I don’t have much time to write because I am using the internet on the dime of our friend Sekoine, so here is a brief update:
Sekoine came to Dar on Monday and stayed one night with us in the YWCA. The next day, we set out by bus for Morogoro, the region where Sekoine lives and where we planned to visit some schools. From the city of Morogoro, we took another bus to the village of Parakuyo, inhabited by an eponymous clan within the Maasai people. Sekoine is a Parakuyo. We hopped on rented motorcycles to drive to Twatwatwa, another Maasai village. On the way, Vedant fell of his motorcycle due to a backpack strap breaking. He got banged up on his forearm and hip, but he is still trudging forward and we hope he is OK.
In Tuatuatua, we met some of Sekoine’s friends and stayed the night in their house. The next morning, we met with the village’s former chairperson, a wise, wise man, who never had the education or resources to carry out the vision for his village that his foresight and intelligence holds. He was very happy to see that we wished to help, and he gave us very detailed descriptions of the challenges the village faces (which are grave and many) and the solutions he envisions. The village’s school is vastly inadequate, and the Maasai people’s nomadic lifestyle makes it difficult for children to attend school at all.
The next day, we returned to Parakuyo and met with the chairperson and another village official there. They were also welcoming and happy to see our generous intentions, but it was once again depressing to hear how marginalized, how abused, and worst of all, how defenseless, the Maasai people are.
We are now in the town of Kilosa with the plan to travel to Mikumi then Arusha.
We are strongly considering the possibility that our first project in Tanzania will take place around Parakuyo.