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

F003: Hello I am Julius Edward Ntwenya (facilitator) together with Hassani Mdoe Mbazi (note taker), we are in Mela village. We are conducting Focus Group Discussion with Maasai Adult men. Our discussion will be based on nutrition; we will discuss how different activities contribute to our nutrition. Let us talk about environmental and weather changes.

P: For the case of nutrition in our society if there are four men in the household, we all sit together and share the same dish, after that we go to graze our livestock.

For the case of climate and weather changes, now we are experiencing summer season, from last year summer season has become very severe and most lowlands have become dry unlike it was in the few past years.

We are also currently experiencing shortage of pasture for our livestock’s. This was a different case in the past years.

Climate and weather changes have been caused by tremendous increase in human population and livestock’s, this situation has brought about aridity in most of the wildness. This was a different case for the past seven or six years.

For the past few years, we experienced severe aridity but this year we have got a lot of rains and produced a lot of food and food prices have dropped tremendously.

F003: Ok, try to recall what happened in five or ten years passed, do you remember any climate changes which have affected availability of water, pasture, etc?

P: Climate changes have led to severe shortage of pasture, this can be traced right from 1998, and it is not a situation which has just happened within past five years.

F003: Why there is shortage of pasture and water?

P: Tremendous increase in human population and livestock has created shortage of pasture and water, for instance groups of livestock come from Lubungo, Manga and Mkangazi around Kilosa road, so all the forest experiences a lot of livestock’s.

We started settling in Mela in the year 2000, but then most households did not keep livestock’s, so we had a lot of pasture throughout all seasons, as time passed many pastoralists from Kilosa started shifting to Mela, they came with a lot of livestock’s, as a result most water sources started getting dry and pasture became scarce due to these crowds of livestock. Another problem was cutting of trees which created bare land and thus le to shortage of rainfall.

F003: How have these climate changes affected the livestock keepers including household responsibilities and availability of milk?

P: The climate changes have led to aridity and shortage of pasture and water for our livestock, thus leading to little production of milk which in turn affects the household stability by experiencing shortage of food.

Climate changes have forced some pastoralists to shift their cows to other areas where they can access enough pasture and water for their livestock, for that case if there is a great number of livestock within a small grazing area, automatically there will be aridity which will lead to low production of milk and food for the family.

Climate changes has led to low production of milk and food for our families because there is severe shortage of water and pasture, this is aridity.

Climate changes has created shortage of milk from our livestock, this situation has forced Masai people to change their diets, instead of depending on milk and meat, we have started consuming stiff porridge and other kind of vegetables.

F003: Do many children drink goat milk?

P: No, goat milk is very little, therefore it cannot sustain a lot of children. Moreover there are few households with enough goats to produce milk.

F003: Do you experience any changes in allocation of responsibilities within your families due to climate change?

P: Yes, we have experienced some changes in family responsibilities, for instance we Masai people did not know how to till the land and grow food crops, but nowadays we have changed and started engaging ourselves in crop production, we till the land and grow different crops.

F003: Who is most engaged in farm activities?

P: It is a father who is most engaged in farm activities, a mother just remains at home to deal with domestic activities.

F003: Apart from crop production and livestock keeping, which other activities do you do due to climate change?

P: We Masai originally are pastoralists; we have decided to engage in crop production due to climate change which has affected our livestock.

Some Masai are engaged in small business, for instance someone may buy some cows and sells them to get some little profit, and some Maasai women do sell food at different market places.

Some people do sell milk to get other domestic needs.

F003: Apart from the above-mentioned views, what else have you been doing so as to overcome the prevailing climate change?

P: Another technique we use to overcome climate change is that we assist one another basing on the available resources, if a person is well off, he can offer assistance to other households if there is an agreement between the two people.

Another technique we use to overcome climate change more especially aridity, we take a black cow or sheep and wash it with water at the river so as to get more rains, this is a Maasai custom.

We Maasai have a tendency to help each other, for instance if a person has a lot of cows he may decide to distribute some cows to different households to neighours so as to sustain their lives because they don't have cows to keep. This has been there for several years, but nowadays it is becoming abandoned.

F003: What do you do so as to overcome the shortage of milk?

P: To overcome shortage of milk, some households still have some cows, so they buy maize stalks to feed cows so as to enable them to produce some milk for the family.

Some people do buy maize stalks from the farmers; these also enable cows to produce more milk for our families.

We also practice transhumance, where we shift our cows to places with enough pasture and water, when milk is obtained; it is brought home for consumption. This year we have experienced hardships in obtaining milk, this happened from August to date, but for the case of last year we had a lot of milk.

F003: Apart from milk, what do you consume as food/diet?

P: Apart from milk, we depend on tea, vegetables, beans, and tomatoes, cracked and cooked maize.

We as pastoralists, if we do not take milk, even if we eat all kinds of other foods, we do not feel comfortable.

We do not eat fish and sardines as well as chickens because it has not been our custom to eat these foods.

F003: Why do you not eat fish, sardines and chickens? Can you eat them now?

P: Some of us do eat but most of us do not eat them, a man in the house can eat chicken but his wife does not eat them.

Most of us who do eat these foods, they take them at chips centers.

F003: Some Maasai do eat such foods because of exposure to other ethnic groups but others do eat them because they have gone to school.

P: Almost 90% of the Maasai people do not eat these foods.

F003: Apart from climate change, which other reasons force some Maasai to establish new activities apart from their traditional activities such as pastoralism?

P: One of the reasons why some Maasai engage themselves in other activities is due to high food prices at the market, so we decide to till the land and grow crops so as to overcome the high food prices at the market.

Social interaction between the farmers and pastoralists has also enabled some Maasai to engage in activities such as cultivating the land and growing food crops, some farmers can also engage themselves in livestock keeping when they interact with Maasai people.

F003: To what extent have women activities changed due to the above conditions?

P: Women activities have changed due to the available freedom among the women; which enable them to engage themselves in different activities which are sources of income.

Some women have engaged themselves in small business such as selling soft drinks at the market places; this enables them to earn some income to sustain their families.

F003: Among ten families including husbands and wives, how many of these do engage in business?

P: At least two of them. Most women do depend on their husbands to sustain their families.

Some women do engage themselves in income generating activities so as to sustain their families, this happens either when a husband fails to sustain his family, or some women are allowed by their husbands to do any activity so as to earn some income.

F003: For instance if a husband is well off, owning a lot of resources, does a woman need to engage in income generating activities?

P: No, in this case there is no need for a woman to look for some income. A woman will remain at home to take care of the family and livestock.

Some households, husbands and women do help each other in most activities including farm activities, but as a man I am responsible for the food availability in the house.

Among the maasai, nowadays we have tried our best to let our wives become free to engage in different income generating activities, but some maasai men have become very rigid/conservative to let their wives free to do different activities become of maintaining marriage stability.

F003: What are the impacts of women activities toward availability of food in our households?

P: Yes, there is much contribution from our wives to ensure the availability of food in homes when they engage in income generating activities.

Among the pastoralists, a woman has no decision to ensure the availability of food even if she earns some money, this is a duty of the men among the Masaai. The Maasai women do depend on their husbands for food availability.

Among the Maasai, men do not depend on women to buy food for the family, otherwise a man will be considered to be weak. Otherwise a man will sell his cow so as to buy food and other domestic needs. In this case a woman will not ask anything about the money obtained from selling cows. When a woman sells some chickens, then a man will not ask anything about the money obtained, and a woman will not provide or spend any amount of money to buy foods and other domestic needs while a man is available.

Nowadays there are some families are demanding cooperating to insure food availability in the family for family stability.

F003: Apart from the Maasai, which any other ethnic groups are available in this area?

P: There Gogo people, Sukuma people, etc.

F003: Do you experience groups of people who are temporarily around here?

P: Yes, we do experience these groups of people, they stay here for a short time, and they pollute and disturb the forests, for instance the Luguru people. They invade the forests and start burning charcoal.

F003: Which groups of people do come and cut down trees?

P: These groups always include some rich and business people who deal with timber selling; they invade our forests and start cutting down trees.

F003: These people who come to cut trees, burn charcoal and collect firewood, are they women, men or youths?

P: About 88.8% these are men, 25.5% these are old men and 5-10% these are women.

F003: Do we experience mobility of people from our village to other places within five to ten years passed?

P: Some groups of people do shift to other areas to search for water and pasture in other places more especially during summer season but when it starts raining they come back.

F003: What are the main features of these mobile groups more especially when you consider their ages, education levels, etc.?

P: Most of the people in these mobile groups are the youths, who always move with cows to search for water and pasture.

F003: Apart from the above mentioned mobile groups, which other mobile groups do you experience?

P: It is a group of educated youths who move to look for jobs in different places.

F003: Who is a native man (ethnic group) in Mela?

P: It is a Maasai tribe

F003: Ok, how has the presence of Sukuma and Gogo people contributed to changes in your diet/nutrition system?

P: All people in this place share some foods when dishes are prepared, for instance, I can sit together in the same dish with the Sukuma and Gogo people.

F003: What have you learnt from other ethnic groups such as Sukuma and Gogo people?

P: There is difference in diet among the Sukuma and Gogo people, the Sukuma people are very kind, they invite their neighbors to their dish, the Gogo people eat normal food but they are not kind to invite other neighbors to their dishes. The Maasai people really eat food, Maasai people have a tendency of inviting their neighbors to participate to their dishes. This is done by both women and men.

F003: Do you learn any other things from other people of different ethnic groups?

P: The Maasai are very kind, they prepare food and take their dishes outside their houses, even if you are passing by his house, if you feel to eat you will be invited, some people like the Sukuma do take their dishes inside their houses, even if you pass by their houses and find them eating, they may not invite you to their dishes. In short, the Maasai do not have issues around tribalism.

We Masai people learn some new techniques from other ethnic groups on how to till the land and the farmers can learn how to keep livestock.

F003: What about children, do they learn some new things from other people of different ethnic groups?

P: Children can eat any food from any household.

For the case of Maasai children, they always eat food from their fellow Maasai household or other pastoralists households. Maasai children cannot eat food from a non Maasai household or non-pastoralist household.

Most children do not choose what to eat more especially for the case of vegetables and side dish, be it fish or chicken.

Most Maasai children do interact with children from other ethnic groups and learn some little things. They also gather in different ceremonies regardless of the ethnic groups.

F003: How do you get food and what do you consider in buying certain type of food?

P: We always get food from the village or from the milling machine where we buy maize; we also buy maize flour from the shops and markets.

F003: Which foods are mainly bought by men?

P: Maize and rice

Beans, tomatoes

Spinach and all kind of vegetables.

Cassava, peas

In summer we always buy and mill maize.

During rainy season we always depend on milk and stiff porridge. We also buy sacks of beans.

During summer season if we did not grow food crops for the previous season, we decide to sell some of our cows and buy some sacks of maize to obtain food for our families. Rice is a normal food for the pastoralists.

Nowadays people are drinking more tea unlike it was in the previous days. Some take tea twice or thrice a day, this has replaced milk.

F003: Which factors do you consider when you go to buy food items?

P: It is hunger, if there is no enough milk to drink, and then I will have to buy some maize because the family has shortage of food.

The presence of families is another factor which plays a great role in deciding which food items to buy.

Another factor is about how long the food item can last without being rotten.

F003: Is a woman free to go to buy some food items from the shop/markets?

P: Yes, some women do go to buy some food items.

F003: Do you have a tendency among the pastoral men to give some money to their wives so as to cover domestic needs or you buy items and bring them home?

P: In most cases men buy and bring items to their homes.

It depends on some available circumstances; if you have travelled then you will have to leave some money to sustain the family in your absence.

Sometimes women do engage themselves in small business, so when they earn some money they can also buy domestic items.

F003: Which items are always bought by women/wives in our households?

P: Sugar and vegetables.

F003: We have realized that among the pastoralists, men do get more concern in buying domestic items including food items compared to women?

P: This is because a woman is a weak person, when she is away from home, children do cry but when I go to buy some domestic needs I come back home earlier than a woman. In short men spend little time to go and come back home more especially when I go to buy some domestic needs.

F003: You talked about women being weak persons, can you elaborate more?

P: I do not mean weakness in terms of health wise but rather being cheated by other men along the road, or when they go to shops they may be cheated by shopkeepers through being offered some more items.

Women are there to take care of the family including children and livestock.

Most of our women do not go to markets to buy domestic items because the market is very far from our village, that's why men decide to do this duty.

F003: Which food items do you wish to buy but you fail because they are sold at high prices?

P: We buy all food items regardless of their prices.

Most of us do not buy rice because it costs high prices.

In fact, most food items cost high prices, for instance a kilo of beans costs 2200Tsh, sugar costs 2800Tsh, a kilo of rice costs of 2000.

F003: Which foods do you obtain through barter system?

P: We do not practice barter system.

We always exchange cow to cows, for instance if my fellow has a lot calves, I can exchange with goats. For instance, a single female calf can be exchanged with eight or seven goats.

F003: Let us discuss the shifting of livestock from one place to another in the search of water and pasture. Compare the time when you were still the Moran and now when you are adult men, tell us also how the situation at home changes when you have moved livestock to another place?

P: When we move livestock from one place to another we always leave some five or four cows at homes, only men do move livestock or other places and all the cooking, cow milking and other activities are done by men.

Only men are involved in shifting livestock, but a woman can also accompany these men so as to help them in food preparation when they are grazing livestock.

Sometimes we shift our livestock and happen to take them to a place with enough pasture, so we always get enough milk from different cows

F003: Ok, what is always the situation for availability of milk at homes when livestock are shifted to another grazing land?

P: Milk always remains little just for children to drink because grown up men and women just depend on other food items apart from milk.

Before shifting livestock to another place, we always make sure that there is enough water and pasture.

It is not that we like to shift our livestock so as to get enough milk, it is a normal case in our society that from August onwards we always experience shortage of milk because the aridity.

F003: When did you started moving with livestock from one place to another?

P: Transhumance has been in practice for a long time, for instance some people do shift their livestock to Doma village.

F003: What do you do to ensure the availability of milk at home when cows have been shifted to another place in search of pasture and water?

P: We always leave at least four or five cows to produce milk for our children.

We also buy maize stalks to feed cows so as to increase the production of milk.

Sometimes we always go to find milk from the far places; this is mostly done by families with motor bicycle.

F003: What are the impact to women and children when cows are shifted to another place

P: They really get affected, for instance young kids because they do not get enough milk, some children are forced to eat some vegetables while they are not yet mature enough to eat such foods, so they finally undergo diarrhea.

Some children and women become weak and lack vitamins in their bodies.

F003: What about some money your wife earns due to milk selling?

P: In this case a woman finds herself having no money because she stops selling milk due to its shortage, in some cases women do sell chicken to earn some money.

For the case of men, they always sell cows to earn some money to buy maize flour.

I suggest that we would like to have a well for our livestock water.

Moreover, nowadays we do not have special breeds of cows for milk production that is why we produce little milk.

Some families are affected by land conflicts between crop farmers and livestock keepers. For instance last week almost seventy cows were killed due to land conflicts

F003: Do you experience conflicts between crop farmers and livestock keepers?

P: No, we do not have land conflicts between livestock keepers and crop farmers in Mela.

F003: Do you experience misunderstandings between crop farmers and livestock keepers for instance cows invading farm lands or farmers blocking livestock paths/ways?

P: Such misunderstandings, sometimes happen but we always settle them peacefully without any conflict.

Sometimes we sit together with our village leaders and we reach common consensus.

F003: For that case you mean that you have not experienced any land conflicts in Mela between farmers and livestock keepers?

P: Yes.

F003: Let us discuss diet and health issues. For you men, where do you always access information about diet and good nutrition?

P: We always access information about nutrition through radio programs, and our women do get this information through seminars from the clinic attendants,

Most of us do access information about diet through radio programs and other media as well as health centers.

F003: Where do you get information about which food you are supposed to eat or prepare in a certain day?

P: Sometimes we hear from our friends or we discuss and decide with our wives about the type of food to prepare in a certain day.

F003: How do men in Mela village access information about diet apart from radio and other media programs, from our wives and health centers?

P: We do not have any other means through which we access information about diet and good nutrition.

F003: What do you think is the importance of providing good nutrition information?

P: I think the government and other partners should provide education about diet and good nutrition so as to enables us to understand the importance of all foods with required nutrients for the human body. Seminars about nutrition should be provided.

TFDA should conduct regular inspection on different food items which are mostly consumed by many people to enable them to understand the quality of these food items.

Seminars should be provided to enable people to understand the importance and quality of the food items.

F003: What do you want to be included or covered through seminars?

P: Seminars should cover good nutrition and balanced diet.

It should cover diet system.

F003: How do you want the seminars to be provided and to whom it should be provided?

P: The seminars should be provided to few people who will also go and teach the rest of the villagers.

The seminars should be provided to medical doctors and technicians at our health centers.

I think the medical doctors and technicians should teach the villagers about good nutrition.

I think the seminars providers should deliver their content practically and theoretically to insist on the importance of different food items.

F003: What is the role played by schools, churches, radio, magazines and videos in presenting the information about nutrition?

P: Yes, the radio and videos do present this information very correctly and directly.

Churches and schools also present good information about diet and good nutrition.

F003: What is the role played by school students in presenting information about diet?

P: In this case secondary students are able to present information about diet compared to primary pupils.

F003: What is the role played by brochures in presenting information about nutrition?

P: This method may not help much to present the information about diet, only radio programs and church preaching play great role in presenting information on diet and good nutrition.

The school pupils still have a good chance and can make it better in presenting information about diet because they have topics about nutrition and diet on which they learn different kinds of food items and their importance to our bodies.

For the case of presenting effective information about nutrition, only secondary students, church preaching and radio programs can do it better than other means in Mela village.

F003: Let us think of our college students. Do these college students play any role in presenting information about diet in our society?

P: Most of college students do not play any role in presenting any information and skills about diet and good nutrition in our society.

F003: Do these college students still behave like maasai youths?

P: No most of them tend to have changed their way of thinking and behaving.

F003: Thanks, we have come to the end of our discussion. Do you have any additional question or opinion?

P: We have participated in this discussion, what will be the importance of this discussion to our village?

F003: The importance of this discussion is to enable us to have critical evidence and views in preparing different programs about nutrition which will be put into implementation in the future.

P: We request the government and other health stakeholders to help us to have the dispensary at Mela village so as to reduce or eradicate all problems associated with maternal health care, specifically pregnant women. Moreover we have bad road infrastructures more especially during rainy season, this is a very big challenge to most people more especially when pregnant women are being taken to the dispensary

I would also propose to have a dispensary in our area because many people will be able to access good information, counseling and education about diet and nutrition from the medical technicians.

F003: I would like to thank you for your participation in this discussion. We have been almost eleven participants including two of us, eight maasai pastoralists and one Gogo pastoralist. Thanks once again for your participation.