social structure

In the United States, people usually live either alone, with a partner, or with a partner and their children, and most Americans live in cities. In Kenya, it is different. Most people live in scattered homesteads, where children, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all live together. Sometimes several family groups will form one village. There is only one really big city, the capital Nairobi, which has two million people—about the same as Houston.

One famous people of Kenya is the Maasai people. From the beginning, Maasai people opposed slavery and the hunting of animals, which means that their lands in the south of Kenya now have the most wild animals. Older men make most of the decisions in Maasai society. They measure wealth not in money, but in how many cows and how many children you have. Girls do the milking and the cooking; women build the houses; men herd the cows and protect the settlement. When there are enough boys between the ages of 12 and 25, the boys go off and live by themselves, learning the responsibilities of being a warrior. Traditionally, Maasai men wear bright red robes, and Maasai women wear deep blue robes. The men’s red robes symbolize their love for the earth and also their dependence on it. They also symbolize the courage and blood given to them by nature.

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