Some people still do not understand the meaning of a CULTURE as an identity of a group of people. The problem is misunderstand of people’s ways of life. This woman was supposed to learn and know the meaning of a warrior in a Maasai perspective not as a native American. Men becoming Maasai warriors and women not, is not a matter of equality!! That is just our culture/identity. But this doesn’t really surprise me much, because I read about men going to have surgery to became women which is related to what she is advocating in our community!! I am very sure there is no a Maasai lady who wish to be called a “Moran”. No one will attain Maasai warriorship just by being able to fight otherwise many amazing Maasai women and boys should be fighter just to be warriors. Becoming a Moran is attained by men who undergo through different processes and they hold that title of being a Moran for a limited of time, thus why we have different categories of age group. After a certain time, planned by the Maa community, the current moran will no longer be called Moran. That does not mean those men lost their ability to fight, that is just our CULTURE. Thus why, not all men are Maasai warriors. For example, boys are not moran and will never be even if they can fight until they undergo those cultural procedures at a specific time!! But did this native American woman knew about that? Until, she is named A FIRST WOMAN TO BECAME A MAASAI WARRIOR? How can she became a MAASAI warrior and she is not from a Maasai tribe? Did she think there is no AFRICAN men and women who are not from a Maasai tribe but able to fight and qualify to be warriors in a Maa community if warriorship is attained by ability to fight? Well, becoming a moran/warrior is just a MAASAI PEOPLE’S CULTURE.
An advice to the maasai people, please let us educated our communities about participating in different projects. Let us be curious about what people ask us to do, about what we say during interviews. And for those who does not know much about the culture, please find someone else to help you. Do not give false information to be written because it will destroy our culture which is our identity. Of course, not all things in our culture are good but we have a lot of good things to preserve.
