Laziness is the driving force of progress. I’m not entirely sure how I’d explain “driving force” to the Maasai. Laziness would be a problem too. And the word progress isn’t exactly popular or widely used either. I admit it—bad start. So again. I decided I’m not that lazy.
I got—how else—a brilliant idea: why should I drag myself around and take photos when I can hand the job over to the locals? In theory, it could even be more interesting. They’d photograph their own lives, and if some mzungu wandered around, he’d only disrupt the whole operation. The only problem was choosing people with at least some chance of returning my phone in a condition suitable for future generations. The first victim of my hyper-creative idea was Koikai. Koikai is a special case among the Maasai—as the only one, he wears a T-shirt and trousers. As one of just two Maasai widely known around here, he was a proper fundi master. As one of the few, he had lived somewhere other than his home boma. As one of “two and a half” Maasai, he lived in the village, not in a boma.
Koikai spent about a year in the capital, Dodoma, working in a motorbike repair shop. That’s where he learned the trade. But he didn’t last long—Dodoma has too little bush and too many houses. So he returned to Mbogoi and made a living repairing motorbikes there. So here are Koikai’s photos, straight from his phone. Unedited. The dirty lens also remains unedited. And this time, I’ll refrain from commentary as well.
