Water Walk
Not too far from the dusty town of Narok, Kenya, we turn off the paved Narok-Bomet ‘highway’ onto a disintegrating potholed road down which safari vehicles regularly bounce their tourist cargo to Maasai Mara National Park.
The expansive savannah of Kenya’s most famous park is still home to a rich diversity of animals, while the land outside the park is grazed down to nothing by herds of cattle and goats guarded by stick-wielding Maasai men and boys draped in red and purple plaid blankets. Also dotted through this flat dry land are women bent forward by the heavy loads of firewood they carry on their backs.
The land hosts the occasional elephant, giraffe and small groups of antelopes and zebras, but does not have the Mara’s large herds of wildebeest, buffalo, and elephants peaceably grazing, nor prides of lions snoozing in the shade.
Giraffe at dusk on Maasai land
But we are not going as far as the Maasai Mara. It is a relief to leave this deplorable excuse of a road for a barely visible dirt track that sometimes disappears entirely. We drive through dry fields on our way to Oleleshwa, an area of Maasai manyattas or compounds. We have come to meet the women of three manyattas and join them on their trek to the river for water.
Approaching a manyatta
Oleleshwa is one of 7 remote Maasai communities where Osopet assists HIV mothers and grandmothers caring for HIV positive children. Life is hard here.
Pastor Peter
Our destination manyatta is a small circle of homes cobbled together with what is handy – mud, cardboard, wood sticks. Inside the compound is a corral where cows and goats are kept safe from predators overnight. No electricity, no running water, no outhouses.
Women build the houses, gather firewood, cook food, fetch water, and look after the children. Men herd the animals towards food and water.
Lydia, our 25 year old translator from Narok, a modern Maasai woman in jeans and flip-flops says, ‘I’d die if I had to live like these women.”
Lydia
We are invited into a small home where red and black patterned lines are painted on an interior mud wall. We sit on a wooden bench and drink sweet milky tea from tin mugs while looking through the open doorway to where women are strapping yellow water cans onto their donkeys and slinging them over their shoulders.
Dressed for visitors
Tea finished, we set off through an arid landscape, dotted with thorn bushes and tough small trees. In honour of the visitors, the women wear their Maasai finery - beaded bracelets and anklets; elaborate beaded necklaces and chokers, and beaded earrings. Colourful flowing patterned cloths wrap each woman - splashes of colour on the dusty landscape. They jingle as they walk.
The walk to the river
Pastor Peter and several men from the manyattas join us. When I ask why the men, who usually do not come for water, are with us, why they Why? They say it is their duty to protect the visitors. On their trips to the river, the women, who are afraid of elephants, have only each other for protection. If they see or hear an elephant, they hide together behind bushes and hope to be ignored.
The women talk freely when the men bring up the rear of the procession. Lydia translates. On the downhill walk, conversation is easy.
Fetching water is women’s work and they tell us how they make this tiring trip three times a week. Those with donkeys have an easier time than those without, who must use a head strap to support 20kg of water on their backs. They also carry laundry, wash it in the river, and carry it back wet - another burden for those without donkeys. All arrive back tired. On water days the children must wait to eat.
At the river
The women are caught between the traditional and modern worlds. They say it is their work to bear as many children as possible. A mother of six says, ‘I want more children, this is my job.’ I ask if it is possible to ask the men to help carry water. ‘No, The men must walk long distances to take the herds to grazing land and drink. Carrying is not men’s work.’ They casually tell us, if they don’t do what they are supposed to do they are beaten - a commonly understood fact of life.
Despite this acceptance of a harsh life, these, mostly illiterate women want their daughters to have the schooling they were denied. They speak of the difficulty of finding money for school fees and uniforms. Many reject the tradition of early-arranged marriages and support their daughters to wait until they find a husband of their own choosing.
At the river water containers are unloaded from the donkeys. The women take off their shoes and step into the shallow muddy water. In the middle of the river the silty brown water swirls mid-calf around the women’s legs as they bend to fill the yellow plastic cans.
The men watch, and then, for the camera, a couple remove their shoes, roll up their pant legs and wade into the river with the containers. One man tries to tie two full containers together with rope so that they can be strung over a donkey’s back. He doesn’t know how to do it, and is brushed aside by a woman who quickly binds the knots.
One man tells Lydia she should marry a Maasai man and change him. She retorts, ‘If I married you today would you help me carry water from the river?’ He says, ’No.’ Then he adds, ‘Change is slow’. I ask if he likes Lydia and he says yes, because she is a smart Maasai girl.
The man, dressed in western clothes is drawn to the pretty girl in jeans who is making her own path in life, but he wants it both ways. His change so far is refusing to take a second wife and thinking that five children is enough. There is no talk about birth control.
The walk back is uphill in the hot sun is about four kilometers - a significant distance in the heat, especially for those too poor to own a donkey, with 20 litre jugs supported by their backs and foreheads. These women are STRONG. My daughter tried carrying 20 liters of water but could only manage a few steps. Pastor Peter tells us many of the women and children are HIV+. We wanted them all to have donkeys. We wanted them to have clean water.
carrying water
heading home
When we arrive at the manyatta, we are invited into another small home, and offered tea, and bowls of rice and potatoes. The water is preciously gathered and yet the generosity of these extremely poor women is touching and inspiring and we are all the more appreciative because of knowing how much effort has gone into gathering the water for tea. We have come to the river with them; we have shown interest in their lives. They welcome support, but their generosity is dignified and not dependent on assistance.
our hostess who shared her food, outside her home
positively AFRICA, through generous Canadian donors, supports Osopet in their goal of providing care for those with HIV. This includes assisting rural women to access safe drinking water.
You can help by joining or sponsoring positively AFRICA’s water walk 2011, May 15th at Elk Beaver Lake Park. For more information visit www.positivelyafrica.com or email info@ positivelyafrica.com
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