Maasai Baby

March 19, 2019

Maasai Baby

We’re waiting for the baby to arrive any day. Yes, remember last month I wrote about Elizabeth and her sister, Ngaisi, who came to visit. They came again for another prenatal check and they stopped by so we could make a plan about what to do when the baby comes. It’s a bit complicated.

Elizabeth had planned on making sure that Ngaisi got to the hospital in Arusha when the time came.  However, the difficulty is that she, Ngaisi, lives in the family Boma with her husband. In order to get to the hospital in Arusha, she must call a piki piki (motorcycle for hire) to take her several miles to the road where she can catch a bus to Arusha—a couple of hours-- where she can get a dala dala to get to the hospital All of this while she is in labor. NOT!

To complicate matters, Elizabeth was leaving (has left) because she had a contract with an NGO to go to villages and assist with education and treatment of an eye disease common to Maasai people. She would be (is) completely off the grid and can’t help Ngaisi get to the hospital at all.

What to do….. Elizabeth made arrangements for a van to pick up Ngaisi (not sure where) and take her directly to the hospital.  Then, Ngaisi is supposed to send Janet a text message telling us that she is in labor. (She speaks only Maa-- not English or Swahili. Elizabeth pre-programmed her phone with the message.) Then Janet and I are planning to go to the hospital to visit her and give her the “Newborn Layout Set” that we put together.

Here’s a photo of the layout for Ngaisi. Can you identify everything?

1.     Kotex Pads

2.     Baby Oil

3.     Panties with bows (hee hee –so cute)

4.     Polka Dot Kitenge Diapers

5.     Blue Kanga (for carrying the child on her back)

6.     Orange Kanga

7.     Pear soap (for washing the diapers)

We got some kitenge cloth at the place where we got the kanga and the woman in the store cut it for diapers. Then Janet washed it in gentle soap to get all the sizing off and to soften them up. Here they are drying.

So, what about baby? We were expecting to hear by now. What might have happened?

**Ngaisi went into labor and couldn’t make it to the van?

**Her husband convinced her to have a Maasai midwife help her deliver (even though her pregnancy is considered high risk)?

**She had the baby and didn’t contact us?

**Or anything is possible…..

Stay tuned. There might be more to tell….