Visiting a Boma and Eremit Primary School

Day 9
7:30 Breakfast
8:15 Leave for Richard's Boma
11:15 Visit Elementary School
1:15 Lunch
5:00 Archaeology
6:30 Dinner

   "I have scratches all over my legs from the tall sharp grass and thorny bushes here!" After breakfast we went to visit Richard's Boma, or tiny village. Richard is the senior elder of his Boma and we are camping on his land. I think we paid him with sheep dip for his animals. Richard is a Masai, that's a type of tribe. His Boma was surrounded by a thorny bush fence to keep the leopards out of the living area and the area with the animals. Within the fence was relatively large. The cattle and goats are kept in a separate area from the living area. Richard has 2 wives, each married woman in the village has her own house and the man's children can go into either woman's homes. The children often don't know who their mother is because everyone helps raise them; it's amazing how different it is to our culture. "The women had their bead work laid out in the centre area for us to look at and buy. We were free to take pictures of everyone. I asked someone if I could take a picture of her and she put on all her bead necklaces - she just adorned herself with them, it was wonderful!"


The People of Richard's Boma

   We got to look inside one of the homes within the Boma; "it (the ceiling) was pretty low and the walls were made of cow manure, packed and dried. Inside was hot and tight. There were a few rooms; the main one was a small kitchen with a fire in the middle. There was very little walking space." This was the first time that Westerners were invited into this Boma and we were very privileged to have this experience.


The Boma, the Fence, the Houses and Inside the House

   From the Boma visit we went to Eremit Primary School. (Check out the Google Map Link Below!) The children came out and greeted us and the principal introduced us. "In a sort of ceremonial procession we brought up our donations. We each gave them a book and box of pencils." The pencils were handed out to the children, they were so happy to get something as simple as a pencil. It was really gratifying to give them things for their schoolwork.


Eremit Primary School

   We got to visit the school rooms and I went to a grade one classroom. We sang the children some songs ("I'm a little teapot" and "head and shoulders") and then Kasoi helped us translate to tell the children we would like to hear them sing. "They sang three beautiful songs, one child led and the rest sang. I had tears in my eyes. Two songs were Christian and one was a school song. They also knew "Old MacDonald" in Swahili!" 10 years ago today I felt like someone employed by National Geographic, I was honored to see a culture that very few experience in real life. 



Singing For Us