subject: The Masaai Woman [print this page] The Masaai Woman The Masaai Woman
She is the most important part of the Masaai home and the one most disregarded in the society. The woman is the one who does most of the hard work in the home. She cooks, cleans milks and makes the shelters they live in. These houses are known as the enkaji and they are made form locally available materials. The Masaai woman drives timber poles directly into the ground and interweaves them with a lattice of smaller branches. She then plasters it with a mixture of mud, grass, cow dung, human urine, ash and sticks. Building the homes is a communal project undertaken by most of the able women in the community. This makes things easier for them as they help each other out. In the morning and evening the woman milks the cows. The cows can be from a few to hundreds in number. She then makes breakfast for the family. Water is normally a scarce commodity and the women go for miles searching for it. They can take even a whole day to get one 20 liter jerry can. After that they have to fetch for firewood and milk the cows in the evening. The day is normally very busy and tiresome for the woman of the house. Most of this work is done with a baby strapped on the back. Today, as they strip off there cultural practices, they have embraced farming and trading in there artifacts which they make with there own hands. You will find the Masaai woman in most of the major towns selling her wares. She is very friendly, hardworking and beautiful.
