MAASAI™

摘要

Sometimes, to get your point across to the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania, you have to talk in cows. Lawrence ole Mbelati, a tribesman, stands in front of a group of about 70 Maasai leaders and elders from a district in northern Tanzania, holding a picture of a red-and-brown fountain pen. Introduced in 2003 by Italian pen maker Delta, it was part of the company's "Indigenous People" luxury line. Called Maasai, it retailed for upward of $600. "That's like three or four good cows," ole Mbelati, 35, tells the group. Ole Mbelati, who works for a Kenyan nongovernmental organization, has driven down from Nairobi. He's speaking in Maa, the Maasai language, but wears jeans and a polo shirt. Most of the elders have come in the clothes they wear every day: bright red shukas, wrapped around them like togas. Some have sneakers on, but many wear homemade sandals crafted from tire treads.