INSIDE SAMBURU HUT - COOKING AREA

Margaret is teaching a pre-school at the village. She told us that they use a witch doctor rather than a physician, surround their village with thorny shrubs to protect them from animals and other tribes men who steal their cattle and kill their tribesmen (mostly from Sudan and Ethiopia - both of which are nearby). They buy maize from members of another tribe but feel they are overcharged.

Rich men have 8 wives (one for each cow) and each wife (and her children) live in a separate hut. Poor men have only 2 or 3 wives.Wives have about 15 children but many die. If a woman’s husband dies, she ca not remarry. If her husband’s family is kind, she can continue to live with them; otherwise she must return to her own family.

There were only 2 or 3 young men present -- the men “had gone to visit with men in neighboring villages”. The boys were with the herds of cattle and goats and camels grazing in the area. No one owns land, they just move about to where the good grass is at the time.