Maasai Cultural Intricacies: FGM
and Changing Social Perspectives
Taiyo
and Resian appropriately epitomise the complexities of changing times insofar
as culture is concerned. In this novel, Ole Kulet demonstrates the challenges
plaguing traditional African mores in the face of contemporary trends that
threaten to dismantle such structures that most people have strove to hang onto
or even at times to institutionalise. It is a story that casts two daughters on
a collision path with their parents and their community’s cultural beliefs.
Their
parents, Mr Kaelo and Mama Milanoi symbolise the dilemma for many African
families that find themselves torn between urban lives and the rural one. It appears
that Kaelo’s time in the town of Nakuru has come to an end since Agribix
Limited his employer has closed shop. However, Kaelo seems to have prepared for
this eventuality as we are informed that he has decided to set up an agrovet
distributing shop in his rural home town of Nasila. However, as we come to
discover much later Kaelo’s venture into business is tainted by financial aid
from a thrifty unscrupulous business man who usurps his financial and moral
authority over his family.
Indeed
both Taiyo and Resian have a bad premonition about going back to the rural
village where their father hails from. They are both at their prime age having
been denied the rich cultural milieu of the Maa people. They are aspiring to
join Egerton University to quench their thirst for education. As Resian says,
she would like to be called Dr. Resian Kaelo, if only their father would allow
them to join the university so that she can pursue a course in Veterinary
Science. Unbeknown to them, their father’s and mother’s thoughts have begun to
be beleaguered by cultural expectations from which they have been shielding
their daughters from. Mama Milanoi’s biggest fear is the fact that her
daughters are Intoiye Nemengalana – the
derogatory term for uncircumcised women amongst the Maasai.
As
a matter of fact, the novel depicts the unenviable position that families who
have straddled between two different types of lives find themselves in. They
are neither town people nor rural people. The chasm between being recognised as
urbanites or rural folks depicts the main conflict in the story. This is
because the Kaelos will have to redefine themselves no longer as people of
Nakuru but orphans of Nasila. As a result, the Kaelos will have to find ingenious
ways to battle the expectations of the Nasila people. The breaking down of one
of the lorries could insinuate the challenges on their journey towards being
integrated into the lifestyle of the Nasila people.
The
sojourn from Nakuru to Nasila foreshadows a clash between the beliefs of the
young girls who represent the way of life of urban people and that of the
indigenous Nasila habitats who strongly believe in the adherence to communal
beliefs like female circumcision. Thus, the expectations of the two sets of
people are at odds with each other thereby signifying the inevitable clash and
the potential fallout of Resian and Taiyo with their parents. The fallout is
compounded by the father’s indebtedness to Oloisudori – a cruel businessman
whose evil nature precedes his name. In fact, the text describes Oloisudori as
part of the people who have desecrated the Maa culture allegorically referring
to how Nasila river was being polluted by chemicals and other poisonous
pollutants.
Although the Kaelo’s can to a certain extent
pride themselves in being proactive towards change, their faith is greatly
tested when the parents have to host a party in order to be received back into
the Ilmolelian clan fold and the bigger Nasila cultural family. It is during
this occasion that the demands on the Kaelo’s family begin to appear clearer. For
once, the girls realise that being female is disadvantageous amongst the
Maasai. A man, Joseph Parmuat, is tasked with the responsibility of coaching
the girls about their culture implying the lack of faith on the part of the
society towards women’s ability to educate themselves. This is one example of
the varied instances through which the community’s culture is depicted as being
biased towards women folk. Others include FGM, dowry and marriage negotiations,
choosing a partner, education and career amongst others.
A
story within the story is told about the myth on FGM and the rise of the fame
of the Enkamuratani (female
circumciser) and her tool of trade the olmurunya
(razor-sharp blade). Like most other cultural beliefs, it has been adopted
and perfected over time such that no one dares to challenge it. On the
contrary, modernisation, especially through formal education, has brought about
a splinter group headed by Minik ene
Nkoitoi famously known as Emakererei.
She is educated and she believes in individual choices and the pursuit of one’s
dreams. It is a position that has seen her alienated from the community – considered
an outcast who is out to undermine the authority of Maasai elders. However, she
ends up being the voice of reason and the source of hope for most girls like
Resian and Taiyo.
Kaelo
succumbs to the pressures of his community and selfishly trades his daughter to
Oloisudori. Although he would like to present himself as remorseful and a
victim of Oloisudori’s greed, we are persuaded to see him as inconsiderate, authoritarian
and uncaring towards the desires of his daughters. Indeed, this is clearer from
the beginning of the novel when he callously mistreats Resian because he had
hoped to get a son for his second child. Resian’s troubled spirit later in life
is attributed to this open hostility from her father although she finds solace
in her sister’s protective care.
Resian’s
adamant spirit pays off when she triumphs over the treacherous snares before her
to survive death narrowly. She escapes marriage to Oloisudori only to end up in
the hands of Olarinkoi who lures her with the false promise of taking her into
safety but he intends to marry her for himself. She has to physically fight him
off in order to rebuff an attempted sexual assault, overcome sickness and
eventually find help through Nabaru who takes her to Minik’s farm. It is at
Minik’s farm that she is reunited with Taiyo, who is unlucky because the olmurunya has been applied on her and
she has lost a dear friend Parmuat who dies rescuing her. It is at Minik’s farm
that their dreams eventually blossom when they receive the good news that they
will be joining the university to further their education.
Kulet’s
Blossoms of the Savannah presents a
melting pot of cultures and envisions a social continuum in which culture can
never be static. It is a text that recognises individual psychic dilemmas, one
that pits family members against each other and acknowledges the inevitable
clash when an individual’s desires and aspirations are at odds with old and at
times outdated cultural beliefs. Ole Kulet recognises that it is not enough to
lay blame on colonial structures and changing times, we have to take
responsibility for our own shortcomings and individual choices. However, just
as certain species of plants bloom in the hot Savannah climate, we will have
individuals amongst us who will thrive or blossom irrespective of the
debilitating cultural hurdles.
