Well, this is different

[kenny]

I wish the new couple long and happy lives together, along with any future wives he may add.
People sure vary.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1262574/My-Masai-Mr-Right-Why-middle-class-woman-giving-life-luxury-live-mud-hut-African-warrior.html

 

[JewelFreak]

I saw that when it was printed. Wonder if she's still there. I'll bet this isn't exactly a lifetime commitment for her & feel sorry for him & the tribe in that case. She doesn't sound exactly steady.

Hard for me to imagine a Western woman accepting other wives -- could any of you? Me, absolutely not, I'm too crabby!

 

[movie zombie]

western women in the US have and may continue to do so: Mormon women.

for the record: i'm too crabby, too......

 

[Enerchi]

That would be quite the lifestyle change. If she goes for it, I wonder if she'll be able to remain there or will the western world pull her back?

 

[kenny]

I saw a documentary, I think from National Geo.
It examined the lives of several Africans.

One woman was a very highly educated successful attorney in a capital city.
I forget how they met but she also fell in love with a man who lives FAR from electricity or running water.
She struggled deeply with the decision but married him.
She was not caucasian.

She felt she gained much more than she gave up.

 

[Maria D]

With all the physical labor needed just to survive there I'd be praying for another wife!

 

[HollyS]

Without having clicked the link to find out what 'possessed' her, or others, to do this . . .


My first thought is this: how dissatisfied and unhappy with your life do you have to be to think a change of this magnitude will enhance your existence on this earth?? I'm not buying the "I'm so in love, I had to move to the mud hut with my man" bullcrap.

The call to live this kind of life has got to be something deeper than that. Even Angelina Jolie leaves the Third World and returns (on private jet) to her chateau in France when she's seen enough deprivation, swallowed enough dust, and swatted away enough flies. And we all know how much she cares about the World at large. Love for one guy?? Nah, not enough impetus on its own.

 

[junebug17]

She's very young (yes, I think 24 is young! ) and I can't help but wonder how much of this is based on a thirst for adventure, excitement and even a bit of rebellion? She sounds happy with her decision and seems to be enjoying her new life, but the cynic in me wonders if she can be content with this life for years to come - I can't help but think the novelty is going to wear off after a while. but who knows; time will tell I guess - I wish her well with whatever path she chooses.

 

[JewelFreak]

Without having clicked the link to find out what 'possessed' her, or others, to do this . . .


My first thought is this: how dissatisfied and unhappy with your life do you have to be to think a change of this magnitude will enhance your existence on this earth?? I'm not buying the "I'm so in love, I had to move to the mud hut with my man" bullcrap.

The call to live this kind of life has got to be something deeper than that. Even Angelina Jolie leaves the Third World and returns (on private jet) to her chateau in France when she's seen enough deprivation, swallowed enough dust, and swatted away enough flies. And we all know how much she cares about the World at large. Love for one guy?? Nah, not enough impetus on its own.

+1, Holly. I'll bet the rent the adventure will wear off. About the time she has to get up in the dark during the rainy season & grind corn on a stone in the mud. Or lose a tooth because there's no dental treatment available. That life is hard, short, & brutal, not for experience-tourists. She has a history of starting things & bailing out halfway through. It's too bad she seems not to have had much stability in growing up & is continuing the pattern -- but involving other people's lives in the process.

MZ, right, fringe Mormons. "Reality" tv (staged & "stars" well paid) aside, those women and little girls are chattel & treated miserably. Also captive within the cult & not given choices.

--- Laurie

 

[justginger]

Honestly, good for her. Very few people take the road less traveled in a conscious attempt to be happy. The article made it sound as if she fell in love with Africa first, then the man. If that's the lifestyle she loves, and she has assimilated into the tribe well enough to receive their blessing for marriage, I'm glad she's seizing on to it. And if it all falls apart...so what? She can return to the lifestyle that Westerners deem 'better' and no harm, no foul. Worst case is she dies there, mauled by an angry hippo or hemorrhaging in childbirth - but she could just as easily be hit by a car in rush hour London traffic. No judgement here.

 

[Trekkie]

I live in small town South Africa. It's Africa, but a lot more developed. We have electricity and running water. Sometimes the electricity even works and occasionally, if you're lucky, the water is even drinkable.

I frequently I see people come from westernised countries, fall in love with how "cute" and "quaint" and "primitive" we Africans are. Some of them marry locals... I rarely see these marriages lasting longer than 6 months. Occasionally they last a year. Out of the dozen marriages that I have observed over the last 3 years, only 3 couples are still together. Two of those couples live in Europe and the other elected to settle in Cape Town. Cape Town is usually viewed as a first world city in a third world country.

It has been my experience that Westerners usually struggle to adapt to life in Africa... But who knows? Maybe this couple will prove me wrong.

 

[rosetta]

Without having clicked the link to find out what 'possessed' her, or others, to do this . . .


My first thought is this: how dissatisfied and unhappy with your life do you have to be to think a change of this magnitude will enhance your existence on this earth?? I'm not buying the "I'm so in love, I had to move to the mud hut with my man" bullcrap.

The call to live this kind of life has got to be something deeper than that. Even Angelina Jolie leaves the Third World and returns (on private jet) to her chateau in France when she's seen enough deprivation, swallowed enough dust, and swatted away enough flies. And we all know how much she cares about the World at large. Love for one guy?? Nah, not enough impetus on its own.

I agree. My sister in law moved to a very poor country to marry a man with no college education, personality or redeeming features. She's a lawyer. She wanted everyone around her to tell her how romantic she was and what a great decision it was to burn all her bridges to go live in a city which was recently voted as the worst in the world. I think she actually believes hers is some epic sort of love that girls like me who found love in the west couldn't possibly understand!

I'm convinced if she wasn't unemployed here at the time she met him, she wouldnt have given him another look. It was a combination of nothing keepin her here and wanting the "romanticism" of it all that made her make the worst decision I've ever seen an educated woman make.

 

[iLander]

I think this story should be titled "Immature woman happily ticks off mom and dad, takes entire tribe for a ride". It's obvious she went back to school because mom and dad threatened to cut her off.

I give it a couple of years, tops.

I have heard that native americans laugh at women that "fall for the rez", and hook up with (what the Native Americans see as) an unattached loser, and romanticize him into being a noble warrior. I believe that because the women have no context, they don't know the rez version of a loser. If they met the guy in their own context (suburbia for example) they would realize what he is. This could be a variation of that.

 

[kenny]

We all enter relationships hoping it will last forever, but people plumbing and electricity get divorces too.
If this marriage doesn't last it just means they are like normal Americans.
I wish them all the best.

 

[HollyS]

True. There are more divorces than long lasting marriages. Everywhere. Even in America.

But this "story" isn't about marriage. It is quite definitely a "WTF was she thinking" story. That's why it was written and why it resonates with women. And why most of us (women) believe she's either out of touch with reality, or simply having herself 'an experience'. We all know her 'experience' will be short-lived. Hopefully, it won't be too hard for her to legally pull the plug when she's had enough.