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Kenyan Tribe Learns Of Severity of 9-11
This was in this morning's newspaper.
I thought it was pretty cool, so in case you hadn't seen...
From Africa, a 9-11 tribute
06/03/2002
New York Times News Service
ENOOSAEN, Kenya – Skyscrapers are a foreign concept to the Masai people who live in this corner of Kenya, where the tallest things on the vast horizon are the acacia trees and the giraffes that feed on them.
So when Kimeli Naiyomah returned to the tiny village from his studies in the United States recently, he found only the vaguest understanding among his fellow Masai of what had happened in that faraway place called New York on Sept. 11.
Some in the nomadic community of cattle raisers had missed the story entirely. "I never knew about Sept. 9," said William Oltetia, chief of the young warriors known here as morans, who was still confused about the date. "I just never heard about it."
Most Masai, however, learned of the attacks from the radio soon after they occurred. But the horrible television images passed by many Masai, who got electricity in their village only shortly before the attacks.
In the oral tradition they rely on, Mr. Naiyomah sat them down and told them stories that left them stunned.
Through his tales, Sept. 11 became real. The Masai felt sadness. They felt relief that Mr. Naiyomah was unscathed. They wanted to do something.
On Sunday, in a solemn ceremony in a grassy clearing, they did, blessing 14 cows being given by the tribe to the people of the United States.
Sacred offering
Elders chanted in Maa, the local language, as they walked in a circle around the group of cows, animals that the Masai hold sacred.
After the blessing, the cows were handed over to William Brancick, the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.
To reach Enoosaen, Mr. Brancick had flown to the Masai Mara Game Preserve, one of Kenya's top tourist destinations, and then driven two hours along the most rugged of roads.
At the ceremony, Mr. Brancick seemed tentative as he held a rope – given to him by a Masai elder – that was attached to the horns of one particularly rambunctious bull. He thanked the locals who had selected cows from their herds, but said transporting the livestock would be difficult, so he would probably sell the animals at a market and buy Masai jewelry to give to the United States instead.
Mr. Naiyomah, a student at Stanford University, stage-managed the event. He organized the cattle roundup and contacted embassy officials. His journey from Masai land to Palo Alto, Calif., has enabled him to rub shoulders with everyone from President Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya to Chelsea Clinton, who met Mr. Naiyomah with her parents at last year's graduation.
A premed student, Mr. Naiyomah expects to graduate from Stanford next spring. Then he intends to go to medical school and return to the village as a doctor. He had been visiting New York on Sept. 11 and came home last month with firsthand accounts of the horror of that faraway event.
Collective disbelief
Now a young elder in the community, Mr. Naiyomah, 25, told the others of huge fires in buildings that stretched high into the clouds. And of men with special gear who entered the structures to save lives.
"They couldn't believe that people could jump from a building so high that they would die when they reached the ground," he said.
"We're out with our cattle every day, so we're not always up to date on the news," said Vincent Konchellah, 22, who had donated one of his 12 cows. "We had heard about a disaster in America, but we didn't know much about it.
"Now we feel the same way we would feel if we lost one of our own."
There are three cherished things that a Masai can offer as a gift – a child, a plot of land and a cow, which is far more than a source of meat and milk to a Masai.
The Masai, who wear bright red tunics and elaborate multicolored jewelry, stand out among Kenya's more than 40 tribes for the high leaps of their traditional dances. In ceremonies, they drink the blood of the cow, mixing it with honey beer, and they use every inch of the animal for clothing and decorations. A man pays the father of the girl he wants to marry in cows, and even the dung of the cow is put to use as a lacquer to protect the outside of their huts.
'More than property'
"The cow is almost the center of life for us," Mr. Naiyomah said. "It's sacred. It's more than property. You give it a name. You talk to it. You perform rituals with it. I don't know if you have any sacred food in America, something that has a supernatural feel as you eat it. That's the cow for us."
The Masai have a reputation as warriors, which developed in the colonial days when they fought those who trod on their range land. The tribe still teaches young men to fight, but it is torn between its traditional ways and life in a modern world.
It is now illegal for Masai to hunt lions, which had been a rite of passage for young men. Increasingly, youngsters are staying in school, dreaming of lives away from the range land. Television sets are appearing in their huts, with images from a different world.
Most Masai still do not know about the intricacies of the al-Qaeda terrorist network. But they understand what it means for almost 3,000 people to die at once. In Enoosaen, such a disaster would wipe out all of them.
"That guy – surely we would have to kill him," Mr. Oltetia, the village's chief warrior, said of Osama bin Laden. "We as the Masai have ways to kill, just using a spear and bows and arrows."
When pressed about his tactics, Mr. Oltetia said: "He's a strong man, so we couldn't do it directly. We would surround him in the bush."
I thought it was pretty cool, so in case you hadn't seen...
From Africa, a 9-11 tribute
06/03/2002
New York Times News Service
ENOOSAEN, Kenya – Skyscrapers are a foreign concept to the Masai people who live in this corner of Kenya, where the tallest things on the vast horizon are the acacia trees and the giraffes that feed on them.
So when Kimeli Naiyomah returned to the tiny village from his studies in the United States recently, he found only the vaguest understanding among his fellow Masai of what had happened in that faraway place called New York on Sept. 11.
Some in the nomadic community of cattle raisers had missed the story entirely. "I never knew about Sept. 9," said William Oltetia, chief of the young warriors known here as morans, who was still confused about the date. "I just never heard about it."
Most Masai, however, learned of the attacks from the radio soon after they occurred. But the horrible television images passed by many Masai, who got electricity in their village only shortly before the attacks.
In the oral tradition they rely on, Mr. Naiyomah sat them down and told them stories that left them stunned.
Through his tales, Sept. 11 became real. The Masai felt sadness. They felt relief that Mr. Naiyomah was unscathed. They wanted to do something.
On Sunday, in a solemn ceremony in a grassy clearing, they did, blessing 14 cows being given by the tribe to the people of the United States.
Sacred offering
Elders chanted in Maa, the local language, as they walked in a circle around the group of cows, animals that the Masai hold sacred.
After the blessing, the cows were handed over to William Brancick, the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.
To reach Enoosaen, Mr. Brancick had flown to the Masai Mara Game Preserve, one of Kenya's top tourist destinations, and then driven two hours along the most rugged of roads.
At the ceremony, Mr. Brancick seemed tentative as he held a rope – given to him by a Masai elder – that was attached to the horns of one particularly rambunctious bull. He thanked the locals who had selected cows from their herds, but said transporting the livestock would be difficult, so he would probably sell the animals at a market and buy Masai jewelry to give to the United States instead.
Mr. Naiyomah, a student at Stanford University, stage-managed the event. He organized the cattle roundup and contacted embassy officials. His journey from Masai land to Palo Alto, Calif., has enabled him to rub shoulders with everyone from President Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya to Chelsea Clinton, who met Mr. Naiyomah with her parents at last year's graduation.
A premed student, Mr. Naiyomah expects to graduate from Stanford next spring. Then he intends to go to medical school and return to the village as a doctor. He had been visiting New York on Sept. 11 and came home last month with firsthand accounts of the horror of that faraway event.
Collective disbelief
Now a young elder in the community, Mr. Naiyomah, 25, told the others of huge fires in buildings that stretched high into the clouds. And of men with special gear who entered the structures to save lives.
"They couldn't believe that people could jump from a building so high that they would die when they reached the ground," he said.
"We're out with our cattle every day, so we're not always up to date on the news," said Vincent Konchellah, 22, who had donated one of his 12 cows. "We had heard about a disaster in America, but we didn't know much about it.
"Now we feel the same way we would feel if we lost one of our own."
There are three cherished things that a Masai can offer as a gift – a child, a plot of land and a cow, which is far more than a source of meat and milk to a Masai.
The Masai, who wear bright red tunics and elaborate multicolored jewelry, stand out among Kenya's more than 40 tribes for the high leaps of their traditional dances. In ceremonies, they drink the blood of the cow, mixing it with honey beer, and they use every inch of the animal for clothing and decorations. A man pays the father of the girl he wants to marry in cows, and even the dung of the cow is put to use as a lacquer to protect the outside of their huts.
'More than property'
"The cow is almost the center of life for us," Mr. Naiyomah said. "It's sacred. It's more than property. You give it a name. You talk to it. You perform rituals with it. I don't know if you have any sacred food in America, something that has a supernatural feel as you eat it. That's the cow for us."
The Masai have a reputation as warriors, which developed in the colonial days when they fought those who trod on their range land. The tribe still teaches young men to fight, but it is torn between its traditional ways and life in a modern world.
It is now illegal for Masai to hunt lions, which had been a rite of passage for young men. Increasingly, youngsters are staying in school, dreaming of lives away from the range land. Television sets are appearing in their huts, with images from a different world.
Most Masai still do not know about the intricacies of the al-Qaeda terrorist network. But they understand what it means for almost 3,000 people to die at once. In Enoosaen, such a disaster would wipe out all of them.
"That guy – surely we would have to kill him," Mr. Oltetia, the village's chief warrior, said of Osama bin Laden. "We as the Masai have ways to kill, just using a spear and bows and arrows."
When pressed about his tactics, Mr. Oltetia said: "He's a strong man, so we couldn't do it directly. We would surround him in the bush."
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