MAASAI WOMAN
(Tanzania, Africa)

Oil on Canvas - 20" x 16 "

While on a safari in Tanzania, Africa, we visited a Maasai village on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. This was one of the women who greeted us when we entered the village. With their shaved heads and luxuriant beaded necklaces and earrings, it is the women who do most of the work in this strongly patriarchal society. They gather wood, make camp, milk cows, and tend babies, while the men lead cattle on the never ending search for grass and water. The Maasai people continue to try to retain their heritage in a society that forces many changes on them. We entered one of their huts, dark and filled with the smell of smoke, only to see a boom box in one corner. Change is inevitable.