“Here I am with my home stay mother, sister, and brother. During this particular home stay, I participated in what the women do daily, with my sister, Nengai, and mother, Nesula. This includes beading, collecting firewood and water, and cooking traditional food. I slept on an animal hide with my sister and two other girls from their boma (a fenced-in group of huts within a village where one man lives with his wives [usually two or three] and cattle). Our hut was made out of mud, dirt, and wood. The men sleep outside and during the day herd the cows.”
So, where in the world is Katherine Lodge?
Lodge (Skidmore ’11) spent her semester abroad at the School for International Training in Wildlife Ecology and Political Economy in the heart of East Africa, Tanzania. The semester consisted of a mix of home stays, like the one she describes here with the Masai tribe near Lake Natron, and traveling on Safaris and sleeping in tents. “I learned Swahili and used it every day,” says Lodge.
Lodge clearly integrated herself into and embraced the Tanzanian culture, which she admits was sometimes extremely difficult. “Oh, and about the discomfort,” she adds casually, “It was about 110 degrees every day on Lake Natron, and we had to wear what they dressed us in.”