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Mother & Baby (80)
feather

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This is the third portrait taken in the Maasai village we visited. The others can be seen here and here, each with different information about the Maasai way of life.

The Maasai practice polygamy and each man can have as many wives as he can afford, paid for with cattle. The young man who spoke to us ingenuously told us each man in his village has 20 wives and visits a different wife each night. When asked how many wives he had, he said he was too young to marry yet.

According to Wikipedia a man is expected to give up his bed with his wife to a visiting guest. If this results in a child being conceived it is brought up in all respects as the child of the husband.

On learning about such practices one immediately thinks of the Aids crisis in Africa. I was told that as the Maasai keep to themselves, so far they are free of HIV and Aids. It doesn’t take a big leap in imagination to suppose other tribes have similar cultural practices, and to realise how difficult is the uphill struggle for education to alleviate the Aids pandemic in Africa.

However there is no doubt how healthy the people looked in the village we visited. This young woman was happy to pose for me with her baby.

There is a photo taken in the school in the WS

ISO 100, FL 70mm

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Have a look at Wandering Dan's critique about the practice of wife sharing. It seems I over-stated the case and Wikipedia may have it wrong.

Altered Image #1

feather

(41686)
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Edited by:feather

(41686)

The children sang for us and one small child recited numbers and letters of the alphabet in English. They were written on the board out of sequence, to assure us they were not just learned parrot fashion.
ISO 100, FL 70mm f6.3 1/60 sec, fill-flash

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