Kenya
© Photos courtesy of Linda Furman and Ann Jennings
Kenya is lush, green and overgrown in the Samburu area where the very fortunate happen upon the lions taking a siesta in the trees. The monkeys are at play all around you as they scamper about looking for their breakfast, then settling into the serious business of grooming their brothers and offspring. The native Samburu people will share their home with you, if you ask, and even tell you about their life a thousand light years away from ours. The more affluent among the chiefs can boast of several wives acquired by the accumulated wealth of numerous cattle. It is to the tribal warriors that the task of building their bodies is assigned. Their solemn task is to perfect their jumping techniques, and occasionally to hunt, as they await the ceremonial entry into manhood. This ritual gives them the privilege of taking on their first wife (after the required cattle are obtained as dowry), and they can now move up to the Elder class of males, giving them the opportunity to sit in conference with their peers each day. Alas, the women! Neither can they jump or confer, to them is given the task of building their home, washing their clothes, growing their vegetables, tending their sheep, cattle and goats (with some help from the children), cooking their food, making the handicrafts needed for ornamentation and to sell, bearing, caring for, and teaching the children, and other "insignificant" tasks that may be required of them. Any candidates for a culture change?
