The schools around here are good, and admission has been free since this year — though there's still a real shortage of books, desks and classrooms. The development fee tourists pay has let schools buy some of what they need. As a young person who wants to get ahead in life, I think the biggest thing tourism can do for us is help our youth get a proper education.
Most children go to school now; before, most worked in the fields. Partly that's because the herds have gotten smaller, so fewer shepherds are needed. Some Maasai families used to hide their children when police came looking for kids who should have been in school — that's not much of a problem anymore. In primary school we're taught in Swahili, except for English class; in secondary school it flips, since English is still an official language here. The youngest children only attend in the mornings, which is why they still say 'good morning' to tourists even in the evening.
Tourism cuts both ways for people my age. Some of us work in it, but the income isn't reliable — it comes and goes with the visitors. Some young girls perform Maasai dances along the roads, sometimes because their parents want the money, though many people, especially the elders, disapprove, and the girls are sometimes shut out of community activities because of it.
Not everything that's changing is because of tourism. Twenty years ago, relationships between men and women shifted — people started choosing their own partners, and arranged marriages have mostly disappeared. About ten years ago, young people started celebrating Valentine's Day, dressing in red and going out to dinner with a partner. Some copy the tourists in other ways too. But tourists want to copy us as well — throwing spears, shooting a bow. We run friendly competitions, and we always win. It's a good reminder that people from rich countries aren't automatically better at everything.
Tourists also want to copy us, like throwing spears and shooting bow and arrow — we organize competitions for fun, and we always win. It shows us that people from rich countries are not always better than us.
An education paid for in part by visitors — and a culture that's changing on its own schedule, not theirs.