges, hopes, and dreams, and how they overcome daily obstacles few of us would ever withstand. In particular, I want you to meet the girls and women TEMBO Trust sponsors in the Education and Micro-Business programs it runs in Longido and Kimokouwa, two villages in northern Tanzania. You will also meet the staff on the ground, the people who work day in and day out to improve life in the villages and to make TEMBO's vision a reality.

Some of the women in Kimokouwa. Mount Longido is in the background.

Longido girls fetching water after a busy day at school

Since 1998 I have made many project visits to Tanzania. I have taken thousands of photos that tell as many stories. Some I have shared in journal notes I have kept and written about in other blogs. Still, my collection of stories and of photos keeps on growing, right along with the town of Longido.

I hope you will feel free to add your comments and thoughts. You can enter your email address in the column on the right. This will ensure you are notified whenever a new entry is posted here.