FACING THE LION: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna. What types of activities do people who live on a savanna do to make a living?

Transcription

1 Before reading the book What is a savanna? What types of animals live on a savanna? What types of activities do people who live on a savanna do to make a living? On the map below identify, label, and lightly shade the areas of Africa where savannas exist. Using a brown colored pencil shade Kenya on the map below.

2 Chapter One: A Lion Hunt 1. What is the lion a symbol of in Kenya? 2. What is every warriors dream? 3. What are some of the animals found in Kenya? 4. What is a herd? 5. What is a nanga? 6. When the boys were at the cattle camp where did they sleep? 7. Pretend you are Joseph writing a letter back to your friend at school. Describe what happened to you at the cattle camp.

3 Chapter Two: The Proud One 1. What language is spoken by Joseph s people? 2. What are Joseph s people called? 3. Joseph says his people are nomads. What is a nomad? 4. Why don t Joseph s people move around as much anymore? 5. Why don t Joseph s people know what there population is? 6. In Joseph s family what jobs do girls typically do? 7. In Joseph s family what jobs do boys typically do? 8. In Joseph s culture each person has what that is used to identify them? 9. What was Joseph s original name and why was he named this? 10. If your parents were to give you a Maasai name, what personal characteristic would they base your name on? Why?

4 Chapter Three-Cows 1. What products do the Maasai people use from the cow? 2. What is the amount of respect given to a person based on? 3. What are the three criteria to determine the quality of a cow? List and explain each How do you know that cows are very important to the Maasai people? Give two pieces of evidence to explain your answer? 5. Why is his brother s cow blessed? 6. What is a Boma (page 28)? 7. What do the Maasai people mix with their milk? 8. What is a gambit?

5 Chapter Four-The Pinching Man 1. On page 35 Joseph says, some people might say our society is primitive, explain what he means by this. 2. How are children raised in Maasai culture? 3. How did Lemasolai s mother protect him from the pinching man? Would your mother do something like this for you? Why or why not? 4. How was Lemasolai being disrespectful to his elders? How was he punished for it? 5. Are children in your culture raised like the Maasai. Give two pieces of evidence to explain your answer. 6. If a pinching man existed in your life who would it likely be?

6 Chapter Five-School 1. What was the law in Kenya about school? 2. Why didn t Joseph s father want him to go to school? 3. If the law was as you stated above (#1), how did it end up that Joseph was the one that ended up going to school? 4. Why did Joseph want to go to school? 5. Why do you think girls are not sent to school in the Masaai culture? 6. What was the school like? Be descriptive. 7. How long was the school day? 8. Why did Joseph change out of his school uniform when he went home during the holidays? 9. What was Joseph s prize for being one of the best students in the school? 10. Why was it difficult for Joseph to go home for school vacations? 11. Shifta is the Maa word for poacher. What is a poacher? 12. What did Joseph say was the hardest part of going to school?

7 Chapter Six-Herdsman 1. When Joseph was nine years old there was a bad drought in his region. What is a drought? What is a region? 2. Why were the Acasia trees the only things that were green? 3. Joseph talks about being dehydrated. What does dehydrated mean? 4. How did Joseph prevent himself from dehydrating? 5. What types of animals caused problems for Joseph? What problems did they cause? 6. What is meant by the saying, The day of the thief is the 40 th ; the 41 st day you get caught.? Provide a brief explanation of Joseph s situation that is connected to this saying. 7. What does the gift of a cow mean?

8 Chapter Eight-Kabarak 1. Why did Joseph change schools? 2. Where did he end up going to school next? Why? 3. What happened when he first tried to walk through the gate of his new school in Nakuru? Why? 4. How is Joseph s dormitory at the school different from what he is used to? 5. When Joseph goes home on school vacations how long does it take him to get home? 6. Why is it difficult for Joseph to travel?

9 Chapter Nine-Soccer 1. Ponder this if you had to compete to get into high school would you be a different student? Reflect on how you may or may not change the way approach school if you had to compete to get in. 2. Who sponsors the school Joseph goes to? 3. What team was he expected to beat? Why? 4. What other sports were played on the day of competition? 5. On page 88 Joseph convinces his teammate to switch positions for ten minutes, what happened next? Be sure to discuss what was happening now to what had happened about a year ago. 6. How did the president reward Joseph for winning the game? 7. How is Joseph s family paying for him to go to school?

10 Chapter Ten-America 1. Joseph was accepted into many universities in the United States, why is he worried that he won t be able to attend? 2. Who did Joseph go to ask for a job? Where did he want to work? Why did he want to work there? 3. What university did Joseph end up going to? 4. Why was Joseph scared to eat on the plane? 5. What happened when Joseph tried to make his connecting flight to Syracuse? Why? 6. When Joseph finally had a chance to eat where was it? What did he have? What was the confusion about what he wanted?

11 Chapter Eleven-A Warrior in Two Worlds 1. Describe some examples of the confusion his mother experiences between science and nature. 2. What did Joseph become after college? 3. What does he usually bring his mother as a gift when he goes home? Why? 4. What did Joseph spend his money on when he went back home? Where did he go to get them? Why there? 5. How do you think the kids in Joseph s village feel about him? 6. In your opinion, why do you think Joseph left his country and his family to go to the United States? Be descriptive, you will need at least a solid paragraph to answer this correctly.

12 Afterword 1. What does Joseph do after he finishes college? 2. Why is it impossible for Joseph s people to grow crops? 3. Why does Joseph decide to take groups of people to tour Kenya? 4. How is modern society threatening Joseph s people?