Endulen Diary
Vol. 24, #7
July, 2009
July 15,
When will Maasai women get a fair shake????
Melubo OleKoronjo of the area of Nosiporiong’ near Endulen married a very young daughter of OleTipai called Ngais. The older wife of Melubo was jealous of the attention and gifts showered on the young girl by her older husband. She found reasons to prevail upon Melubo to beat his new wife unmercifully. The father and mother of Ngais are dead so Ngais ran away to OleSitawi, a male relative for help. OleSitawi received her and called a meeting of the local elders together to hear the case. Maelubo absolutely refused to attend the meeting. The elders, unable to make a determination without the presence of Melubo have taken the case to the Endulen village council. The issue is yet unresolved. This kind of thing happens so often that it is almost a cliché. Women seem to be at the mercy of just about everybody with little effective redress.
July 21,
Late at night, a pregnant cow broke out of the enclosure of Lapanu at Losilale near Endulen. She went into the small maize plot next to the homestead and began feasting on the ripening corn. Soon a large herd of cape buffalo with similar culinary tastes joined her. Finding a diner already at the table, the cape buffalo became aroused with anger and gored the placid milk cow with a vengeance. She died with her stomach contents spread over the ground including an unborn calf. Hearing the commotion, warriors rushed to the scene and initially decided to follow the buffalo and take retribution. On further consideration, due to the very strict rules about killing wild animals with in the Conservation area of Ngorongoro, they decided to let go. Instead of seeking revenge on the buffalo, they butchered the dead cow and had a feast.
July 25,
People are still holding meetings here to choose delegates and collect money for the trip to Dar es Salaam. The aim of the trip is to lobby for continuance of minimal cultivation within the Conservation Authority of Ngorongoro.
July 28,
Naishorua OlDumu will begin her medical studies on August 15 at Machame Hospital on Mount Kilimanjaro. It is a three year program and is rough equivalent to a nurse practitioner in the US and Europe. We’re all very excited. Another one of our Maasai girls, Narropil Siroiyan, who finished her studies at Machame a year ago and has been working at Salien Hospital will join university for a three year counseling degree. It is wonderful to see our Maasai young women taking these advanced degrees and returning to Maasai county to assist the pastoral Maasai. For too long, Maasai and especially Maasai women have not had the opportunity for advanced degrees of any kind.
Till next month,
Ned