Maasai Moranism as a product

Recently while on a visit to Mombasa, I came face to face with a phenomena that I have have heard and read about- the Moran gigolo. I was at the Likoni branch of Nakumatt when this lanky brother appeared in my aisle pushing a cart. His manner of dress was eye-catching: he tied a screaming red kikoy around his waist, complete with a Moran’s tools of trade- sheathed sword and rungu- fastened on his belt. Also hanging from his waist was a pouch holding a mobile phone. He wore the now-famous tyre sandles complete with a beaded “aerial”. His upper body was however adorned in a red Arsenal shirt that seemed out of place with the rest of his attire. He was eye-catching which got me curious. Was he the real Moran or an imposter? After all, there were stories of young men from different communities masquerading as morans in the full moran regalia. On his side was a middle-aged white lady who wore a smug smile of satisfaction on her sun-burnt face. While they glided out of my curious sight, I wished my curiosity had been satisfied.

A few days later while traveling between Mombasa and Voi in a local bus, a true moran with his wife and a sick baby strapped on her back, boarded the bus at Mazeras. The lady was dressed in a blue shuka that left a big gaping opening on her right side which exposed her unsecured breasts to the whole groping world. The husband who had the authentic caked ochre & braided hairstyle was in a heavy jacket and knee-long shuka and yellow Sandak sandles. His wife was barefoot and unshielded from the uncharacteristic cold and wet weather that was prevailing in the coast recently. This couple got me comparing and contrasting their realities with the supermarket duo. One was the genuine item, simply living his life the only way he knew how; while the other had packaged himself to meet a market need.

Do I have a right to harshly judge our imposter brother? If he did not respond to the tourist’s desire to experience the “tribal” Africa at close quarters, someone else would easily fill that void.