12/31/09 from Tannen (HIV Ed Team)

Today was the second day of our two day HIV Ed seminar in Dar. We have it organized so that we split the attendees into 4 groups and Jami, Megan, Matt and I simultaneously teach our topics for one group. We have one session in the morning and then we rotate for the one after lunch so that at the end of the 2 days all of the participants have had been to each station. This allows us to work in smaller groups and have more interaction with each of the participants. All of the older / adult women are in one group, younger women (teens and young twenties) in another, young men in the third, and adult men in the fourth. Their knowledge base and interest changed from group to group, so we found ourselves covering slightly different topics depending on who we were working with, though the general topics were the same. Most of my time was spent covering the basics of testing and treatment of HIV, but it was a very interesting mix of discussions and I thoroughly enjoyed working with each group.

We have one man from the Masai tribe named Musa in our seminar, and we heard through Chibesa last night that the boys in this tribe need to hunt and kill a lion in order to “become a man”. So yeah… we definitely asked him about that today. A very interesting and fun conversation ensued. Apparently when boys are 16 or 17 they must hunt their first lion. Once they locate the lion they tire it out by running and chasing after it. When the lion gets tired it stops and prepares to fight the Masai boy. The boy wraps his hand in a cloth and allows the lion to bite it. When the lion latches onto his hand, the boy takes his knife and jabs it into the heart of the lion (up), then cuts off its head (down). If the boy cannot kill the lion then reinforcement comes in to assist (more men with spears) and once the boy recovers from his wounds he must go back to training so that he can try again. WOW! First of all, I cannot imagine chasing after a lion, though I must admit that the thought has a certain appeal. Then giving it my hand as bait … what?? And how hard would it be to kill and cut off the head of a LION when it is biting my hand and scratching me with his claws. I asked Musa how long it would take to train me to kill a lion and he said “one month.” Apparently one time they did train an Aussie and he made it out alive. Something to think about for the future… he also told me that he’d like to take us to meet his family and tribe next time we come, which a more realistic possibility for in case we don’t have enough leave time for serious lion hunting. Musa shared with us other interesting things about his culture: their diet consists largely of milk, meat, and blood; the youth are discouraged from becoming educated; their faces are branded with circles under the eyes and two lower front teeth are removed as signs of their culture; there is some “sharing” of wives; etc. I was very, very impressed with Musa’s willingness to tell us about his culture, along with his sense of humor, desire to learn, and overall countenance.

After we presented the certificates of completion at the end of the day and provided everyone with a small, bagged moringa plant we invited people to stay and teach us more about their culture, especially topics relating to the spread of HIV. We have people from several different tribes, but spent most of our time talking to Musa about the Masai people and a man named Tito about the Wakulya tribe. Tito is very concerned for the young girls from his tribe. When these girls are in their teens they are taken to be circumcised (genital mutilation), then immediately made to walk 18 kilometers. Many girls have died from this practice since they are still bleeding when they must go for the long walk. The government of Tanzania is opposed to it but has not been successful in stopping it, partly because the people have started to perform the procedure at night. For male circumcision, several boys line up and are cut using the same knife. Tito asked us to come to his village and assist with providing education in these areas.

Tonight was our last night with the Chibesa Family. Chibesa and Fena have been incredibly hospitable to Jami, Megan and I. Fena works hard to prepare food, water, and make us feel at home. It has been great to get to spend this time with them so that we can know them better and see how they live their lives and interact with each other and their baby girl. They are the kind of people that the more I know them the more I like them.

That’s all for today!! Hakuna Matata!

Tannen