A Day of Goats

After a couple weeks in more rural parts (Pangani and a small town outside Bagamoyo) of Tanzania without internet, I'm back!  I'll be posting a lot over the next few days to talk about what we did the past 2 weeks.

For now, here's a story about the Saturday before we left on our trip.

Goat Story #1

Remember Sebastian from my first spotlight post?  This morning we rented a public bus (called a daladala) and drove over an hour to Nduruma, the village where Sebastian’s family lives, for a goat slaughter.  In Maasai culture, goat slaughters are saved for special occasions, which in this case was our visit.  The road to Nduruma was very rough, and I was glad to finally make it to the town. 

First, we went to his immediate family’s house, where his parents, sisters, son, and girlfriend live.  While the family lives in Maasai land and practices traditional Maasai customs of herding their cattle and goats around their farmland, their house was very much a middle class Tanzanian house. They had electricity and a TV in a living room with couches and chairs.  They also didn’t wear traditional Maasai clothing.  Sebastian’s sister actually lives in the US in Missouri, so his mother has visited the US before.  I’ll avoid too many details about the goat, but we did learn (and get to practice) how to skin and prepare the goat for roasting. 

While the goat was being roasted, we took an hour walk across Sebastian’s family’s farmland, looking at his crops and eventually reaching his grandmother’s Maasai boma (village compound).  His grandmother and some aunts/uncles/cousins still live in the traditional circular thatched roof homes and his grandmother wears traditional Maasai clothing.  All of his little cousins go to school, but don’t have a lot of money for supplies.  Sebastian’s family was so sweet and welcoming and allowed us to look inside the traditional Maasai homes.  All of his family spoke both Swahili, Maasai, and a little bit of English.

We then returned back to Sebastian’s family’s home and ate goat, ugali, and cucumber salad for a late lunch.  It was pretty good!  Goat is not typically my choice of meat, but I was very appreciative for the warm welcome from his family and for showing us Maasai culture.

Sebastian's family (from left to right).  Maryam (Sebastian's girlfriend), Johnson (Sebastian's son), Sebastian (in the red shirt), Lightness (sister), and his parents (on the right).

At Sebastian's grandma's house.  All of the Duke students with Sebastian's cousins and his bibi (grandma), who is sitting front and center.

Goat Story #2

After returning from Nduruma I headed over to Sakina, where my previous host family lives, for a wedding reception.  My two host sisters, Gladys and Irene, decorate for weddings, communions, etc., so they let me crash one of the weddings for which they had decorated.  I had never been to a Tanzanian wedding and had heard about the infamous goat “cake” that is brought to weddings, so I jumped at the opportunity to attend. 

I was running late, but the reception didn’t end up starting until the designated end time.  Hakuna matata, that’s Swahili time!  The chairs were all set up facing the front, so the guests were basically an audience to the bride and groom table.  The bride was Maasai, so her family was dressed in traditional Maasai clothing.  I’m not sure what ethnic group the groom was, but his family was dressed up in regular clothing. They were such a beautiful couple!  There was a DJ and master of ceremonies running the show.  Different groups of friends and family members danced up the aisles to present gifts and congratulate the bridal party. 

Then, the moment I was waiting for!  The goat cake arrived, which is actually not a cake at all, but a dead goat prepared especially for weddings.  The goat is standing up on a cart and the head is preserved, with some leaves or flowers stuffed into the mouth.  The bride and groom cut the “cake” together and feed each other pieces of goat meat.  Then they give pieces of goat to the maid of honor and best man, flower girl and ring bearer, and each of their immediate family members. 

After some more dancing up to congratulate the bride and groom, dinner was served buffet style, which included spaghetti, meat stew, orange, various vegetables, rice, etc.  Overall, a very successful wedding and successful day of goats!

The bride and groom with the goat cake!

Word of the day: mbuzi - goat