Simon Alacara is a 30 year old Maasai. He is therefore in the ‘warrior’ age
group. This is the group who have the
majority of the power and are held in high esteem amongst his people. In not too many years from now, he will be ‘demoted’
to allow for the next group of young men to take over. He is working hard to improve the life of his
people through his own education. He has
a BA from Tumaini University in Iringa and works for a local NGO (based out of
Arusha).
At age 27 Simon married a 20 year old woman. She too is educated (BA) and works in
Rehabilitation for disabled children.
They have two children, a 3 year daughter and 2 month old son who was
born prematurely. His wife is on maternity
leave at present. Simon is ready to take
another wife at this point in his life.
He says his wife concurs as in spite of both being educated, they are
familiar with this custom and serves a purpose.
He says his next wife might be 15.
The reason behind having more than wife, he explains, is to
have more children. The more cattle you
have (wealth), the more children you need to take care of them. Most women only
have 2-3 children. Simon says that
although some men ‘brand’ their cattle, its not necessary as the boys know each
one by face. If one cow in a herd of
1,000 goes missing, the young herder knows exactly which one it is. He follows this up to say, although they aren’t
educated by our standards, they are very smart.
When I go walking in the fields around Sega I often come across a boy
and his cattle. Nine times out of ten he
will be listening to music on his cell phone.
In the meantime, Simon is working with an NGO in aid of a
tribe of bushmen in the region called the Akie.
The Maasai word for these people means ‘those who have nothing’. The nomadic tribe is dwindling, only 400 people
left, as their hunting and gathering lands also dwindle due to ‘squatter
farmers’. The current approach he is
taking is to take the kids and force them into school. He notes that they often run-away and can
live quite easily in the bush, which is a problem. It echoes of the Residential School policies
in many countries, including our shameful history. We didn’t have time to discuss the incongruence
with these people and the Maasai boma we had visited where the children don’t
go to school and there is no health care beyond the traditional. He also didn’t seem to have a problem with
grabbing these children against their will, but would says he would never agree
to such practises for his own people. I’m
sure some of his position was lost for me in translation. If you want to know more, he is on Facebook
or you can email him.
Simon is a very caring and somewhat charismatic person, a
visionary who plans to complete an MA and PhD.
One focus for his BA research was in Female Genital Mutilation practises
amongst the Maasai. He wanted to know
what meaning it held traditionally and currently so that he can work with them
to abolish this outdated custom. After finishing
his higher education, Simon plans to return to live at his ancestral boma and
gather wealth (wives, children and cattle which have a specific
relationship). He believes from that
position of status, he will be able to affect change. Having heard his (unusal) critical thinking
and clear cut plans for his future, I believe he will be a change agent.
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