Maasai Land

Jambo! We hope that each and every one of you are doing well.

Grab a cup of coffee and get into a comfy chair, because this is going to be another long post…

We left on Sunday for Kajiado. We drove for about two hours and then stopped at a children’s’ home where we were able to join in a meal and play some with the children. Once we left, we headed down a long dirt road. We were amazed that the van we have been traveling in was able to make the hour long trek… After seeing zebras, wildebeests and Thompson gazelles, we arrived at our final destination, Pastor Josiah’s house. The boys were shown to the tent that they would be sharing for the week, while the girls saw the room that they would share. Pastor Josiah is a Maasai and so we were staying at a real Maasai’s home!

On Monday we visited the local primary school. We were able to interact with two classes, and even try our hands at teaching. The children’s English was masterful compared to our Swahili, but communicating math principles was a challenge nonetheless. They laughed at our attempts to pronounce some of their names, which was ok because we did too. Perhaps the best part of visiting was recess. We all went outside and weren’t exactly sure what to do when the school master waved as he drove off on his motorbike. A quick ratio for you… 80 elementary students to 5 college students. No worries though, because with soccer, Frisbee (a real novelty), and duck-duck-goose, everyone had a great time. The children were so full of joy, all the Mi2s left the school treasuring every minute of the experience.

Tuesday provided a huge lesson in Maasai culture for us all. We visited some of Pastor Josiah’s family members. They welcomed us into a Maasai hut—a small but extremely practical residence built entirely by hand. After some tea (because it is unthinkable to go more than five hours in Kenya without Chai) the elders taught us how to throw Maasai spears. Some of us were better than others (kudos to Zach and Robin for their natural talent) but we all had a great time trying. In addition, our spear-throwing failures greatly entertained the elders who offered suggestions between fits of laughter—hey, we do what we can. The day ended with some unique goat encounters, but I will let everyone give their own accounts about those experiences.

On Wednesday we tried our hands at manual labor. The community is building a cistern that can hold 150,000 L of water. They are doing it all by hand and we were all amazed at their work ethic. We did our best to jump in where needed, so the guys pushed wheelbarrows of rocks, Evie broke rocks with a mallet (talk about muscles) and Robin and Bailey helped sort rocks out of the quarry. More than anything, I think we were all humbled by the daily effort of the community members. They worked so hard and without complaint, setting an awesome example we could all learn from.

Thursday was our last full day in Maasai land. Robin, Evie, Zach, and Jacob walked to the local church and painted the inside (Bailey was sick). Wasps’ nests proved not to be an obstacle…until later in the day when the wasps returned and were slightly irritated that their homes were gone. Anyway, all five Mi2s returned to finish the second coat after lunch and caught the tail-end of a goat birthing. Some of us were glad to witness the miracle of life; others of us were just grossed-out.

Here are some individual reflections on our week in Maasai country:

Evie: This week was a wonderful week for me. I finally feel like I am in Africa… I think seeing zebras and giraffes on the sides of the road helped… I felt truly blessed to be allowed to see into the Maasai culture – and to see Maasai who have become believers was really amazing. The people whom I encountered had such a joy about them and truly wanted us to understand about their culture… The warriors even allowed us girls to throw a true Maasai spear, which is traditionally thrown only by men! It took me a few tries, but I somewhat got the hang of it.

I enjoyed trying to teach long division to the children at the school in class 4 (like our grade 4). It was a little challenging as though they use the same English numbers we do, they say the numbers with a different accent - that made it a little harder, but I know that I had fun…

I was really challenged on Wednesday as we helped in the water cistern construction. Those women and men were such hard workers – and most had big smiles on their faces as they worked. They knew that the hard work now would pay off during the dry season when they would have no water if these cisterns were not built. What an example to me about being joyful and being prepared… On a side note – The woman I helped crush rocks had a little girl who was about a year and a half. When the little girl saw me, she broke down into tears and was scared of me– she thought I had been skinned!

Jacob: This past week was an awesome week for me. I must admit that when Sunday rolled around and we were on our way to Kajiado I was initially skeptical but was looking forward to what God was going to do in the coming week. When we were at the children’s home in Kajiado they made us feel so welcome. Zach and I got to play “football,” aka soccer with some of the boys which was a blast! After an adventurous van ride we finally arrived at Pastor Josiah’s home. We were introduced to some of Pastor Josiah’s family and were led on a little tour around the property. Kokan, Pastor Josiah’s son, took us up to the local church where we sang a song. For some reason I had this sense of peace just sitting there in the church, singing and praying. It was definitely my favorite place in Maasai land.

Monday I got the opportunity to teach addition and subtraction to a group of fifteen 1^st graders. I am not one to just get up and start teaching but it was such a privilege to be able to participate in teaching these children. I don’t have much more to add to the list of things we got to do this week besides the fact that I drank goats blood. It was not a part of any ritual or ceremony just simply something that the Maasai warriors do, so Zach and I decided to join in the fun. An interesting, once in a lifetime experience!

One of the things that hit me this week was how much worldly things can distract you from truly listening to God. Being in Maasai land where there was no internet, facebook, iPhone, etc really allowed me to listen to God and not get distracted with these other things. That is all from me for now but cannot wait to share more experiences as the summer continues.

Robin: I thoroughly enjoyed this week! The children never cease to amaze me in Kenya. They love to touch our skin and our hair. We are entertainment simply by standing still because they just like to rub our arms J I don’t have much to add as far as content of the week. I am with Jacob in that the church was easily my favorite place in Maasai land. There really is just an indescribable peace in that structure. I think I enjoyed relationship building the most this week though. Pastor Josiah has five children one of whom is an 18 year old girl named Zawadi. She just graduated from their version of high school, and was staying at home so she did a lot of the cooking and cleaning for us. I took an immediate liking to Zawadi and over the week was able to become close friends with her. She reminded me so much of my sister Anna and it was great to just talk to her. It was also awesome to watch Pastor Josiah and his wife, Sarah, interact. They’re so funny and clearly have a great marriage. If nothing else this week gave me great insight into how awesome relationship building can be.

Another revelation of mine this week was that I am the wimp of this group. While I may be able to throw a mean Maasai spear, I lack the stomach to watch multiple goat castrations, a goat slaughtering…and you couldn’t get me within a hundred feed of the goat blood the boys drank. NO THANKS. We also got our first taste of public transport in Kenya, which was a cultural experience in itself. Lets just say the roads in America are safer without the Mutatus that blaze the streets here. While we all had a blast in Maasai land I think all of us, or at least I am, are glad to be back in Nairobi for an extended period of time. We’re learning how to cook without some of the “American essentials” like cooking spray. I love you all and can’t wait to hear from you! Love always!

Zach: Well, as you might have already guessed this week was a very interesting and new week, full of many different experiences and fun things to “try.” The warm and friendly welcome that we received from Pastor Josiah and his family was so much more then I expected coming into this week. We felt as thought we were family before the end of our first day. As you have already read, we were on a farm out in the middle of Maasai land, which made our stay feel like more of a camping trip then a visit to a city. One of my absolute favorite things about being more then three hours outside of the touch of the city lights was seeing the millions of stars; I’ve never seen more stars in my entire life! It was such a humbling thing to look up and see the millions lights shimmering in the sky and think about how there is a God who has such a great love for me as a small little human on a planet called Earth!.

Any-hoo enough about the sappy stuff, this week, I experienced and heard about all the things that make the Maasai…well the Maasai! On a visit to one of Pastor Josiah’s brothers’ village, we learned how to throw spears. Another day we shot a Bow with Poison tipped arrows and then of course had many different experiences with the goats, everything from castration to watching birth (eww). The main event came with the slaughtering of a goat. Jacob and I took part in the drinking of the blood along with the others who were present (I did not drink this to partake in any rituals, but merely to take part in a probably once in a lifetime event, get some pictures and a story. And thanks to Robin I am now aware of the verses that speak against it lol).

Another thing that was really awesome to see was the water purification system that the Maasai are building. The system consists of a dam that the Mi2 2009 team helped to build last summer, which pipes that bring filtered water into a large 250,000-liter cistern and will eventually fill a second and third tank that we were helping to make. We helped to break rocks and carry them to piles that will be used for the construction of the second cistern. The thing that floored me was the quality and efficiency that these items have been and are being built with, as well as the dedication to the project that everyone had. Everyone in the surrounding areas were out helping to build these tanks. The dedication to everyone in the community is touching and truly amazing to see. There were many other events and fun things that happened this past week but these were some of the ones that stuck out to me that I thought I’d share with everyone.

Bailey: Each day in Maasai land was so different, and yet they all were so simple and peaceful. I felt I received some awesome lessons in culture and hospitality from the Maasai people. I loved the time we spent with the local kids—I don’t think I have ever had so many little hands playing with my hair at once. Additionally, I got to try things I never would have attempted elsewhere, such as throwing the spear, shooting a bow and arrow, and crushing rocks. I surely was not good at any of the previously mentioned activities, but I was also surprised at how fun failure can be. More than anything, I believe this week proved to me how important relationships are. The Maasai are wonderful teachers of how to build relationships with anybody, even five American strangers.

After such an awesome week, we were all incredibly thankful to have experienced the Maasai people and their way of life. Pastor Josiah and his wife Sara were wonderful hosts, and we cannot thank them enough for being so welcoming. We were all amazed at the beautiful landscape, but more so with the hearts of the local people. They showed us what a true community looks like, and they also made sure to teach us about their awesome culture. We consider ourselves so blessed. We hope everyone at home is doing well and we appreciate all your prayers!