Interviewer(s): F002
Interviewee(s): P

F002: My name is Zahara Majili, and my fellow here is Mariana Kinabo together with brother Mbaba Malaki. Today we are at Kambala village having a group discussion with Elderly women on 29th September 2017, we are from the Sokoine University of agriculture we are working with ILRI which is an International organisation deals with livestock, ILRI is based in Nairobi and also it has offices in Dar es Salaam. Some few years ago IRIL had its project known as More Milk (Maziwa Zaidi) and Kambala was also part of that project. We are also working with Emory University which is found in USA. We are in the research we want understand the changes in food intake to a community and house hold also to study what are the causes of these changes. We came here in February this year we talked with some of the people (I see some of you from our last discussion) and we discovered that there are new things which we don’t understand and hence we want to know more about, that is why we come to do more discussion on those issues that raised questions and trying to understand how we can assist the community and house hold to improve the nutrition and food issues. We will be using recorders as well as we will be writing some of the things in our discussion so as to make sure that we a getting all the important things from our discussion so as we can go through the records after and write a report that we can present the report were it concerned, moreover our discussion is voluntary so if u don’t wish to participate your free to go and give a chance to someone else who is willing to join the discussion. It will take us one hour up to one hour and thirty minutes to finish our discussion it depends on how you answer the questions and participate from the beginning to the end, and we want you all to participate fully all answers are correct there is no wrong or right, like we said early our aim to this research is to know what the reality of what going on to the community concerning nutrition and food issues so as to find the best ways/strategies to improve community health.

So before we start our discussion do we have everyone consent

P: Yes we are ready.

F002: Our discussion will be divided into different sections and we are going to have almost 5 sections and those sections are; reasons/causes for the change on food intake to the Maasai community and other people in the community, the importance of drinking /using milk to Maasai community, why drinking animal blood, what kind of food that is mostly used to your community during ceremonies?, and last we a going to discuss about training, education and information concerning nutrition and health and what types of food can be used for the good health.

first section: Reasons /causes for the change on food intake to the community. We all know that there are a lot of changes on food intake or the kind of food that is consumed by people the community, and this also takes part in the Maasai society, in the past the kind of food that were mostly consumed by maasai was only milk and meat and somehow ugali, but now we see that maasai eat different kind of food like chips, chicken, vegetable, cassava and so many kind of food, never the less even the way of preparing those food differ from then and now for example how were you preparing meat in the past?

P: This is very true, in the past we were just cutting the meat into pieces then we just boil the meat with additional of salt and when it’s done thus is it,

F002: Ok thus nice, so what about now, how do you prepare meat?

P: Now it is different from past the process of preparing meat can be just boil meat as soup but with additional of carrot and potato, or we boil and then roast to get the source with tomato, also we sometime grill and we can do a fried meat with oil.

F002: So can you tell me what the causes of those changes are?

P: Development.

F002: Can you please elaborate what do you mean by saying development is the reason for the changes?

P: Now we have been developed we don’t eat and cook like before this is because we meet and associate with different people and get to see and learn how to prepare food in the way others do.

F002: Where do you meet new people and learn how they prepare their meal?

P: We usually go to the different meetings that are prepared by village members to know one another and also, we meet people in the ceremonies where we get to eat new food and we learn how they prepare them and so we take that new education and practise at our home, or some times when we visit one another we ask other people how they cook their meal so as we can go home and cook the same way.

F002: What are the other reasons for those changes in food intake?

P: Education; our children go to school and associate with different tribe, as we all know the only place where children spend and learn a lot of things is at school, besides teaching other things they also teach how to cook different food and so our kids learn and when they get back home they bring those new skills at home.

Mixed up with people from different tribes influences food changes, this is due to education and different skills that we share from one another, the way we cook, the food that we eat education on what is good for the health and so many.

Another issue or reason is weather change, this is one of the main effect on food change as during summer there is luck of grasses for feeding cow so due to that even availability of milk become very low and this is the reason why we had to find other kind of food to eat during those seasons and for that case milk is no longer food it cannot be enough without other food.

F002: Apart from all those reasons you mentioned which is, education, development. Mixed up, weather change, let’s talk about means of cooking, what kind of cooking energy that you are using and how do you obtain them? And when we say energy we mean charcoal, gas and firewood. And does cooking a certain type of food depends with the cooking energy available?

P: Yes cooking energy has an effect on what we eat as at home the kind of cooking energy that we use is charcoal and firewood only, and we usually cook a certain kind of food depending with the energy we have at the moment charcoal is usually used when firewood are not available and so as to save charcoal one can cook simple foods like vegetables and stiff porridge, but when we have enough firewood we cook meat and beans as they take too long to be ready.

F002: What about the change in responsibilities between men and women, does this affect the kind of food that you eat? When I say changes in responsibilities is that we all know that in the past the responsibilities there was a division of responsibilities between man and women, but now different activities are done by all. Due to this is it one of the reasons for the change of food intake to your families and society?

P: yes its true in the past men were the ones responsible for taking care of the livestock and to bring food at home while women were only staying at home cooking and taking care of the house and children, but now things have changed women are also participating on increase the income to the family, by working in different kind of jobs like small businesses also they are taking care of cattle. So due to this there is an increase in income so it’s easy to buy different kind of foods for the family.

Apart from that the money that is generated at home from men and women helps to take kids to school and it helps the family to eat health food.

Another issue that affect the change in food that family consume is difficult in life, now days life become more and more difficult and due to that we find ourselves with no choice than to buy food that are cheaper and easy to find like vegetables and may be cassava

F002: let me take you back a bit, what do you mean when you say life is difficult?

P: For now there is no any business to do, a lot of livestock are dying due to diseases and drought so we find ourselves in a very difficult situation as food is scarce as well as milk so this situation makes us eat what is available at the market and that is cheap and affordable.

F002: what about change in price of food, does that affect the kind of food you eat?

P: Yes of course price change has a very big effect on the issue of what we eat, it is a normal situation that when the price of a certain food perhaps rice goes down we will all eat rice but when the price of rice goes up we will then find an alternative which will be cheaper and affordable. E.g. vegetable, cassava, or potatoes.

And sometimes when the price of food goes high we decide to grow some of the food ourselves e.g. maize and other small things for the home use.

F002: What about the issue of availability of different kind of food in the market, as you have said earlier that before you had no much food even in the market thus why you were eating milk and meat, but now due to the development and the mixed up of different tribe now people are moving from one place to another and bring business like foods that means now in your market you have variety of food, does this cause the change in food intake in your society?

P: To us there are some food which are not available in the market at all and even when they are sometimes available they are very expensive in order to get them then we have to go to another village a bit distance from ours to buy and again in a high price, e.g. of those are rice and maize and this also is the reason why we decide to grow some for our own.

F002: Is there any kind of food in your community that most people don’t use and for those few who are consuming them others are so surprised by them? and if yes does this affect those who are eating to stop and find something else to eat?

P: Yes, food like stiff porridge made using cassava flour, most of us we don’t eat, this does not stop those who are eating to keep eating.

F002: What kind of food that when you eat others see you like you are well off?

P: To that matter it depends with an individual with what they like as some people don’t like ugali some like or rice, but to most of the people are feeling special when they eat rice, and this is because rice is expensive compare to other kind of food that are affordable and also only few people can afford buying rice for the family. But also, when others eat stiff porridge they like as it is health.

F002: so due to this does it brings / cause any change on food intake?

P: Yes, but to very few, as most of us we just like stiff porridge

F002: Among those things that causes the change on food intake, that you have mentioned what are the top three things which have higher effect on the change?

P: First thing is development, this is because every day in our life there are new development, people move from one place to another and somehow even the way of living changes from time to time including what people eat.

Second factor that contributes a lot to the change of food intake is mixed up of Maasai with other tribes

This also contributes a lot to the change because when people mixed up they bring their culture with them and exchange with others and food is one of those culture, so this makes us eat different food from different tribe

And the third one that contributes to change is draught. when there is no rain nothing grows. Second section of our discussion concern milk, so can you tell me the importance of milk to Maasai people?

To us Milk is medicine when you have Malaria when you drink enough milk you get better even without taking malaria medicine,

also milk is good for the healthy body, when you miss milk your body gets weak and thin and when your thin you feel dizzy and you cannot perform any duty effectively, so milk gives energy to the body.

Also, milk has cream which is used as a medicine as well as cooking oil, another advantage of milk is that it is food when you have enough milk you don’t need to eat other kind of foods.

F002: Is milk the same comparing to other kind of food?

P: No milk is far away different from other food and this is because in the past milk was used as food, we were drinking milk withought eating anything else more over milk is used as medicine and oil.

milk was being prepared by adding onion and a bit of maize flour and used as a heavy food, this food is called Kididio or Mboga saji.

but one thing now milk is not enough to be used as food alone. I think this is due to decrease in availability of milk due to draught as well as death of many cow because of diseases.

F002: When comparing the importance of milk in the past and now, is it the same?

P: No in the past milk was very important but now not that much because in the past milk was a complete food itself but now milk is just used as a drink after food.

F002: but why now milk is not as important as it was in the past?

P: I think because it’s not enough to be used as food alone and also now we are used to other types of food

Also, I think the availability of other food makes milk less important

F002: We have heard from the society that now availability of milk is very low, so can you tell me why milk is very low now compare to the past?

P: now we have very few cows (livestock)

F002: why is there few cows?

P: During summer a lot dies due to lack of pasture because rain is very few another thing is there are eruption of animal diseases.

F002: What about farming system, did it also affect the availability of milk?

P: Yes, it does affect the availability of milk as for now where we live we have not more than 3 cows as it become more of human habitat, so we cannot have many cattle, so most of them a staying far away into the forest so as they can get feeding leaves, and this is the reason why we have few milk.

F002: We have seen that most of the changes are brought by our children from school where they meet others from different tribes and learn to adopt their ways of living so do this affect anyhow change in the availability of milk?

P: Yes, most of the children when they get back from school they don’t want to involve themselves into taking care of the livestock, and this is due to the fact that taking care of livestock is a very difficulty duty so they prefer to find some easy work like having a shop, and that cause the availability of milk to be low.

F002: Conflicts between farmers and pastoralists can you explain to me how do this contribute to the availability of milk?

P: When there is no peace in the society its obviously that even animals will be in no peace, they will be running from one place to another they won’t get enough food so even the production of milk will be minimal

F002: is the quality of milk in the past same as the quality of milk now?

P: No, the quality of milk in the past differ from that of now, Milk now has a lot of water than cream and this is because in the past there were no animal disease as now, even when a cow gets sick there was no treatment as in now, now everyday there is a new disease that affect livestock, so they get vaccination injection and due to that the quality of milk become bad as time goes by.

Also, now days cow they don’t get enough and quality food as before so even the production of milk is of no quality

For that matter we don’t drink a lot of milk as the quality and quantity is minimal, as when a cow get a vaccination you have to wait for 8 days for the medicine to be out of the system so as to get clean milk and for that matter lots of milk is wasted

F002: Among those causes that affect the availability of milk what are the main causes?

P: The first cause is drought all issues counts but when there is no place or grasses for feeding the livestock then life gets even more difficult for the animals and for the owner as lots of animal dies as they don’t get anything to eat also apart from that even if they do get food it’s not enough so even the production of milk is of very low quantity.

the second issue that bring higher effect on the quality and quantity of milk is Animal diseases, now there is eruption of diseases that cause lots of animal to die and also to be able to produce enough and quality milk as it was before.

F002: Another issue that we want to know from you is about drinking of animal blood, we know that in the past drinking animal blood was part of Maasai life, so do you keep on drinking animal blood and why?

P: Yes, it’s true in the past we used to drink animal blood as part of our daily life and this was mostly due to culture and believes, it was a believe that animal blood helps to increase blood to the pregnancy women also it was used during spiritual ceremonies as a sacrifice to those who have problems or who needs blessings, but now we no longer believe that, so we don’t drink animal blood

F002: what is the reason for a change?

P: Development as our kids go to school they learn also we get to know that diseases affect animal blood as well so when you drink you will be infected as well,

Also, now we are religious believers and in the church they teach us that drinking blood is not a good thing spiritually thus why we don’t drink anymore.

F002: Let us discuss about ceremonies food, we want to know in your society once you have a ceremony like wedding or holiday, funeral or a family gathering, what type/kind of food that you prepare?

P: In case of a ceremony we eat different kind of food, we can say we usually cooks varieties of food, e.g. rice (pilau), potatoes, banana, meat and other. But in the past in case of a ceremony we were eating Makande (a food made by mixing maize and beans), meat and milk.

F002: Why a change of food to those events?

P: development

F002: Can you explain what do development got to do with the change?

P: We get education from others we learn and adopt other tribe’s life, our kids go to school and learn we live with other people we see and adopt thus development.

F002: oh very well, so is the preparation of those foods the same as before?

P: no, example for meat we prepare in different ways some we make soup ,some we fry some we barbeque, and some we roast so as can be used as source to rice, -and the way we cook and what we eat in the events it’s the same as what we eat at home.

F002: on our previously discussion that was on February we also talked about the consumption of some part of a cow that not all men and women eat, we said that meat is special for men and for women they eat the insides of a cow, so why is that and is it continue even now?

P: Yes its true but it was just a discrimination there is no a clear explanation to why men has to eat the good meat and women the insides, but now it’s not the same as now we share half .

F002: What are the effects for the change in food intake to the community, might be negative or positive?

P: Those changes to us have a good effect as we get to eat nice food as well as health food not like in the past also we eat variety of food and that is a good thing, more over now the food is health and gives us strong body and clear mind.

F002: Our last part of discussion is I would like to know how and where to elders get to learn and acquires information concerning nutrition and good health and also the issues about good food here at Kambala village?

P: in fact, we have never got this kind of education or information before but we just get very small education in the church or small gatherings’ that conducted in our village especial just a small group of women, and there we just give each other what we know about good and health food, also in the church they just tell us to eat everything and that we shouldn’t be worried all food is good for our health.

F002: So how do you think this education concerning nutrition and health can be made as important to you?

P: We wish to get this education in different places not only in the church. E.g. we wish to be provided this when we go to the hospital or seminars, you know among men and women, women are the one who cook at home and this means that we should get more education as we are taking care of our families and because we go much to the hospitals than men the even there they should be giving us education on nutrition and health food.

F002: So, whom should be taught first?

P: We should both be given the education but for the women we should be given more often as we are the one taking care of our families, cooking meal as for men they just bring food at home so they should be educated so as when they buy food they get to buy health food for the family.

And through women even our children will be able to get that education as most of the time mother is a first and best teacher to a child, but also they should be given education to school so as we can get the best generation in the future.

F002: Very well, so whom do you want to teach you concerning nutrition and health?

P: (All of them) you should (Laughter)

What we are asking is that we should be given education like this most of the time; there should be a means of providing this kind of information every now and then.

F002: Thank you all very much for your time and the best participation, so is there any question or suggestion as we closing up our discussion?

P: (one of the participant)

Myself am so thankfully and happy that you guys are closer to us now that you have taken your time and travel far just to come to us and try to know what is happening here and find a way to help us on the health issues please this should not be the end we will be waiting for you to bring us that education concerning nutrition and health. Thank you very much.