New friends

Feb. 23^rd:

The askaris are the coolest people ever. They patrol the camp at night and during the day with their machetes, often donning rainboots or colorful hats, and would seem relatively harmless except that you know they are Maasai warriors. I am so in awe of them and want so badly to be friends, but they are all slightly intimidating and they all speak either Maasai or Swahili, which makes things difficult. This situation leads to some humorous situations.

The first time I really tried to speak with one more than the usual “habari?” (“how are you”) was relatively recent. I found myself in the lunch line with one of my favorite askaris, who is supposed to be an impressive warrior and have killed a lion, which is a measure of manhood among the Maasai and obviously very dangerous. So, naturally, I attempted to ask him about it. “ Habari?” he asked me. “Mzuri!” (“Good!”) I answered… “Uliua Simba?” (“Did you kill a lion?”) I hesitantly questioned. “Ndio.” (“Yes.”) He replied.  “Oh! Difficult?” I asked… “Ndio!” he answered. “Ah.” I said. “Kwaheri!” (“Bye!”) I said. “Kwaheri!” he answered.

So that was the first deep conversation. I felt both proud of myself for remembering the past tense of “did you” and also amused and embarrassed by the fact that I had no way of responding other than saying goodbye. I guess these things come with time.

Somehow, it seems that that little conversation did pay off. When we went hiking, the same askari yelled my name and laughed as I tried to say his (even though I thought I pronounced it very well,) and walked around showing me the names of trees and plants in Maasai. The day ended with a photo shoot of him pretending to run at me with a machete, which I think means we are real friends now.  

Another askari, the heavy-set respectable older one who stands at the main gate and hangs the keys from one of his long gauged ears, is now another friend. I spent the first few weeks trying to mimic his pronunciation of his name, Oloibor (which I still can’t quite get, especially with the rolled “rrr” at the end) while we washed dishes together. I think our friendship made it to the next level today when he said good morning to me, I said it back, he took my hand and jokingly wouldn’t let it go, and for some reason I decided it would be fun to skip over to breakfast in the main chumba that way with this respectable man, who followed suit completely as if he did it all the time. I don’t really know how that happened or why in the world I thought it would be a good idea, but it certainly made my morning and I’m pretty sure he thought it was hilarious.

Today I got letters from my mom and sister (thank you so much!!!!!) and was extremely happy about it, since I have not had internet for a very long time now and therefore have very limited contact with the outside world. I was sitting outside in the sun, having a cup of tea before starting a research paper I’m now still supposed to be doing, and Molly the student affairs manager dropped the two letters in my lap. In the letter from Bridget, I found two pictures from my trip to visit her in Japan with my dad. It brought back such good memories. I showed all the askaris the photos, and they exclaimed at how alike she and I look. What a mix of people and worlds!!!

Now off to write that paper. Really.