TIA

So I have been terrible at updating this lately but I promise to try and be better. Mark ended up getting sick last weekend so we all went to Lindazi’s Maasai Village yesterday. It was an amazing once in a lifetime experience because we were invited into the village by Lindazi and his family and we didn’t pay for a “Maasai village tour”.
The village lies in Northern Tanzania right near the Kenyan border. The landscape is very similar to the savannah plains of the Serengeti except with lush green mountains in the background. On the drive we saw giraffes, ostriches, and impalas. As we arrived at the village all the women in their bright colorful maasai cloth draped with beaded jewelry were singing “welcome” in Maasai. No outsiders had ever visited the village before so many of the women and children were scared of us and our drastically different appearance. They first took us in to see Lindazi’s farther mud hut; I had always assumed that the insides of the round huts were just bare and open but I was shocked to find that they build walls and “rooms” inside that you literally have to squeeze yourself through. The huts are as basic as you can possibly get and the beds are made out of goat hyde.
Lindazi’s family was so welcoming and to show gratitude for what Mark is doing for Lindazi they gave him a goat to take home and slaughtered one for us. I was a little apprehensive and nervous about watching a goat being slaughtered but I knew I had to set the cultural differences aside and just embrace the situation. It definitely wasn’t a pretty sight but them slaughtering a goat for us was the cultural equivalent of someone back home giving someone else a car to show gratitude. They didn’t let a single part of the goat go to waste; every single part was used for something. They even drank all the blood straight from the goats sloshed neck. Goat meat is not very tasty and it’s extremely tough. (Yes I ate the goat even after watching it die) After the sacrificing of the goat we got a tour of the land surrounding his village, its absolutely breathtaking! That day will stick with me for a while (literally) because after much convincing I decided to get a maasai burn. They heated up a metal wire shaped in a circle to the point of being red hot and stuck it to my arm; it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. It just felt like a bee sting, what was more shocking was the instant sound of my skin popping. Mine is not very deep at all so the scar will probably completely disappear in a matter of months. At the very end of the day as we were leaving the women took off one of their necklaces and gave one to each of us. I was nearly in tears because they literally have nothing but they were willing to give us a goat, sacrifice a goat for us, let us into their village, and then give us each one of their necklaces. It was such an incredible experience.
The kids at Tuamkeni are all doing great I am just in the midst of trying to figure out how to spend the money I fundraised back home. This week we are actually going to go look at some land to possibly purchase, hopefully everything works out and we can find a truly beneficial way to spend the money. Land would allow them to build on what they have instead of constantly having to switch buildings and pay rent, plus with the land they can raise chickens or plant grains to make money. I will keep you updated on that but the kids definitely love all the toys we brought for them. One of the important things for going forward with the possible land purchase is establishing trust and a relationship with Tuamkeni. Corruption and Africa regrettably go hand in hand so everything needs to be done very carefully. Again I am still looking into everything but I will let you all know more once I know more.
I am out of time for today but I will update you all with another long one later this week. I hope everything is going well back home.

Catherine
p.s I am climbing Kilimanjaro aka the highest mountain in Africa and one of the 7 highest mountains in the world at the end of June!