Zanzibar - Life of the beachboys

To see the Maasai for first time can be very confusing.   On one side you see them at Zanzibar in very bad light in the role of male prostitutes how they are chasing tourists on the beach and how they are trying to get a white woman by manipulation and lies and also you can hear MANY terrible stories about Maasais scammers and about all the crimes they commit at Zanzibar.  On other side the influencers (mostly white women earning money on the image of Maasai) are talking about beautiful Maasai culture full of beautiful HONEST people who are almost holy, such people of the God who are never doing any crimes. You will also read many posts on those channels describing the Maasai as better people than western people are (in each possible meaning) and how there is no single one bad thing presents in that culture (what itself is very suspicious).    Anyway - these two realities are so different and so far away from each-other, that people can be really confused - not knowing what to think

  Let me introduce you my Maasai husband. His name is Ole (but I can hear that others call him by different names so who knows if really), he is around 26 years old (but he doesn't know exactly his age so maybe he is 22 and maybe he is 35) and he is from Arusha (but for some reason all his brothers, cousins, sisters and friends are from Kiberashi), but my Ole - only him - he is from Arusha. Also his boma is near Kiberashi. Strange, isn't it? But who cares.  He is selling the traditional Maasai jewelry on the beach and it's his job. From only this job he is alive. At least he told me this.  He doesn't need to buy stuff for shop, because his mother  and sisters are doing bracelets for tourists but from some reason he is still asking money for his shop.  I am always giving him the money, I also don't know for what exactly. He is very poor guy and he does have almost nothing. He is so poor that until today he could not get married despite the fact that everyone in h

  Maasai have a very complex and for understanding very difficult system in which the entire community is managed. To understand how exactly this system is working, all those tiny details and connections existing there, is not easy. Especially not for people who are not Maasais. Many things around Maasai can be misunderstood or confusing, that's why in this text some basic rules and structures existing in the tribe will be explained as much as we understand it. The reason why people should be informed more deeply about Maasai  culture is to understand how big power the Maasai community has (or could have) especially on the behavior of its members. Let's start with some expressions which can be heard: AGE-GROUP: This means the people who were born in the (or around) same year. Many times people think that AGE-GROUP and AGE-SET is the same. If Maasais are from the same AGE-GROUP it doesn't mean they are automatically also in same AGE-SET.  AGE-SET : Maasai system and whole

I decided to publish comment I accidentally found in the discussion under article  "The change must come from us"  and despite it's there for  long time already, I have never noticed it and I have never read it. Until now. It's written by the Maasai, I don't know if man or a  woman. It's a very big point there but still - Maasais you can meet  normally at beach actually don't and can't think in that way. The author of the comment signed himself/herself as a Maasai so let's believe in that. There is nothing to add, maybe only be aware that to reach with a Maasai what is written there, some kind of equal level of thinking, being and feeling,  will be very tough. VERY TOUGH, near impossible, but it's the only way which can theoretically work in small percentage. More likely you have this chance with the Maasai studying in DAR at universtity, but guys from the beach, knowing only Maasai bush and having that mentality... Very unlikely it can happen