Nottingham Connected
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25
A SNAPSHOT OF MAASAI WARRIORS
By Penny Cooper
IN NOTTINGHAM
NTU Breakfast and Lunch Modern Day Slavery Conference
The Maasai Cricket Warriors had a treat at this event, we
were hosted by Nottingham Trent University to introduce
the Warriors to their International Students there for the
summer. The Warriors had a brief walk to breakfast with
NTU representative students, where they explained about
the English style of having a full cooked breakfast and we
sat networking with them in the refectory. This took place in Lenton, at a local church, where
everyone attending was made most welcome. It was an
opportunity to look at the latest information on Modern
Day Slavery and help the Maasai Cricket Warriors to
understand what constituted slavery and it’s fit into Maasai
culture and traditions by analysing it for themselves. The
speakers were fantastic and workshops excellent. We
explored questions relating to how we can stop modern
day slavery, signs to look for and what constitutes slavery.
I recall a promising comment by the young Captain of the
Maasai Ladies Cricket team who from a sense of her own
behaviour to fellow Maasai, might improve life for them
and engage more positively herself. After the Conference,
we were fortunate with the weather and the Maasai
played a cricket game.
After breakfast we walked to Victoria Shopping Centre, on
the way one of our hosts made a quick trip to Tesco’s and
bought some chocolate brownies for the Warriors to try.
We discovered the Warriors do not have a sweet tooth, but
some did try. Victoria shopping centre as you can imagine
held wondrous sites for the Warriors, and a brief taste into
the way shopping centres operate in the UK. We walked
the length of the centre and took in a game of pool very
briefly on the upper concourse, visited the musical clock
and entered one or two interesting shops, they seemed
particularly interested in the music shop.
We made our way to the Global Lounge for lunch with
NTU student body, and the Warriors were able to network
with the students before Robin Hood (looked very original
lol), gave the Warriors a tour of Nottingham in relation to
the Robin Hood story. We visited the statue of Robin Hood
near to the Castle and it was great fun to see who had
the best arrow pose amongst the Warriors. Our final stop,
where else, was at the Trip to Jerusalem, a very old pub,
which is built into the caves which run under Nottingham
City. They tried their first real ale at the pub and we sat
outside enjoying the sunshine and networking with the
Warriors. This was a great opportunity for international
students to talk and swop ideas on education and learn
more about what the Warriors have been doing in the
Maasai Mara in Kenya, in relation to ending female genital
mutilation. There were expressions of interest in studying
at NTU made by one of the Warriors as a result of our hosts
event. Mojatu and the Warriors took the opportunity to
explain more about what FGM is and our ambitions here
at Mojatu to end it, the work they are doing in Kenya and
how cricket was helping them to get their message across
in schools and communities.
Castle Rock
The brewery Castle Rock had approached Mojatu
Foundation to request a fun game of cricket with the
Maasai Cricket Warriors at their brewery in Nottingham.
Perhaps the VAT and Fiddle pub is how they are more
familiarly located. The Warriors and parties there were
given a tour of the brewery, which smelt very strongly
of ale. We had a tour of the whole process, which went
from the import of the necessary grains, to blending, and
the final beer. Naturally at the end of the tour we were all
invited to try the beer, how could we refuse lol. Very tasty!!
It was a fun outing for the Warriors, who by the way won
the cricket match, and we managed to raise awareness
amongst those visiting the pub about the work we are
doing in Kenya, yet again we encountered a different
social source of people encounters, whom took a very
supportive role towards the Warriors and ourselves and
a keen interest in their work in Kenya. We managed to
sell some of the bead work which had been made by the
Maasai women and went towards supporting their cause.
Thank you, Castle Rock, great beer.
Fearless Youth Association Ltd Fashion Show
Fearless Youth Association (FYA) and the Maasai Cricket
Warriors, came together to put on a Fashion Show at
Marcus Garvey in the ball room. Food, music and fashion,
a great combination and a great draw to the local African
communities who wanted to meet the Warriors as well as
having fun at the fashion show.