The ‘Smartest’ Lesson I Learned from My Maasai Friends

WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL TO THE MAASAI?

I had the amazing opportunity to visit Africa over the last 3 weeks and among other things, my trip included a visit to meet a precious Maasai child, Sipao, who I’ve sponsored through One Child Matters to help meet his educational, nutritional, spiritual and medical needs for the next 10 – 12 years. We arrived at the center where a lot of these children’s needs are met by a caring and loving staff of volunteers who give of their time to provide a brighter future for these children currently living in poverty. I don’t mean poverty the way we in the West see poverty, I mean poverty. I was blessed to be able to meet Sipao’s mother, father and grandmother. It was a tremendous advantage as many of the children there didn’t have a father figure in their lives so I felt that Sipao was already at an advantage. I noticed the way they all cared for him and worked to teach him how to acknowledge and appreciate that I was there, visiting, as it is somewhat of a rarity for these children to ever meet their sponsors. I knew God was smiling down on me in a way I didn’t deserve to even have this opportunity but there he was, in shock at first to see me crying, probably wondering what he’d done wrong and then eventually, not letting me go. I noticed the gratitude in the eyes of his mother and grandmother the entire time, particularly in his grandmother. I have a soft spot for grandmothers and know first-hand, what a difference they can make and what a positive influence they are in the lives of their grandchildren, so I felt a strong connection to her right away. They didn’t speak English so I had to communicate via a translator. At one point, I asked one of the pastors there how to say ‘beautiful’ as I wanted to tell his Mother and Grandmother that they were beautiful and he brushed me off saying they didn’t have a word for that. At first I was taken aback wondering, does this word really not exist or is it that the Maasai don’t want their women being called beautiful and letting this go to their heads? (Ah, the cynicism of a Westerner and I’m not even a feminist). A few minutes later, Richard, Sipao’s social worker came back and I asked him the same question. He looked at me, paused and said “Say to them ‘erevu’, that means smart but they will understand what you mean.” I asked him to repeat it a couple of times and then said it to them. They both smiled, covering their mouths, much the way I do when I’m going to laugh out loud, and they each grabbed me and gave me a hug, both sides like the British do. Message delivered I thought, loud and clear and they were appreciative of the compliment.

As I was retelling the story on the drive back to the hotel, I thought to myself, how many women in our culture, or many others for that matter, would rather be called smart than beautiful? It’s a legitimate question, how many do you know? How many would prefer that? I don’t know many. It really brought out one major difference in our cultures. People there are real, genuine, compassionate and giving. The women there take the beaded necklaces from around their necks and give them to you to show they appreciate you being there. It means that much more because they don’t have a whole lot in the way of material possessions. It’s not that we don’t possess these same qualities but are we focusing on the wrong thing here? I thought about Rene Zellweger and so many others who feel the need to alter their appearance but at what cost. I’m not knocking plastic surgery, I mean to each his own, but I worry about what as a culture, are we teaching the next generation? I’m a big believer in that, if you’re happy with the inside, you’ll be happy with the outside. This was an important lesson for me and truly opened my eyes as to what we focus on. I feel so blessed in that this trip taught me so much. It’s amazing how much I learned from the Maasai people, the people in Africa in general and from the Mountain!