FGD_MELA_ELDERMEN_3oct 2017
Interviewer(s): F004
Interviewee(s): P

F004: I am Hassan M. together with Julius Ntweya in Mela village. I am conducting Focus Group Discussion with Maasai Eldermen. It is 3/10/2017. Ok, now tell me which foods do you eat currently in your homes?

P: We are currently eating stiff porridge, vegetables, beans, meat and milk as well as rice.

I mostly eat stiff porridge, this is our staple food. In the past years, we used to drink milk as our staple food and we used to eat stiff porridge only during summer season.

We really depend on stiff porridge as our staple food, we also use beans and vegetables as well as milk as part of our meals.

F004: Which kind of vegetables do you always eat?

P: Pigeon peas leaves and pumpkin leaves.

We also eat green gram, cassava leaves, etc.

I eat stiff porridge, rice, vegetables such as pumpkin leaves, milk, fermented milk, sweet potato leaves.

Our staple food is stiff porridge and the main relish during rain season is milk, but this season we have beans, pigeon peas, sweet potato leaves, amaranth leaves, meat, etc.

We normally prepare two meals per day, in the morning and evening; we eat stiff porridge and milk. We do not have lunch.

F004: What was your staple food in the past years

P: Our staple food was meat; we did not mix meat with other foods because we were afraid of stomach aches.

At our young ages, we did not eat stiff porridge, we had few cows but we used to eat cow blood and cow milk.

At our young ages, we used to eat cow meat, cow blood, cracked and cooked maize and milk.

At our young ages we most depended on milk and cow blood which is boiled and flavored with little salt, then it is cooled and eaten. As time passed, we started eating stiff porridge which was grounded on stones.

F004: Ok, elaborate more on the flour grounded by stones.

P: Sorghum seeds were prepared and grounded on stones to produce flour. This was done by women in most cases.

F004: Why were you not eating stiff porridge by then?

P: At our young ages, there was no enough maize, that's why we did not get much interested in eating stiff porridge.

Another reason why we did not eat stiff porridge at our young ages, it is because there were no milling machines, maize grains were crushed in the mortal and grounded on the stones, but nowadays we eat stiff porridge because there are a lot of milling machines, a lot of maize flour and everybody is able to afford.

F004: How many meals did you get to prepare in your households per day at your young age and nowadays?

P: At our young ages we used to have two meals, morning meals and dinner meals, but nowadays we prepare three meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

At our young ages our grandfathers did not till the land and grow crops and many farmers lived far away from our homes, so we used to eat cracked and cooked maize but sometimes we cooked uncrushed maize grains because of scattered settlements.

At our young ages, most farmers practised subsistent farming and not commercial farming, we maasai people are pastoralists and not farmers or crop cultivators, for that case our food depended on livestock products and nothing else, so when we came to interact with other people from different ethnic groups, we learned to crush maize grains on the mortal, we came to know how to prepare cracked and cooked maize. At this time many people decided to practice commercial farming and we started interacting with other people and learned to eat other foods such as fish, rice, etc. This was globalization which brought us together.

F004: What do you mean by globalization?

P: Globalization accelerates the exposure of different issues to different people and their exact meanings, so many people changed their thinking and decided to extend their activities, and for instance most families started practicing commercial farming so as to maintain their families.

F004: What has brought changes in foods which you used to eat at your young ages and foods which you are currently eating?

P: It is because at our young ages we lacked diet and nutrition education, but when we came to be educated about diets and nutrition issues, we got to know the importance of different food items such as rice, maize, sorghum, vegetables, etc. If we did not get diet and nutrition education I think we would remain eating meat, cow blood and milk.

Most of the maasai started going to school in 1970s-1980s, the standard seven and college students helped us much in understanding the importance of different food nutrients. Another factor is social interaction between maasai and other people from different tribes, this also enabled us to change our diets.

If it was not drought the maasai would remain eating meat, cow blood and milk, but due to drought most maasai have changed their way of eating and adapted to eat new types of foods.

F004: Thanks, you mentioned diet and nutrition education, provision of formal education, aridity and social interaction, what else has brought changes in your way of eating?

P: Another factor is familiarity among the maasai, most maasai became familiar with new types of foods prepared by people of different tribes.

We came to be educated on what is good and bad, when we got educated and understood most of the things, we decided to put into practice.

Another factor is mobility, the tendency of shifting from one place to another, so when we shift to another place we learn new things in the new settlement area, just we came to eat many kinds of food.

The basic factor relies on educated people who went to school in 1970s, they came back to our societies and educated us more about diet and food nutrition.

F004: What about the people who shift from other places to your village? What do they learn?

P: They always learn to eat what we normally eat in our place.

F004: What are the changes which have occurred in food preparation system?

P: There are some changes in food preparation system, for instance nowadays food preparation has become easy unlike it was in the past years, this is because currently there are a lot of modern and improved cooking and other utensils.

In food preparation system , there are some changes, for instance at our young ages, we used to share the same milk calabash during meal time, but nowadays every person uses his/her own cup of milk during meals. When we got visitors at our young ages, we used to prepare a single pan of food for the visitors because by then there were few utensils.

F004: Tell me the comparison which exists between food preparation / cooking at your young ages and nowadays?

P: There is slight difference in food preparation / cooking when you compare the two periods. In the past years there was no frying of foods between there was scarcity of required items such as cooking oil, we normally used ghee. We knew how to fry meat but not vegetables, but nowadays most of food items are fried.

At our young ages we used to prepare stiff porridge and 'kididio' as our meal. 'kididio' was boiled maize flour in water and mixed with salt. It was used with stiff porridge.

At our young ages nobody used to boil milk or drinking water but nowadays, milk and drinking water are boiled for health purpose.

F004: Among the factors you have mentioned about diet and nutrition issues, what is the first and last factor?

P: The first factor is familiarization to what we see from other people.

I think the first factor should be neighborhood which has helped us to change our diet and nutrition style.

I think the first factor should be provision of education to our fellows, who have helped us to know more things about diet and nutrition.

For my case I think availability of seminars have been a major factor in changing our diet and nutrition system.

I also propose the first factor to be familiarization to what we see from other people.

I think the first factor should be social interaction and neighborhood between our society and other societies, I remember in 1978, I came from the forest and started living in a village, I was taken to school when teachers came to realize that there are grown up youths who have not attended school yet, so I together with my three fellows, we were taken to primary school.

I propose neighborhood and social interaction among different tribes.

I propose neighborhood and social interaction among different tribes, because i remember in 1970s, there came villagilazation policy, where most people from different places were brought together to establish new villages, by that time there were very few people who had gone to school. So neighbiurhood and social interaction is what has brought changes among the Maasai.

Education did not bring changes to us because education has just come recently while most of Maasai people had already experienced enough changes in their diet and nutrition system right from the time when they started interacting with other people from different ethnic groups.

The first factor is social interaction and neighborhood among villages.

The second factor for changes was education.

Education is the second factor in bringing changes to our diet and nutrition system, because we have come to know how to fry and cook different foods because of education.

Education is the second factor to bring changes in diet and nutrition because it has helped us to understand how to cook meat and milk with different flavours unlike it was in the past years.

School education has been another factor which has created changes to our diet and nutrition issues because most youths have known how to prepare different food items, the seminars and other trainings do follow after education.

I strictly suggest that education is the major factor which has brought many changes in diet and nutrition issues, for instance sometimes we go to Morogoro town to attend seminars as well we attend some education programs at SUA university.

We are trying to suggest the second factor for diet and nutrition changes among the Maasai, that's why majority of us suggest primary, secondary and college education to be the second factor.

I personally suggest the social interaction and neighbourhood among different villages to be the major factor for diet and nutrition changes among the maasai, for instance if I go to town and enter the restaurant to have lunch or dinner, I will automatically eat the ready cooked food, for that case I will be able to know how that particular food is prepared if I am interested, for that matter I will have known to prepare this particular food because of social interaction and not education.

I suggest provision of primary, secondary and college education to be the second factor for diet and nutrition changes among the Maasai.

I also suggest education to be the second factor for diet and nutrition changes among the Maasai people.

Does provision of seminars and trainings on cookery mean the same with primary, secondary and college education?

I think these two factors mean the same

Provision of seminars and trainings on cookery as well as provision of primary, secondary and college education are the same factors.

The third factor for diet and nutrition changes among the maasai is familiarization and witnessing what is done and performed by other people, for instance some of us happened to start drinking beer because they saw other people drinking and they got familiar to this habit.

I also suggest that familiarization to different things from other communities is the third factor for changes in diet and nutrition among the maasai people. For instance maasai men and women have married women and men from other tribes respectively because of familiarization.

I suggest the fourth factor for diet and nutrition changes among the maasai to be crop cultivation, because through crop cultivation we obtain food for our survival.

I suggest the fourth factor to be globalization which has changed diet and nutrition among the maasai people.

I suggest the fourth factor to be the shifting of maasai people from one place to another

I suggest the fourth factor for diet and nutrition changes among the maasai to be aridity which in turn has forced us to engage in crop cultivation.

I still suggest crop cultivation to be the fourth factor for diet and nutrition changes among the maasai people because we happened to experience starvation, but after being educated and understand how to cultivate and grow different crops, we created food assurance which has enabled most of us to have two or three meals per day. Tha's why i SUGGEST THAT THE FOURTH FACTOR SHOULD BE CROP CULTIVATION.

I suggest crop cultivation

i suggest globalization

I suggest crop cultivation

I suggest globalization

I suggest crop cultivation to be the fourth factor.

I suggest the fifth factor for diet and nutrition changes among the maasai to be globalization because globalisation brings a lot of changes including creation of awareness and mind exposure to different people.

I also suggest globalization to be the fifth factor for diet and nutrition changes among the maasai.

I suggest globalization to be the next factor because globalization changes mind set for different people, it enables most people to know current and updated events.

I suggest the sixth factor for changes in diet and nutrition among the maasai to be shifting of settlement from one place to another. Shifting of settlement and aridity sometimes can be associated.

I suggest aridity to be the sixth factor for changes in diet and nutrition among the maasai because aridity forces many people to shift from one place to another.

I suggest shifting settlement from one place to another influences changes in diet and nutrition among the maasai, because if I am at Kilosa eating some particular types of foods, when I shift to another place I may find new types of foods and I will be forced to change some diet and nutrition styles.

I suggest aridity to be the sixth factor for diet and nutrition changes among the maasai people.

I suggest aridity

I also suggest aridity because aridity is caused by shortage of rainfall and severe sunshine.

The last factor is shifting of settlement from one place to another, this is the seventh factor. Thanks

F004: You have all categorised factors for diet and nutrition changes among the maasai people which include social interaction/villagilazation and neighborhood, the second factor provision of primary, secondary education and seminars as well as trainings, the other factor was familiarization and eye witnessing, the fourth factor you mentioned crop cultivation, next was globalization, the sixth factor was aridity and the last factor was shifting of settlements from one place to another. Have we forgotten any point?

P: No.

F004: Ok, tell me the importance of milk among the maasai people?

P: We maasai people do eat and drink milk in high quantities because it is our traditional food, if we do not get milk to drink we really feel harassed, thus milk is a very important food item to us, milk can stand alone and taken as a balanced diet.

We drink milk because it builds our bodies. Most of our children like to drink milk, sometimes they cannot eat any other food without milk and if the child does not drink milk, its stomach swells but if the child drinks only milk, the child becomes healthier. That's why we like milk very much.

We maasai people do not depend on any other oil apart from ghee which is milk product, most young kids are also fed with ghee to improve their growth.

F004: Which group enjoys the role played by milk between the young children and aldermen?

P: It is a group of children

If the children lack milk, they start crying, even if they have eaten other foods and become satisfied. Even for the case of elders, if you eat stiff porridge and get satisfied but if you have not taken milk, you do not feel happy.

F004: Do children get milk nowadays?

P: They get milk in small quantities.

Some households do not get to feed their children because they have shifted their cattle to other places, so they do not have source of milk.

For the case of maasai people, milk is a traditional and tribal food, for that case, if milk is not available for the maasai, they really feel harassed because most children experience malnutrition symptoms, they swell stomach. We always eat stiff porridge and other foods during summer or dry season but when it is rain season we depend on milk as our main food.

F004: What do you do to ensure the availability of milk during dry season?

P: As a father, I will move to the place where cows are grazing so as to obtain some little milk for the children.

If all cows have been shifted to other far places, then we obtain milk from goats so as to make sure our children get some milk to drink.

F004: What is the importance of cow blood/How do you use?

P: We drink and eat cow blood so as to increase blood in our bodies because when we take cow blood mixed with milk, then blood and milk enters the blood vessels directly, it does not stay in the stomach.

Cow blood is purposely for health issues; it improves and maintains body organs health, more especially body blood content.

F004: At what time do you drink blood?

P: Sometimes we drink it soon after slaughtering the cow, it means we drink it when it is still fresh.

F004: Who drinks cow blood in larger quantities between men and women?

P: It is men who drink cow blood more than women. In some circumstances when a woman has shortage of body blood, then she will have to drink cow blood.

When a person goes to the Hospital and he/she is found to have blood shortage in her body, then instead of buying human blood in the hospital, we use cow blood to increase body blood content.

F004: Ok, to what extent do you still use cow blood?

P: We still use cow blood though in small quantities.

Use of cow blood has decreased among the maasai people.

Nowadays we do drink cow blood when we slaughter cows but in normal cases we use blood if a person falls sick.

Among the maasai, the aldermen have not stopped or abandoned the use of cow blood, only the youths who have gone to school are the ones who seem to have abandoned this tradition.

F004: Ok, in which circumstances do you use cow blood?

P: Cow blood is mostly used when a person loses much blood may be due to accidents, fighting or delivery among women

F004: How do you think about the habit of abandoning the use of cow blood among your sons and daughters?

P: We are trying to enable our sons and daughters get used and familiar to the use of cow blood.

When they come from secondary schools, they find cow blood at home and some do drink it.

Some of our school sons and daughters, when they come back from schools, we slaughter goats and prepare soup with blood, so they get forced to eat them.

Some parents do try their best to educate their sons and daughters to continue eating livestock products because of their importance in human body.

F004: Apart from accidents and baby delivery, in which circumstances do you use cow blood?

P: We also use cow blood if a person falls sick or he/she has fever.

F004: To what extent do the current youths drink cow blood compared to youths at your young ages?

P: The current youths do not like to use cow blood because they have adapted swahili norms, they no longer like to cling on maasai norms.

Sometimes when youths are taken to health centers, it may happen that he/she has shortage of body blood because most of them do not drink cow blood, we used to drink cow blood during our youth hood that's why we did not experience shortage of blood in our bodies. Moreover at our young ages, we used to drink some blood which is mixed with herbs so as to cure infections and diseases as well as to maintain body health

F004: What else has forced the current youths to abandon drinking cow blood?

P: Another reason is the modern education which has changed their mind set about cow blood; they claim that fresh cow blood is not good and not safe.

Another factor is penetration of Christianity religion which teaches people not to drink fresh cow blood instead they should drink Jesus Blood which saves people.

F004: Ok, thanks. How have changes in diet and nutrition affected the maasai tribe?

P: The changes in diet and nutrition system has not affected much the maasai tribe.

F004: Do you experience land conflicts between livestocks keepers and crop cultivation in Mela?

P: No we have not experienced such kind of conflicts in Mela because we try to understand each other or sometimes if cows do invade farms and consume some crops, we just settle the situation as quickly as possible and continue with our lives.

F004: How can you live without such kind of conflicts while there is more than one tribe here?

P: We have witnessed some fatal conflicts in other villages due to livestock invasion in crop farms, we do not like such kind of conflicts to happen in our area, we also try our best to maintain and keep good relationship and neighborhood among us, and we help each other in different circumstances.

Moreover there is leadership for the group of livestock keepers and crop cultivators, so the leaders from both groups try their best to educate and caution their people about land conflicts, most of us understand this and thus we avoid unnecessary conflicts.

F004: Which year did you experience conflicts between livestock keepers and crop cultivators in Mela?

P: We have never experience land conflicts between livestock keepers and crop cultivators in Mela.

F004: Where do you get education about diet, nutrition and health issues in this community?

P: We have got education about diet and health through seminars and trainings which are offered to our homes, this education is provided by certain organization.

Sometimes we get education about diet and health issues from SUA experts; they visit us to our homes and conduct such seminars and trainings. We also have PERAM organization which also provides such kind of education.

F004: Who else provides education to you apart from SUA and PERAM experts?

P: We also get education from our fellow neighours who have been trained to do so from other organizations.

F004: Where do women get diet and nutrition education?

P: They also get from the people we have mentioned above and from the clinic for maternal and child care.

F004: What is the impact of diet and nutrition education?

P: Provision of diet and nutrition education is very good.

F004: How should it be provided?

P: I think it should be provided continuously so as to maintain understanding among the people.

F004: How many times do you want to get this education?

P: We should get it at least twice a year.

We should get it at least four times a year.

F004: Where should it be provided? Through churches, schools, magazines, mosques, etc.

P: It should be provided through households, they can create a schedule, for instance they can create groups of four households and provide education to them, this will make it easy for the people to understand it and get access to it.

F004: Apart from house to house method, where else should this education be provided?

P: The diet and nutrition experts should collaborate with our educated youths in this village so as to simplify the provision of this education.

F004: Which means should they apply in providing this education?

P: They should use brochures.

They can also use general meetings and gatherings

They should use general meetings to deliver this education because it involves oral teaching.

F004: Do you have any other additional views?

P: I request you not to stop providing such kind of teachings to us, because it is very good.

I suggest them to use both brochures and general meetings because not all people do attend meetings.

F004: Thanks for your participation. This is the end of our discussion.