..and It Was Good

"Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of Your universe. Delight me to see how Your Christ plays in ten thousand places, lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not His, to the Father through the features of men's faces. Each day enrapture me with Your marvelous things without number. I do not ask to see the reason for it all; I ask only to share the wonder of it all."..Brennan Manning The Ragamuffin Gospel

That says it all for today, a day of game drives, a Samburu tribal village visit and resting. The game drive was amazing. Sitting on top of the van surrounded at times by Elephants, Giraffes, Zebras, 8 pound vacuums (actually they were Oryx's), Grants Gazelles, Warthogs, and Impalas (I'll skip the car joke here) and the evasive, shy, smallest of the Gazelle family, bout the size of a jackrabbit, the Dik Dik, never did get a good Pic Pic, he was just to quick quick.. ok I'll stop.

(What price is Tradition?)
The Saburu tribal village visit was a little unsettling and I still don't know what to think or feel about this tribe. They are cousins/brothers to the Masai, they live in huts (small about 4x10 or so) made of sticks woven together with palm leaves and covered with animal dung (yup) for protection. They live off the land and from Cattle, Goats and Chickens (but they don't eat the eggs). The fences for the animal pens are stacks of Acacia branches, complete with very long thorns. They practice Polygamy and it is not unusual for even the single women to have many children. The continue to drink Cows blood and practice male circumcision at 12-15 years and Female circumcision (which is actually mutilation). Mainly, I guess, because of the drought in this area, they don't have a lot to eat, one boy about 2 or 3, had only a shirt on, and had flies in his eyes and was covered in dirt... So they show us their tribal dances, get us to join in (which just seemed wrong to me). Yes we paid a fee for the tour, but the whole thing was kind of surreal. Us standing there taking pictures, them dancing for us and with us, and a little boy watching with nothing. They showed us the children at school, actually just a spot under an Acacia tree. They sang for us in Swahili and then they sang "I'm a little teapot.." which furthered the Twilight Zone feel of all of these. The dresses and beads of the women are beautiful and many of us bought several, which I know is why they do all of this. but.. I cant help but wonder.

Is tradition, worth the life of a child? Is it worth starving for? Is it worth dancing with tourists and Practicing Polygamy and other unhealthly customs, long after the rest of the world has moved on. I suppose it may be but I just don't know. I know it is good that the world is not all the same. I know that the Samburu who work in the hotel are wonderful people and that they walk many, many miles to get to work and the DO still sleep and live in the huts (It wasn't just a tourist attraction)... I just can't decide about all of it. As we go to sleep tonight in our homes, there are good people in this world sleeping on the dirt, on a goat skin, in a hut covered in dung,, by choice? Somebody help me with this one.