Page 10 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • April 18, 2012 Midland Park Sixth grade students from Highland School in Midland Park recently welcomed Chief Joseph Ole Tipanko, John Kilenyi, and Sara Kilenyi from the Maasai tribe in Kenya. These visitors are from the Ngong Hill Region, but refer to their home as Maasai Land. Joseph, who is a high school teacher, told the students about his schools and his students. He also discussed the wildlife in Highland School welcomes visitors from Kenya the area, which includes giraffes and lions; and daily life, including typical clothing and foods. The students learned about Kenya’s brush/desert landscape, and discussed the idea of living without electricity or running water. Joseph told the students he has a small solar panel that he uses to charge a car battery which he uses to power two CFL light bulbs in his home, and sometimes to use a portable DVD player to watch educational videos with his kids. Joseph has a reservoir near his home. A pipe that runs from that reservoir fills two or three large water tanks. The water is used to do laundry by hand, cook and make tea, and for bucket showers. Instead of a bathroom with a flushable toilet an sink, there is an outhouse. Joseph has two structures on his prop- erty. One, which is made of branches, mud, and cow dung, includes the kitchen and the entertaining room. All meals are eaten here. When people visit, everyone sits around the fire, relaxes, tells stories, drinks tea, and socializes. The other structure is made of wood surrounded by corrugated tin. This is where most of the family sleeps and stores things. (continued on page 12)