PHOTO: Alicia Davis
One of the Maasai members of my research team for our zoonoses research in Tanzania, Matayo invited me to his house while he was on paternity leave to meet the new addition. It was just before the Tanzanian elections in October 2015 and his mom, who is a poor reader of even Swahili, had this amazing bracelet on. She had seen and heard advertisements to vote in the election and got help from her kids to spell out vote, which she then made into a bracelet. Mama Matayo had recently joined a women’s group who were very engaged in local political issues, including fighting for land rights. So, the bracelet stood out, for many reasons.