John

John is the fws Farm Manager and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. John lives near the Volunteer Village and was first offered work on the fws farm when Eve, a former volunteer, saw how well-tended his garden and crops were. Today, I got to see why; John invited me to see his home after work.

John at home with his watoto (children)

John, like many of our workers and the broader Sinoni population, is a Maasai. So when John collected his children from his mother’s nearby and I greeted her in Swahili, she said, “Sijui” (I don’t know); John’s Mum only really speaks Maasai (many locals can speak Maasai but it is not often used). His extended family lives about 50m from his property in a fairly traditional “Boma” set-up; a few huts/houses set around a communal livestock area.

The area John lives in doesn’t have the same irrigation as our land just a kilometre away, and is mostly grassland used for livestock grazing. But John’s small block of land sticks out for all the vegetation: mostly banana trees and sugar cane. John has quickly adapted to organic farming, which the community were initially quite skeptical of, and has used incorporated many of the practices into his own property.

A neighbouring property with a traditional Boma set-up

John’s apologised that the place didn’t look as nice as it should and he didn’t have any fresh chipati to offer as his wife is away visiting family at the moment. But his brother brought us some sodas anyway. Zacharia, just 18 months old, was very happy to see that I’d brought some eggs with me. And Magdalena, who goes to the fws chekechea (kindergarten; free for all fws workers’ children), proudly showed me her day’s work: a drawing of flowers.

John is saving to build a new house, as he doesn’t like the traditional mud-brick place he is in. He would also like to have three rooms instead of two.

John is 31 years old - the same age as me.