Maasai Warrior. Credit: Christina Lauterbach

Dominating the Maasai social system, and permeating every aspect of Maasai life, is their system of age organisation. Every Maasai male belongs to a named corporate age set (olaji) into which he is recruited at circumcision (which takes place when he reaches physical maturity) and together he and his peers are progressively promoted through a series of age-grade phases, from warriorhood to ancient elderhood, each with its own distinctive status and roles.

The first formal age-grade of a Maasai male’s adult life is that of warrior; a period of great social development for the young men involved. It is during this time that men learn to restrain their individual desires in favour of the wishes of the age-set as a whole; the ethic of self denial being at the very heart of age-set ideology. During their time at the warrior village (manyatta), they not only develop their physical courage and protect the homesteads and livestock of their territorial section, they also develop cohesion within their age-set through the ideals of egalitarian solidarity, communal decisionmaking, unity, loyalty, selflessness, generosity, accountability and respect.

Loyalty and sharing are considered supreme virtues that become almost an obsession, and the bonds of solidarity between age-mates are strengthened by sharing lovers. The exclusivity of monogamy contradicts the age-set egalitarian ideal; sharing, including the sharing of sexual partners, both before and after marriage, is a fundamental feature of Maasai social interactions. Indeed, fidelity to one partner at a time is seen as a threat to the egalitarian ideal and the whole moral code.

Other things being equal, it seems that where there is a tendency for sexual interaction to take place within separate sexually active groups, an HIV epidemic will be smaller and where diverse mixing patterns join these groups together, the epidemic will be larger.

Maasai patterns of sexual networking produce a diversity of mixing that must make virtually all sexually active members of the community vulnerable to infection. This situation, combined with the high prevalence of treatable sexually transmitted infections (which facilitate HIV transmission), place the Maasai at extremely high risk regarding the sexual transmission of HIV.

HIV poses a serious challenge for Maasai communities across East Africa. In order to reduce the annual toll of new infections (by enabling individuals to protect themselves and others), to bring health care, support and solidarity to a growing population of Maasai with HIV-related illnesses, and to cope with the impact of AIDS deaths on individuals, families and communities, the implementation of effective, culturally-appropriate STI/HIV/AIDS initiatives is crucial.

Maasai and AIDS

To the Maasai HIV is a new disease and a new threat. For people like Melita in our case study, the numbers of whom will soon start to swell, there is no one to turn to. For most Maasai today, dying of AIDS involves a slow, frightening, debilitating, painful, disfiguring and helpless struggle to stay alive.

In Maasailand there are no hospices and the few hospitals that do exist are already overburdened caring for people with treatable conditions. So Maasai with AIDS are dying in their homes, cared for only by their families – people who, as yet, have little understanding of the disease, its modes of transmission, and of the principles of appropriate palliative home care. This lack of knowledge and support greatly increases the suffering and stress of both patients and carers in an already desperate situation.

Information, group discussion and critical analysis at the community level are crucial if an environment is to be created in which individuals and groups can make informed choices, reduce their risk of infection and create effective and sustainable local networks of information, care and support.

Maasai Culture and Behaviour Change

Maasai patterns of sexual networking are deeply embedded in the wider Maasai system of social and cultural behaviour. In spite of many recent changes, Maasai culture has proved very resilient and most Maasai remain deeply committed to it. To achieve maximum success, an STI/HIV/AIDS intervention among the Maasai must recognise and understand the sexual dynamics of the population and work with the community to create an environment in which individuals and groups can make informed choices and adopt realistic, culturally and socially acceptable, behaviour change options that can effectively reduce their risk of infection.

While most Maasai remain deeply committed to their culture, they do not live in suspended time. They are certainly not rooted in a non-rational past. Like all of us they are continually adapting and modifying their behaviour, adopting new approaches to the practicalities of life and discarding those which are no longer relevant. The extensive use of modern veterinary medicines, which have become big business across Maasai country, is just one illustration of the community’s willingness to accept new technologies once the benefits of those technologies have been established. Our challenge at Empuaan is to present the facts in a sensible and appropriate way, and to facilitate community-level critical analysis and discussion that can lead to effective behaviour changes.

For a detailed study of HIV transmission dynamics among the Maasai in northern Tanzania, download Empuaan’s Situation Analysis.