Kajiado Roadtrip
Last weekend, Kingsley, Ngosa and I went to Kajiado for a road trip. Never mind how we got wrongfully pulled over on Mombasa road by a couple of predictably corrupt cops for absolutely no reason. Never mind how Kingsley could have kept on driving to evade that bullshit. I was accused of trash-talking the police, by pointing out how they were not social distancing by leaning in our windows and trying to sit in the backseat– only making Kingsley’s job of negotiating more difficult. After paying the bribe, we were back on our way- this is just life here, they were telling me, you can’t let this ruin your day.
We arrived in Kajiado at last, drinking beers from noon, to hang out in the fields there. Barely feeling bad about being such degenerates because when was the last time we’d been alone out here, away from surveillance? Feels like never. We passed a good number of sheep on the way there, turned left at a plot of private land of which Kingsley knows the owner. We went to go hang by a nearly-dried riverbed, enjoying the sun and peacefulness. The stone wall dividing private land and the rest had been knocked down in many sections. A Maasai boy saw us coming and frantically started gathering his sheep off the private land, obviously keen on not running into us. In his haste, he even left 3 or 4 sheep on the wrong side to fend for themselves. We shooed them back over.
The problem is that it is terribly difficult to speak about indigenous people in a negative light– it simply feels wrong. There’s too much existing emotions and historic crimes surrounding the complex geopolitical and historic controversies, which are almost always centered around land-ownership, to speak of them without impunity. The Maasai are a traditionally nomadic pastoralist tribe in East Africa, made famous by successful tourism campaigns. They have managed to retain some ancient customs despite laws that often go against them in Kenya and Tanzania. Gender roles carry immense significance; Maasai society is strongly patriarchal and most major decisions involving the tribe are still decided by village elders. East African governments are opposed to the Maasai and other indigenous peoples’ sovereignty claims, which are considered subversive.
Kingsley said that when he was first introduced to this land, he held a moderate and conservative stance about Maasai in the context of property ownership. But the lack of respect the Maasai have for private lands, mostly commonly seen in repeated illegal grazing– I understand how this can be a great cause for anger. There is so much open land in a place such as Kajiado. The herders don’t have to insist on grazing their animals on land that is no longer theirs without permission. I see the problem, of course– the Maasai likely believe the land was always theirs and has been stolen, so they should have the right to do as they please. Not exactly behavior or a mindset that cultivates grounds for coexistence.
The perspective of private landowners is valid– knocking down those stone walls is property destruction while grazing animals illegally counts as trespassing. I’m sure a number of landowners would be open to discussing grazing needs, but it sounds like the herders rarely ask. Moreover, they are fattening their animals on the land without compensating landowners for that fodder. Nothing in life is free, even if those fields may make it seem otherwise.
We stopped by a local restaurant on the way back, hoping to get some nyama choma. That joint was very local– no Whitecap, only warm Tusker. You get what you get. Also no nyama choma (the beloved grilled goat dish of Kenya), just wet fry. We ate what we got. Only afterwards did I wonder if the goat had been Maasai raised. It probably was.
For more of my work: kang-chun-cheng.format.com
