Interviewer(s): F003
Interviewee(s): P

F003: Hello I am Julius Edward Ntwenya (facilitator) together with Hasani Mdoe Mbazi (note taker), it is 27/9/2017, and we are in Kibaya village in Handeni District. We are conducting Focus Group Discussion with Maasai Adult men. Let us talk about environmental and weather changes.

P: The weather situation is good, the problems we are facing is starvation and diseases to our cows, we are trying our best to do away with these challenges because we depend much on cows.

We have cow disease known as lung disease 'emuya' in Maasai vernacular, 'lolobino, disease affects the cow head organs and another disease affects the goats. So far we have not achieved to cure these diseases

'Lolobino' disease is very dangerous when it attacks the goat head organs because up to this moment it has killed a lot of our goats.

F003: Do you think these diseases are due to climate change?

P: No, it is not related to climate change but rather it is the weather condition in Tanga which has caused such type of disease. Another cow mouth disease is known as 'lukulu' whereby the cow mouth gets filled with flu which causes the mouth and noses to swell.

F003: What was the disease situation in the past years compared to the current years?

P: In the past we used to take cows to cattle dip for at least once a year but nowadays we do it over three times a year. We have succeeded to cure the legs disease, but the head disease is still cureless.

In the past if the cow is attacked by these diseases, then you tie the cow tightly for three days without taking it to grazing pastures, we used to cure it with ashes, then two to three days the cow gets better, In the past we also used to draw a cross sign on the cow head and the cow got better, but nowadays it does not help.

F003: Why does the cross sign no longer curing nowadays?

P: Nowadays drawing a cross sign on the head of the cow does not help to cure the cow because nowadays the climate and weather changes have contributed much in the occurrence of these diseases. We also used to put ashes on the cow shed main entrance so as to cure our cows when whey treads on it. Currently we are also facing the problem of lung and liver diseases among our cows, these infections are also very dangerous to our cows.

F003: You have mentioned putting ashes at the cow shed main entrance and climate change, now how has climate and weather changed?

P: Climate and weather changes have increased a number of diseases and infections to animals and human beings. At our young ages, when someone fallen sick, we used to get shocked because it was not normal in our society, but now there are several diseases which attack human beings and livestock such as goats and cows.

There are so many agro vet companies which provide their services to us; some of their medicines do not cure our livestock, so we can also claim that agro vet companies do contribute to the alarming of livestock diseases.

We also doubt that there are some veterinary medicines which seem to contain more poison than the normal amount, for instance we use some medicine in our cattle dips, but after two days, you find a cow having several ticks on its skin, they also affect lungs and make them rotten and dry on the other side. There is a certain part of the cow meat known as "embonoka" (part of intestine), when you find this organ then you understand that this particular cow had serious diseases. So we have much doubts on the veterinary medicines sold to us.

F003: What did you want to say about liver infections?

P: We wanted to request for assistance on these infections, for example proper medicines and agro vet services. We always have cases of our cows to die because of such diseases.

F003: When did you start realizing climate and weather changes?

P: I think it is this year when we have started realizing serious diseases and infections to our livestock.

Climate and weather changes became vivid in the last year. We experienced a lot of cow deaths, it was very abnormal, when you slaughter a cow, you find its stomach full of red water.

I was born in this area, but we have never seen a cow becoming weak and tired to the extent of failing to rise up its tail, we just witnessed those issues last year. We also experienced a lot of cow deaths. It was a disaster to us.

F003: How has weather changes contributed to grazing in the same places?

P: This has been caused by shortage of land because cultivated land is expending day to day. So, in order to overcome this situation, we decided to graze in the same places regardless of smallness. Sometimes we doubted that may be grazing in the same places is one of the factors for our cow diseases and infections.

We are both crop cultivators and livestock keepers, so when we spray insecticides to our crops, some of our livestock do get affected by those insecticides when they eat some plant leaves and grass. Some cows have died because of eating plastic and sulphate bags. This is due to serious environmental pollution.

F003: You said that at one time you were grazing your livestock on the flat land, why are not grazing on flat lands nowadays?

P: At that time, we had very extensive grazing lands, cows would even sometimes come back to their sheds alone without a shepherd because of the thick forest which was surrounding our areas, but nowadays crop farms have become dominant and the grazing places have become very small and narrow.

F003: Where do you take your livestock to drink water?

P: We have the natural spring where our cows do go and drink water. If water becomes very scarce due to sunshine, then we shift our livestock to other places where there is enough water.

F003: Where do you always shift your cows to during summer and dry season?

P: We always shift our cows to Ruvu and somera areas.

F003: How long does it take you?

P: We spend almost four hours to and from the places.

In our area we do not have serious problem of water only during dry season.

F003: Which activities do you perform nowadays as Maasai pastoral society and what did you perform in the past?

P: In the past the Maasai used to keep livestock only, he/she depended on milk and meat as staple foods, but due to current changes the Maasai has started engaging in crop cultivation such as maize, but keeping livestock is maintained.

We were to engage ourselves in crop farming so as to meet food for the family, so we play part on both sides.

We till the land but in small scale, we do it so as to get food for the family. We thank God that we depended much on milk and meat in the past and we survived although sometimes milk was becoming scarce, when milk became scarce we had to use cow blood and meat, the blood was mixed with some herbs, this was our life systems in the past. Moreover, in the past we did not experience many diseases like it is nowadays because we used natural foods like milk, meat and cow blood as well as wild fruits and herbs. Moreover, parents used to care their children because we used natural herbs to treat diseases and maintain our body immunity, for instance when a father slaughtered a cow or sheep, some of the sheep or cow fats were prepared and mixed with some natural herbs, when someone drunk such kind of a mixture, then he would have diarrhea for some time so as to clean the stomach and remove all wastes in the body system. One would spend even a year without feeling even headaches or cold

F003: You have mentioned something about arrows. Tell me more about using an arrow.

P: Yes, we used to tie up a cow and stub it with an arrow, we tap blood, then we boil it and it becomes stiff, then we share it among the available family members and eat it, then when we go to attend our duties throughout the day. When we came back we used to drink milk, we did not know how to eat stiff porridge. We have come to start eating stiff porridge just recently. That was our living style

F003: You used to eat cow blood throughout the day during dry season. To what extent do you use cow blood currently?

P: Currently the use of cow blood has lowered more especially in these places, but we who are still living in the jungle, we still use cow blood as medicine, we mix cow blood with natural herbs so as to maintain and improve out body immunity.

F003: Why the use of blood decreased in these places and not in the jungle premises?

P: One of the major factors is education and religion more especially Christianity. The Christians do not eat cow blood; the people in town do also abandon some natural and traditional customs, so religion has led to abandonment of different traditions and customs. A youth who depends on cow blood and natural herbs is very strong, muscular and healthier but the youths who depend on eating simple and industrial processed foods are not strong and healthier.

F003: Which fruits have you been eating?

P: We have 'mavilu' ngobe, tundwi, rungu, zamkole, salaki, lukunyi,

Olumamwa, msigioe, tamaring fruits, lamlya, mangula, olenesera.

Laiselkelai, nganayo, inyolyo, olimibodi, onabori, etc.

F003: What kind of fruit is mavilu?

P: It is a fruit which green before ripening, when you touch it , it seems to be soft. It is found in the jungle, it is eaten by both young and mature people.

F003: What kind of fruit is ngobe?

P: It is green before ripening, it turns black after ripening.

Ngobe were available in plenty in the past because many people did not know that it was edible, but nowadays it has turned t be a business commodity before it has been known to many people.

F003: When do ngobe fruits become available?

P: It is from august to September.

F003: Can we get some of them now?

P: No, because they are very scarce.

Ngobe fruits have become very scarce due to forest clearance and crop cultivation as well as charcoal burning. These have contributed to the disappearance of ngobe fruits.

F003: What about tundwi?

P: Tundwi are not available nowadays.

I have some young plants which have not yet flowered. It is a small fruit and oval in shape. You just suck the inside content and throw away the peel.

Mkole is a small fruit, green in color before ripening; mkole fruits are available in plenty.

Salaki are also available now. It is green in color and turns yellow when it ripens.

Lukunyi is a root and it cracks the soil layer, it grows around the ant hill, it also cures the stomach aches, it has a good smell.

Ilimangwa is like tundwi, it contains some fats inside its seed. It is also eaten by goats.

Msigioi is a small fruits tree, when its fruits ripen, they turn into red colour, and they grow much in the forest. We used to squeeze it and obtain some juice which we fermented it and took it as local brew.

Ilamlya is a thorny fruit tree, it produces red fruits when they ripen, they are sweet fruits and its roots are medicinal herbs.

Mangula are green in colour before ripening, they turn yellow when they ripen, you just peel them like dry groundnuts.

Olemesera is a big fruit, it is a tamaring fruit. It contains seeds and powder which are very delicious to many people.

F003: You have mentioned a lot of foods. Do these fruits currently available in our place?

P: Some fruits are available, and some are not available, for instance salaki, ngobe, mavilu are available, lungu, nsigioi, olemesera, ilamlya, ilimangwa are not available in our places.

F003: Do you think the weather changes have led to the disappearance of these fruits?

P: These fruits do disappear due to forest clearance and farm preparation.

The disappearance of these fruits has affected us very much because we used them as medicinal herbs and we did not fall sick, we did not feel hungry when we ate them, but nowadays we are suffering from stomach aches, we feel hungry, etc.

F003: How is the availability of food in your society?

P: The availability of food in our society has become a challenge, we just eat all kinds of foods available in this place, we have eaten foods which we never thought we would eat them, for instance cabbage, fish, stiff porridge, etc. Majority of our kids suffered a lot from stomach aches because of new types of foods.

Nowadays we have got used to the new types of foods, for instance nowadays kids do no longer take porridge, they like stiff porridge and relish. They have adapted Swahili norms.

Kids do not refuse to take milk, only that milk has become very scarce. Kids have become used to stiff porridge and relish, so they like them very much.

Apart from kids, even mature people have been affected by new types of foods such as stiff porridge, for instance if you give a kid a cup of milk, it will also demand stiff porridge as soon as possible.

F003: What is the position of the kids in adapting new kinds of foods?

P: Kids used to drink milk most their time in the past, but nowadays they like stiff porridge because milk has become very scarce and stiff porridge has taken place.

F003: Have men and women responsibilities changed due to climate and weather changes?

P: Currently we are depending on both crop cultivation and livestock keeping, if the livestock die then we survive depending on crop cultivation and vice versa is true.

F003: Who is most engaged in livestock grazing?

P: You talk about life system.

F003: Yes life system.

P: The morans and other youths are most engaged in livestock grazing, we used to involve women in grazing but due to the availability of pasture in the far places, women have been withdrawn from livestock grazing instead they are currently involved in small business such as selling vegetables, salt, crop cultivation and handcrafts, they also take different foods unlike it was in the past. We have also become investors in different activities such as crop cultivation, we used to harvest almost ten sacks of maize, but now we have decided to construct small stores in our homes so as to keep our crops safely. This also helps us to budget our stored crops.

Weather has really changed and life has greatly changed. We Maasai used to keep and graze livestock, we used to graze in thick jungles and forests, we did not fall sick or suffer from any kind of disease, that was our life in the past. Nowadays we eat new types of food which have affected our stomachs to the extent of experiencing diarrhea, this has happened because of severe scarcity of milk. During that time there were very few people and we had scattered settlements, but now there is tremendous increase of population and settlements have become very nuclear. In the past when someone died, we leave the body and then we shifted from that place to another place, but nowadays if your relative dies you burry him/her and we remain on the same place.

F003: You used to leave the dead body and shift to somewhere else, why have you stopped that habit?

P: It is because of development. Every household has its own plot, so when someone dies in the family you burry the body in your household plots, because the settlement place has become very limited and most of the places are owned by people and not open spaces.

F003: You said that diarrhea increases as you eat new kinds of foods, does it happen only to kids or elders and which foods?

P: If I eat beans, tomatoes and other vegetables, I will eventually have diarrhea but if I drink milk I really feel comfortable because our bodies have been used to drinking milk.

Most of the vegetables cause diarrhea, but if I eat beans, meat, milk and other foods I feel comfortable.

The major problem which leads to diarrhea is industrial processed oil, such as Korie because korie is much used in cooking and preparation of most vegetables and other relish, we maasai used cow fats right from our young ages but now cow fats has become very scarce. Instead of korie oil we use kasuku/ kimbo cooking vegetable fat

Currently most people experience gastric problems because of different cooking oil processed from industries. For instance, most of people in Tanga do experience stomach diseases as well as hernia; due to this situation they experience severe diarrhea. Some of people do have diarrhea even when they drink boiled milk because their stomachs have not experienced boiled milk.

Kasuku/kimbo cooking oil is packed while frozen, it like blue band and not in liquid status.

We also use sunflower oil which is double squeezed and filtered so as to reduce its smell. Personally, I have used sunflower oil and I have not experienced any stomach problem.

F003: Who is more engaged in crop cultivation between women and men?

P: It is men who are more engaged in crop cultivation. Women do participate much in sowing seeds and weeding.

We use plough in till the land, so only men can use this plough to till the land, women are not able, and that’s why women are not much involved in tilling the land.

F003: What do you mean when you talk about workers?

P: Workers mean your youths who assist you when ploughing the land, this happens mostly to families with enough boys.

F003: What about a father who has no grown up youths?

P: In such cases we always cooperate together between among households, for instance two households can assist each other to till the land, we start with one farm and finish with second farm.

F003: What do you do to overcome the scarcity of milk?

P: We should stop using lots of veterinary medicines because we assume some of the medicines do prevent cows from producing enough milk.

I think we should look for places with enough pasture and water so that our cows can eat enough pasture, become healthier and produce enough milk.

Some people have changed their cow grazing and feeding styles, for instance some livestock keepers have shifted to other places where pasture is available in plenty, some people have decided to feed their cows with maize husks so as to enable them to eat enough food and produce enough milk, some people have allocated special grazing field. We were using some natural herbs to enable cows to produce enough milk but nowadays if we give cows such kind of medicine, it does not work properly. I personally have decided to feed my cows with maize husks and sunflower seed cake, I feed them two kilos in the morning and evening, for that case I have been able to get some milk.

If you want to have enough milk, you should own many cows, you cannot own many cows while you have small grazing fields, for that case if you cows you should make sure there is enough pasture and water so as to produce enough milk.

In order to have enough milk from our cows we should ensure the availability of pasture and water.

F003: Why do the cows with calves not come back to their sheds before evening as they used to do in the past?

P: They do not come back to their sheds early because they don't get satisfied with available pasture; they continue eating grass until evening comes.

F003: In such situation what do the livestock keepers opt to do so as to maintain milk availability, sustain the family and other programs?

P: This situation means death because if a livestock keeper lacks milk, then he is likely to die, for instance some people died and committed suicide last year because of losing some cows due to lack of pasture and water.

We formerly did not know how till the land, so when we shifted to this place, we found all the land full of crop fields, this was a challenge to us, we came to know that the bulls can till the land, and this is what is known as plough.

F003: What are the factors for social and economic changes among the maasai people?

P: One of the factors is social and economic development, for example due to mobility among the maasai, they have come to the point of tilling the land, working as casual labors in other people's crop farms.

I think another factor for change is due to scarcity of natural and traditional foods, that's why we have decided to adapt new living style.

Money has also been a factor for socio-economic factors. Nowadays most of the children do grow up while knowing money, some other youths do run from their families and go to towns to look for jobs so as to earn some money even if his parents have large numbers of livestock.

F003: So you mean nowadays money has become more strong and valuable than livestock. How do you look at this?

P: It is true that currently youths do look for their own resources and properties, as I have said that we have age groups such as ndizi, koliyanga, nyanguro etc, so the older age group would command the young age group to attend cows and graze livestock and this was very successful and produced a disciplined society. But nowadays most of the youths are no longer disciplined to their elders, some do run away from their parents and go to Dar es salaam where they are hired as night guards, when they come back to their parents they sell cows and go to spend money with women and drink beer. Currently there is also an alarming habit of theft, our cows are stolen but we believe that some of our youths are fully involved in stealing our cows.

F003: How has modern education contributed to changes in maasai living style?

P: Frankly speaking education has brought a lot of changes in maasai society, now all young kids do go to school, there are very few of our kids who do not attend school.

Education is very good, but for our maasai children here in Tanga, most of them do end up school journey after standard seven, form one and two, they do not go beyond, some of them end up with sight problems, some girls end up with pregnancies and bad demons. So we have not yet realized real advantages of modern education. So most of our children are told to come back home.

It is a true fact that most of our children do end up their school journey after form two or three or four, still some of them do end up with different problems such as sight problems, pregnancies to girls, demons and unknown diseases. So I have not realized any importance of education.

I assume that there is some tribalism elements at schools more especially when maasai children go to school, maasai children are not valued when they go to school.

F003: Ok, look at the Maasai youths, who have gone to school, do they carry Maasai traditional education elements?

P: No, they do not carry such elements, for instance when Maasai kids are still in the primary school level, they are much disciplined but when they step to secondary school level, some start changing their behaviors. although some parents more especially mother have engaged themselves in different small business and other income generating activities so as to sustain their children at schools

F003: Now between boys and girls which group attends school more than the other and which group is more ruined that the other?

P: All boys and girls go to school,

F003: Which business do women deal with?

P: Women deal with selling vegetables, maize, etc we men deal with selling cows and goats.

Some women do sell clothes, losholoo, beads, etc

F003: Do women activities affect diet system in your families?

P: Yes, this is because when a woman goes to sell his commodities at the market, she will bring some food items such as salt, relish and reduce the burden of the father.

In our society, the Maasai who have been born here, their wives do not do business but the Maasai who have shifted from other places to our village; their wives do deal with small business.

F003: Why the newcomers allow their women to do some business and the natives do not allow their women to do some business?

P: The reason behind is that there is manhood system in this society, the maasai elders in this village right from their grandparents did not allow their women to move around in the street and to deal with any income generating activity, they only wanted women to fully depend on men for everything, this was a clear custom among the maasai.

The maasai women are not like other women from other tribes, most women have become prostitutes, that's why maasai men do prevent their women from engaging themselves in small business, because when women and men both go to do business, they leave children in homes, eventually the family may not become stable. That's why I as a man decide you work hard and sustain my family.

F003: Do you experience any change as far as preventing women from doing business is concerned?

P: There are no such critical changes, because nowadays many people do live in the same place unlike it was in the past.

F003: Which other tribes are available in this village apart from the Arusha tribe?

P: In the past we had two tribes namely the Maasai and zigua, but now we have other tribes namely arusha, Mang’ati, Mbulu, Chaga etc.

F003: What are the diet changes due to these new tribes?

P: These new tribes have taught us about crop cultivation, we used to know the zigua as crop farmers, but when the arusha people came, we came to realize the importance of crop cultivation. The mbulu and Mang’ati came because of aridity, they came with their livestock but now they have remained very few mbulu and Mang’ati people.

We Arusha people have brought some changes to Kibaya natives because most of them did not foresee things, so we started tilling the land and selling beans and other crops, so we taught them how to store food crops, we opened shops in this area, they also came to know our services and they changed their minds.

F003: How is food availability after social and tribal interaction?

P: Food availability is very high because the place is highly populated with crop farmers and most of them have produced enough crops.

When I came to this village I was tilling their farms using ploughs, they wondered how I was working with cows, so we tried to grow different crops such as maize although the soil does not support maize growth hundred percent, for example in West Kilimanjaro you can harvest twenty to twenty five sacks of maize per acre while in Kibaya you simply harvest six sacks of maize, the next year we grew beans, unfortunately most of our beans got rotten in farms due to autumn rains, in West Kilimanjaro one acre produces almost thirty sacks but in Kibaya only five sacks of beans per acre. We have also found people in Kibaya growing cow peas, we also tried to grow cow peas but we also harvested little, Now we have shifted to 'ngwara' a sack of ngwara can be sold up to three hundred shillings, we have tried to grow potatoes, lentils, pigeon peas,

F003: How did the natives here receive your new crops and ploughing techniques?

P: They have really enjoyed our new things, more especially types of crops which we started growing. Until now during crop cultivation season, it is difficult to differentiate farms of maasai, zigua or arusha people because all farms are prepared and maintained in the same level.

F003: How do you obtain foods and which foods do women buy from the market?

P: It is only maize

Sometimes they buy beans.

F003: Which foods do you buy from the market apart from maize?

P: We buy rice, cooking oil, etc.

We also buy tomatoes, African eggplant, and other vegetables.

F003: Which factors do you consider when choosing a type of food to buy?

P: The main factor is scarcity of milk.

If milk was available, we would not get troubled to go to buy other food stuffs, instead we would just mill our maize and prepare stiff porridge.

We also buy tomatoes so as to replace milk during food preparation.

F003: Do men leave money for the family members to buy food items?

P: Yes, it is available.

F003: How many times does it happen?

P: It happens few times, more especially during marketing day. For instance, a man gives some money to his woman, when a woman goes to the market she picks up some different food items such as tomatoes, relish, onions and African eggplant.

F003: Apart from maize, what else does a man buy?

P: He buys rice, in normal cases most food items are bought by women.

F003: Which foods would you like to buy, but you do not afford because they are sold at high price?

P: Rice is sold at high price compared to flour. It is sold at 2000.

Rice is sold at 2000 and maize flour is sold at 600. We maasai people have large families, so we decide to buy flour so as to have enough food for the whole family.

F003: Do you practice barter system?

P: This is very bad.

I once witnessed it in some areas where some people were exchanging maize to cows, one cow is exchanged with a single container of maize.

Rice is very expensive compared to flour, but it is not the fact that men have failed to buy rice; many people do buy flour because stiff porridge makes the body strong compared to rice. Even children like stiff porridge more than rice. Stiff porridge is our staple food.

Most children like to eat rice and chapati, and in our maasai society when we speak of children we also include our wives. When children eat rice, they feel hungry again after just few hours but if children eat stiff porridge, they do not complain about hunger, they get satisfied.

F003: How does the situation become at homes when we shift our livestock to far places to search for pasture and water?

P: The situation always becomes dormant and many family members feel lonely because most family members already used to enjoy and play with cows, so they do miss them and become less happy. Those who have taken livestock to the jungle, they always buy flour and prepare food for their own along their journey.

F003: Who always remain at homes and which activities do they always perform?

P: Cows are like human beings among maasai people, when cows are shifted to other places, the whole family feels lonely and we sleep early in the evening. We do not have specific activities to do along this period.

Some do become thieves and many people found themselves in gossiping groups because many people are idle, they have no work to do.

When cows are far away from home, the business dealers always enjoy their work because they get enough time to deal with their business, for the case of people who depend much on livestock keeping getting and achieving everything will always feel lonely and unhappy when cows are shifted to far places.

F003: Do some livestock which remain at homes when large groups of livestock have been shifted to other places?

P: Some cows do remain at homes, for instance a cow which cannot walk long distances; Maasai people do shift their livestock for different purposes including small grazing fields or shortage of pasture and water. When we shift cows because of shortage of pasture, all cows should be shifted regardless of their ages (this is called esingatare in maasai), sometimes we shift cows because of lacking enough land to graze our cows, in this case we decide to leave some calves at homes, another reason is crop cultivation, when it comes farm preparation we do not shift bulls from homes, they do remain at homes so as to help in the ploughing of the farms. When bulls are done with farm ploughing, they are treated with different doses such as lung infections doses, etc and they are taken to special areas where there is enough pasture and water, they also come back to eat maize stalks after harvest is done.

F003: How is milk availability at homes when cows have been shifted to other far places?

P: We really feel scarcity of milk when cows have been shifted to other places,

When you have enough cows you produce enough milk, if you reduce cows and shift them to another place, then you will get just little milk.

F003: When you have shifted your cows to another place, does the whole family shift too?

P: The family does not shift, it remains at homes.

Transhumance has been in practice since the generation of our grandparents and only youths are involved in transhumance , both girls and boys are much involved in this practice. Only some few youths do remain at homes for the family with many youths

For the case of families with enough youths, then some of them will remain at homes with their parents, girls are involved in transhumance so as to help boys, and this is much for the families with few boys and many girls.

F003: What is the position of girls in transhumance practice?

P: Involving girls in transhumance sounded good among the maasai because such kind of girls always become disciplined and respectful because they do not get enough time to adapt bad behaviors from other street girls who practice prostitution and wear miniskirts.

F003: How do families get affected when girls and youths have been involved in transhumance?

P: Most families do not get affected in terms of domestic activities, not all youths do get involved in transhumance and take cows to the jungle but some do remain so as to serve the family members who remain at homes, for instance if a family has five youths, then four of them will shift to new grazing places with cows and one of them will remain at homes to serve the parents.

F003: Does diet status change or remains the same when cows have been shifted?

P: The situation is always good because cows are shifted for some few days or months, after which they are brought back to their permanent place.

When a man sells the cow, he buys enough maize and distribute it to his families, if there is a possibility of bringing milk from the jungle to homes, then it is done like that.

F003: Ok, do people who remain at homes suffer due to the shifting of cows or not?

P: They do not suffer from anything, they continue enjoying normal life.

F003: Let us talk about conflicts between crop farmers and livestock keepers?

P: In most cases, crop farms do not follow cows, but cows do follow farms, for example if my cows invade and eat some crops, then we divide cows into halves, so there are some conflicts between crop farmers and livestock keepers because in our place there are no specific allocated grazing places.

The current life needs much wisdom, when you annoy your friend you have to apologize, if a livestock keeper collides with a farmer, it is very possible for the farmer to forgive a livestock keeper without any compensation in case there is discipline and wisdom between the two sides. In most cases if there is wise language between livestock keepers and crop farmers, it is difficult for conflicts to rise up. In Kibaya we always solve our conflicts within ourselves just using wisdom and peaceful settlement.

There is a difference between this year and last year, this year a certain letter has been drafted and presented to the people, it is written that if a livestock keeper invades a crop fields regardless of the available crops, the fine of 100000 will be paid to the farmer. This is a new experience in Kibaya.

F003: How do you always solve the available conflicts in this society and when did you start experiencing conflicts?

P: When conflicts happen, then we always settle them peacefully by coming to the common consensus between the farm owners and livestock keepers, we either compensate the lost crops by paying some amount of money , it may be 30,40 or 50 thousands or we apologize and forgive each other.

F003: What are the causes for these conflicts?

P: The main cause for these conflicts is lack of enough grazing land.

Another cause is due to cow invasion to the crop fields.

Another cause is mischief among the people, for instance if my cows pass by the crop fields, you find that another person reports me to the farm owner claiming that my cows have invaded his crop fields, this also brings some misunderstandings.

F003: How does a farmer get affected?

P: A farmer always loses his crops although some of them are being compensated in terms of cash money.

A farmer gets affected because his farm gets destroyed and the village government takes a lot of compensation more than a farm owner from the livestock keeper , for that case a farm owner loses much

F003: How does a livestock keeper get affected?

P: A livestock keeper is affected by paying compensation to the farm owner.

F003: How do you overcome these conflicts?

P: The conflict problem has now become serious to us because we planned to request for more grazing lands, but now if we have received such kind of letter which prevents us from passing our livestock across the farm fields, then our plans seem to fail. We will come with another option if the maasai livestock keepers hold their meeting to discuss it.

To overcome conflicts, we opt to take our livestock to the jungle; this might be some of the resolutions.

Another option is to keep your livestock still in your person allocated area, where cows do wait for their cow boys.

F003: Where do men learn diet and nutrition systems?

P: In the past our parents used to care of our health, for instance if our bodies became weak, our parents used to provide us with fat cows, then we organize ourselves and go to the jungle with a fat cow, we slaughter it and start eating meat, cow fats and some herbs. This was done more especially in the caves found in the forests.

The meat would last for even three weeks, before another cow is brought and slaughtered.

In this place we do not eat meat in the forest caves because meat does not last for many days, it gets rotten because there is high hotness unlike it is in Kilimanjaro.

F003: Why have caves disappeared?

P: Caves are available only that the places with caves have been tilled for crop growth, for that case many places have been polluted and some turned to be toilets, so when you take your meat in the forest, then flies will attack your meat and destroy it.

F003: In the past years you used to get education about diet and health from your parents, where do you currently get diet and health education?

P: We still recall what we were taught by our parents in the past years, then we also teach and explain to our children.

We learn diet and nutrition systems within our families and from our neighboring households, we also educate each other about bad effects from modern and industrial processed foods such as korie oil etc, we also insist on eating natural and traditional foods such as cow blood, milk, losholoo, sheep tail fats, goat’s fats and meat. This is a traditional education among the maasai.

F003: Who provides traditional education to you?

P: Traditional education is much provided by groups of elders, they tell us and explain what is good as far as diet and nutrition is concerned.

Maasai people also have private meetings, for instance if four or five maasai men meet, they discuss much about diet and nutrition, as well as livestock keeping. We also discuss traditional medicines and herbs, so sometimes we do not take our patients to hospitals instead we cure them using traditional medicines and herbs.

Education about diet and nutrition is much provided by elders when we meet together, that's why when maasai people meet along the way, they do greet each other and share some few experiences from their families.

F003: If someone has a message about diet and nutrition, how should he/she deliver it to the targeted people?

P: The good means is to call the meeting more especially the meeting for the livestock keepers.

F003: Who should deliver the message?

P: The person who has prepared the message.

If there is a person with a message about diet and nutrition, he will have to call a meeting and deliver that particular message to the public gathering.

In this community we have traditional leaders and every age group has its own leaders known as leigwenani, these are very quick in calling the meeting and gathering the people, so these can deliver the message as quickly as possible.

F003: What is the position of churches, schools, brochures, radio, health centers and video in delivering the messages about diet and nutrition?

P: Churches can be used as a good means to deliver the message to the people, because many people do attend in church ceremonies, when you use cinema shows, you will get just some of the people and not many people do attend cinema shows, for the case of brochures and letters it is a bit difficult because some people are illiterate, schools can also be good platforms because every household has school children.

F003: Do you have any additional views?

P: yes, I request you to assist us to get enough grazing lands and help us to fight and prevent theft which is very alarming nowadays.

F003: Thank you for your participation; this is the end of our discussion.