Amongst the Samburu

Oh these beautiful Samburu women and their bright colors!

Our Quiltville Goes to Kenya group paid a visit to a local Samburu tribal village while staying at in the Samburu Nature Reserve in Kenya. The gorgeous colors worn by these beautiful people will capture you and inspire you – the ground is very sandy and the perfect neutral backdrop against a blue sky with puffy clouds.

It’s like that commercial for “Claritin Clear!” you know? VIBRANT. BOLD. Breathtaking.

The Samburu people are a sub tribe of the Massai. They live their lives as semi-nomadic pastoralists who herd mainly cattle but also keep sheep, goats and camels.

One of the things I really strive to do when visiting other cultures is to leave my white bread American born and bred middle class blonde hair blue eyed pre conceived notions on my doorstep at home and dive in with an open heart and mind, focusing on the things we have in common and allowing differences to sink in with a different mind set than “Oh, they have it wrong and we have it right.” kind of mentality. 

So I encourage all who are reading this to leave your judgement in another room and just come with open eyes to experience what we did amongst the Samburu people.

Our guide, giving us a diagram of the village lay out.

The Samburu are a polygamous culture, each man having up to 3 wives.  I asked if there was ever jealousy amongst the women to be the “favorite wife”  and he sheepishly said SOMETIMES!  I also learned later that it is the elders amongst the men who have the authority to claim the younger women of marriageable age as additional wives, making it harder for the younger men to marry them based on their lower status. 

Young men achieve warrior status as they reach adulthood, but don’t consider themselves to be of marriageable age until they are about 30.

I told him that both of my sons are in that rank too – 29 and 35 and neither of them are married either!

After our explanation – we were welcomed with singing and dancing!

Click to Play:

While the men were performing, the women presented us with beautiful beaded necklaces for our "ceremony" and we had the option to purchase them at the end of our visit.

Oh, I so can NOT Dance! How the women are able to flip their beaded colors and move their lithe bodies – it’s something that comes from childhood.  So fluid! 

My best interpretation of a turkey.  LOL!

This beautiful lady! Such a genuine smile!

The Samburu diet consists mostly of meat, milk or blood from sheep, goats and camels.  There were chickens about, but I was told that they don’t eat chicken or eggs.  They raise them to sell them.  Everything they raise goes to the community as a whole, benefiting everyone.

Love the babe on the back!

I had never thought about animals as blood donors before, but I learned that they can drain a couple of pints from a camel (Just like donating blood to the red cross) and it can be mixed with milk and used in their cooking – the camel replenishes, and the food source is preserved. Pretty great when you consider that there is no refrigeration here so any meat that they prepare has to be eaten right away.

Children in the yard – with goats!

According to our tribal guide, there are at least 13 ways that blood can be prepared, and may form a whole meal!

Milk is a valued part of Samburu diet and may be drunk either fresh, or fermented; "ripened" milk is often considered superior. Beef is eaten mainly on ceremonial occasions, or when a cow happens to die. Meat from small stock is eaten more commonly, though still not on a regular basis.

They have also added things to their diet from nearby agricultural areas like ground corn cooked into a porridge.

GRITS!  It's like GRITS!  Hey, I live in the south, I can do grits!  There, we've found common ground in our eating habits after all!

Family hut.

We were welcomed inside!

Those of us who could, sat on the floor while our guide told us about the making of the family dwellings.  There is a branch framework covered by burlap and then cardboard, followed by an outer layer of cowhide that keeps things dry and rainproof.

When I was young, my brothers and I built a fort in our backyard one summer, in the corner of the side yard where the fence met the side of the house.  We used pallets and blankets and whatever we could find to make it cozy.  We wanted to “camp out” overnight in our fort.  This felt a lot like that.

Bad lighting – sorry.

This is a sleeping quarters – the “cot” area is elevated above the ground.  Simple stick shelves hold bare necessities.  It’s a simple life, and in many ways a hard one, but I can’t help but wonder if there is also much more peace among the people because they don’t have the GO GO GO demands of everyday life we take upon ourselves here in the modern world.

I don’t get up to greet the sunrise – I get up feet running to get the blog written and the orders out and prepare the mystery introductory post, and make the quilts for the next book, and worry about not doing Quilt Cam often enough due to dial up internet and so many of the things we STRESS about daily they just don’t seem to have.

Not that I want to drink camel’s blood – but I’m trying to keep an open mind about different cultures!

Asking all the questions!

Getting the best of funny answers!

Connecting heart to heart.

“But I can’t be your 4th wife – I already have a husband!”

And then – we shopped!

Beautiful beaded collar – SUCH artistry!

Beaded bracelets, earrings necklaces -

There were so many “stations” with women sharing their pieces and I wanted to be able to buy something from every one of them but couldn’t possibly.  I was told not to worry, that everything goes to the community as a whole so it is the same.  That didn’t help my choosing!

I bought many bracelets – a few necklaces, a pair of earrings and a beaded color thing.

I couldn’t NOT buy them – knowing my purchases were of great help to these beautiful people.

Yes, I will buy.

But how do you choose?

I will never forget our time spent with the Samburu.

Africa. Kenya.  It does find a crack, creeps into your soul, and changes you.

On the home front – this morning I made it until 4am.  Whoowhoo! Back to the land of the living with my sleep patterns returning to normal. There is MUCH going on with getting our Quiltville Winter Mystery Intro post ready!  CAN YOU STAND IT!?  The countdown clock is ticking!  It’s a very exciting week around here.

This is also our LAST DAY to enter the Quilty Box Gift-Away for October.  Drawing happens TOMORROW!  Enter to win ON THAT POST and good luck to everyone.

And there was something else – but I can’t remember!  Whatever it is, it can also wait for tomorrow.

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Vintage quilt top shared by Kevin the Quilter 

It’s pretty much a hot mess, but just look at those colors! Inspirational!

We are ramping up to the season of giving.

For many of us this also turns into a season of emotional depletion.

We can't do it all, or fix it all, nor should we!

This is your reminder to give yourself permission to say no to things and situations that are not serving your greater good.

Have a wonderful Tuesday, everyone!