Naserian – A Story of a Brave Girl
A war was planned between two Maasai clusters and as is the norm, Warriors in groups prepared for the war over a period of time, eating meat in the bush as they strategized. The planning of the war went on with the overall commander, who is also the most fears warrior of all receiving briefs and updates from his colleagues and elders as well as holding secret meetings in a safe venue away from the area where the meat is eaten “Orpul”.
Girls also accompanied the warriors to the bush, not to prepare for war but just to eat meat and have a good time with their boyfriends away from home.
Women would however, know
plans of usual wars like cattle rustling because it was a different
community that would be attacked and people cared less. It would also
mean bravery and fierceness for the warriors which would earn them fame
within their community. This time, it was between the Maasai and other
Maasai hence the need to keep it secret. As the planning went ahead
Naserian, who is the commander’s girl friend became suspicious must
terribly be going wrong because her boyfriend’s behavior kept on
changing day in day out. Women are never informed or consulted over an
impending war because they are not required to take part in it.Because women were not allowed to ask questions about wars, Naserian decided to find out what was going on her own. She sneaked to the secret meetings venues, and from a safe distance she could follow the meeting’s proceedings.
After sometime, the Naserian had gathered all the necessary information about the war preparations including the day of the war which was fixed just after the full red moon which is synonymous with wars called “Olonyokie” Naserian was so disturbed with the war plans but could not figure out how to intervene given her position in the society. But after some thought, Naserian decided to consult with her mother over the issue. One day, Naserian pretended that she was homesick and that she wanted to go home to see her mother and siblings and she was allowed to go. At home, she discussed the war plans with her mother and asked for her intervention through her father as girls are not allowed to address their fathers directly. Her mother dismissed her, and with lots of frustrations, Naserian went back to the bush and shared her story with the other girls. Her peers also dismissed her warning her of dare consequences if she insisted on the matter. Naserian was even more disturbed and concerned because if the war went ahead,she knew her boyfriend would be the first to die due to his fierceness and bravery
After some deep thought, Naserian decided to technically discuss the issue directly with her boyfriend even with the knowledge that she was not supposed to. The boyfriend also brushed her aside and would not give any information to Naserian as per the customary law.
With the days of ‘Olonyokie” fast approaching, Naserian decided to tell her boyfriend what she has been doing including all the information of the planned war that she had gathered. That she was aware that it was her boyfriend who would die first and that she had resolved to accompany him to the war fields to die with him. She put this across to her boyfriend very firmly and clearly.
One day later, her boyfriend decided to tell Naserian all about the war and that much as he was willing to avoid the war for her sake, it was impossible because all plans were at an advanced stage and that it would be coward of him and unwise to backtrack at this late hour because the enemy side would still go on and wipe them out anyway.
Naserain told her boyfriend that she had a suggestion
which might help – That she will cross over to the enemy side and
befriend the fiercest warrior and commander of the other side and in
the process try to persuade him to stop the war. Naserian would carry a
necklace from her boyfriend as evidence to the other commander. The
discussions of trying to stop the war between Naserian and her
boyfriend were also made a top secret because her boy friend would be
killed if he was discovered to be working to stop the warAfter some thought and knowing too well that Naserian would travel a long distance to reach the enemy territory with the dangers of wild animals along the way, the commander called an elders meeting to put across his suggestions – That the days of the war are moving very slowly and they cannot wait any more, and in order for the war to start early, they needed to provoke their opponents. This of course, would mean more bravery and determination for this great warrior. He went on to narrate his plans “Let us move some of our cattle with a two warriors accompanied by one girl to the enemy grazing fields and that will provoke the war to start”.
Although the strategy was agreed by all, no father wanted his daughter to accompany the cattle for fear of being killed. After a long discussion, the warrior offered his girl friend {Naserian} and although her father objected to the idea, he insisted and insisted that Naserian would seize to be his girlfriend if she failed to accompany the cattle. Naserian’s father had to reluctantly give in as it would not be well for her daughter to loose this great warrior.
With her boyfriend’s
necklace, Naserian and the two warriors set out with the cattle. They
walked for days through bushes, savannah grass lands, up and down hills
towards the enemy side. Naserian told the warriors accompanying her
that when they get near the enemy side, she would go first and pose as a
lost girl in the enemy villages in order to survey the area while they
wait with the cattle until she returned. The journey however, took
longer than expected because they took a longer root and the cattle
could not walk that fast. On arrival to the enemy territory, she got
the news that the war did actually take place and from the descriptions
given, she could tell that her boyfriend was amongst the ones killed.
Naserian went back to where she left the cattle and asked the two
warriors to drive the cattle back because she was going to remain
behind.After a few days, the victorious warriors returned to a colorful reception by their people. Naserian joined the other girls in celebration as they welcomed the warriors back home. The celebration went on for sometime until the time came when girls were required to choose their new boyfriends through the cultural way of singing and dancing. Through out the celebrations, Naserian had identified and marked the commander, and when her chance came, Naserian joyfully went singing towards the commander and chose him as her boyfriend. The warrior was so attracted with Naserain’s beauty and they met later that evening.
Naserain introduced herself to her new boyfriend and
went ahead to narrate the whole story and gave him the necklace from
her previous boyfriend. The warrior was deeply touched by this brave
girl’s story and confirmed the death of the commander to Naserian.
After some time, the warrior convened an elders meting and through
Naserian, the other Maasai cluster agreed for a meeting with their
counterparts. In the meeting, the two communities agreed to forgive
each other, forge ahead and intermarry to cement their relationship.
Naserian was the first to be married by their community’s rivals and
later, other marriages followed. To date the two communities are so
friendly to each other and they live in harmony.Old men gave me this story when I was young but I have never given it a thought or taken it seriously. But when I read about a gift to a friend you have never met from the latest emails from Egypt, the story came back to my mind and I started thinking about it more seriously.
Personally, I have decided that this is going to be part of my vision for Master Peace – To make the necklace a symbol of peace and distribute to about one million people all over the world in five years. I am starting my distribution with you JILDAU today and I urge you to put it on your hand wherever and whenever and help spread the word of PEACE. I would also urge all other MasterPeacers, and indeed all other people who care, to make Peace necklaces and bangles with the word PEACE written boldly in English and local languages and distribute them wherever they go all over the world.
PEACE BE UPON THE WORLD.
Ezekiel Ole Katato
