Islam has left a Masai tribal chief mesmerized after he got a taste of what a modern, Muslim life looks like in Turkey during his first ever visit outside of his closely-knit community in Africa.
From experiencing the Muslim call of prayer at the Blue Mosque to bathing at a Turkish hammam in Istanbul, 58-year-old Torakaa Kiberenge did many things for the first time, which left him wide eyed and full of smiles.
Kiberenge belongs to the Masai tribe -- a Nilotic ethnic group from southern Kenya and northern Tanzania who believe the modern way of life kills the human spirit, which in turn prevents people like him from using any sort of gadgets.
Prior to this experience, Kiberenge did not drive a car, or had every flown on a plane or seen a big ship. Even going to a hospital to get treatment from doctors was a new experience to him.
Dressed in a long blue cloth over his body, Kiberenge went everywhere in Istanbul sporting his long traditional earrings as well as a baton and a dagger that he uses for hunting lions, and which symbolizes his status as a tribal chief.
He was accompanied by Ahmet Kemal Oncu, board member of Istanbul-based NGO -- the Africa-Turkey Initiative -- that facilitated his visit and Hasan Suleyman, a Tanzanian university student in Turkey who translated Kiberenge's words into Turkish.
Istanbul provincial Mufti Prof. Dr. Hasan Kamil Yilmaz apprised Kiberenge about Islam's rich history, which made the simple man from Africa used to his own simple ways very emotional.
'I love Islam'
"What you told me [about Islam] has affected me a lot," he said.
"I hope I will return to Turkey for the second time as a different person…Let's pray for each other now."
Kiberenge later presented a specially-made baton as a token of his appreciation to Yilmaz.
In his interview with Anadolu Agency, Kiberenge said when the NGO representative Oncu and his wife visited him in Tanzania, he learnt about the existence of Islam for the first time and then "got curious about it".
"Believe it or not, I love Islam," he said.
"Your country is peaceful. I truly want my children to know and be raised with Islam. I hope we become Muslims one day."
There were lots of firsts for Kiberenge, including many things that others take for granted. For example, having a kitchen or a bathroom in the house; use of appliances such as an oven, washing machine or a time piece.
'Why do you need?'
But before he could even think of what a smartphone is, Kiberenge was discovering how to eat with forks, spoons and knives on a table full of porcelain plates.
Naturally, he was full of questions: "Am I in a different world? Everybody have cars here, the roads are full of it. Everyday I see a new thing here. How do they build these buildings? How do the elevators work?"
But at the same time he wondered whether humans needed all of this to live.
"Do your roads and cars never sleep? Why do you need all those big apartments? Do not all these things tire your soul? Who is pulling the elevator up?" he said.
About how people treated him in Istanbul, he said he was at first weary of people trying to hug him and greet him.
"Aren't those people 'muzungu' [bad fair-skinned men]? I would ask myself. They always wanted to take pictures with me.
"At first, I said no, thinking that they may harm me, but then I understood that they loved me."
