The year 2012.
My brother-in-laws ask me if I want to go eat honey with them.
They are 10 and 12 years old.
I say yes and they lead me into the forest.
I am 25 with a Bachelor degree in Biology.
Yet as I follow them, trusting their knowledge of their forest, it dawns on me that I know nothing of this world.
My knowledge of ecology and animal behaviour would not keep me alive in these woods.
My brother-in-laws do not even know how to read and write, yet here they are guiding me through the forest to food and I know instinctively that I have to trust what they are doing.
I have so much respect for them in this moment, and until today. And I have such little respect for who I am. For how little I know of the nature I wish to protect.
They find the bees, climb the tree and extract the honey, while asking me to stand back for my own safety. 10 year old boys.
While I am feeling useless I enjoy watching them. Enjoy experiencing this. Having my mind blown up and all the things I thought I knew scattered into tiny little pieces that I already look forward to putting back together in a different way.
In a better way.
We have one Earth but within this Earth exist many different worlds.
In the world of the Maasai, the Maasai hold the knowledge and noone from the outside knows anything better than they do.
This is true for all indigenous communities.
Our education is not their education.
Our knowledge is not their knowledge.
Our definitions are not their definitions.
Our good is not necessarily their good and neither is our evil.
It is the most important thing I learned from the Maasai.
Sit and observe, understand and respect.
And never judge.
#maasai #massai #tansania #tanzania #Africa #afrika #travel #learn #perspective #unlearn #reisen #see #understand #indigenous #indigen #volk #liebe #love #anthropology #photography #bild #bücher #lesen #memoir #masaistory #Read #books #bookwormThe year 2012.
My brother-in-laws ask me if I want to go eat honey with them.
They are 10 and 12 years old.
I say yes and they lead me into the forest.
I am 25 with a Bachelor degree in Biology.
Yet as I follow them, trusting their knowledge of their forest, it dawns on me that I know nothing of this world.
My knowledge of ecology and animal behaviour would not keep me alive in these woods.
My brother-in-laws do not even know how to read and write, yet here they are guiding me through the forest to food and I know instinctively that I have to trust what they are doing.
I have so much respect for them in this moment, and until today. And I have such little respect for who I am. For how little I know of the nature I wish to protect.
They find the bees, climb the tree and extract the honey, while asking me to stand back for my own safety. 10 year old boys.
While I am feeling useless I enjoy watching them. Enjoy experiencing this. Having my mind blown up and all the things I thought I knew scattered into tiny little pieces that I already look forward to putting back together in a different way.
In a better way.
We have one Earth but within this Earth exist many different worlds.
In the world of the Maasai, the Maasai hold the knowledge and noone from the outside knows anything better than they do.
This is true for all indigenous communities.
Our education is not their education.
Our knowledge is not their knowledge.
Our definitions are not their definitions.
Our good is not necessarily their good and neither is our evil.
It is the most important thing I learned from the Maasai.
Sit and observe, understand and respect.
And never judge.
#maasai #massai #tansania #tanzania #Africa #afrika #travel #learn #perspective #unlearn #reisen #see #understand #indigenous #indigen #volk #liebe #love #anthropology #photography #bild #bücher #lesen #memoir #masaistory #Read #books #bookworm
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