Another Full Day in Maasai Land
When I get out of bed Richard is making coffee for us. Pastor Omweri arrives at about 7:00 and asks if I will give a devotional at the chapel service at 7:30. I agree and the Lord directs me to Hebrews 11 and an exhortation to follow the Lord rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
Pastor Omweri gives us a tour of the property. We find out that during the night it has rained in the mountains and the pipes have delivered water to each of the water tanks. Praise the Lord. Just last night the nurse was telling us that water was to be rationed because of the drought. Now there is plenty.
We see the boma with the animals that belong to the work and we meet the two men who are tending the goats and cattle. Then we walk over to the school and see the buildings there: classrooms, teachers’ quarters, boys dormitories (only the boys stay overnight; the girls only come for the day), and kitchen. We get some pictures of the seven foot anthills.
The rains that came in the previous week brought a flooding of the land. There is no evidence of it now, but Pastor tells us that he was confined to his home for a while because of the water that was everywhere.
We return to the clinic where we get a tour of the facilities. There is only one nurse (Pui Meng’), but one young man has just earned a certificate in pharmacy, so he will be a good help to her. There is an outdoor waiting area where Pastor ministers the gospel to those who are awaiting medical care.
We walk about a kilometer to a boma where an elderly midwife lives. There is a cow laying outside which has just given birth. The calf is inside the boma. The midwife has suffered a stroke recently and her arm and hand are weak and painful. She is unable to shake hands, but she graciously extends her arm and we touch her wrist. Two other mamas come with their young children; they are church members. Pastor Lazarus leads us in a word of prayer.
Now we walk further on in search of a fissure in the ground. Pastor has seen it, but is uncertain how to find it again. We come across smaller cracks in the ground that are part of this phenomenon. They have happened since the recent heavy rains. Eventually we find the biggest of them. It has started to fill in, but at one point they were unable to see the bottom of it.
We begin the walk back to the mission station, using Kiluani mountain as our reference point. The nurse wants to take us to Namanga for lunch. Namanga is a Kenyan town on the border of Tanzania. After a delightful lunch of chapati, chicken and sodas we walk over to Tanzania; as we are walking my skin begins to feel warm, and I realize that I have not put on any sunscreen, but it is back in the van. We walk through the market in Tanzania where Pastor Bernard buys us some bananas and we walk back. There are border guards and offices, but we are not asked for passports or ID. The gates are open for foot traffic, but vehicles need to have larger gates opened for them.
We say good-bye to our hosts and we leave Namanga at about 2:30 — considerably later than the 11:00 departure time we had originally scheduled.
We stop in the Maasai village (Maili-Tisa = Nine Miles – from Namanga) on the highway closest to the Lenkijape church to pick up the pastor who needs to get to Nairobi. It is market day, and one Maasai comes to offer me a club for sale. 100 Ksh. That seems like a much more reasonable price than anything I have heard at the Nairobi markets. We get out of the van and look at their other wares. I try to get four of these clubs, but there are only two available. Once I have expressed an interest in anything for sale, I am swarmed by other salesmen; I am shown a variety of tree branches and trunks which have a variety of medicinal properties, including a cure for malaria, apparently. Chairman appears on the scene and intervenes for me. It is time to leave, so I pay the asking price for the two clubs. I probably should have negotiated more because the salesman also throws in a Maasai toothbrush into the deal. This is a thin tree branch that you rub against your teeth, and the ends of the branch or twig separate into bristles almost like a toothbrush. The Rendille in Balaah also used these.
We stop at a Maasai curio shop to see if I can find two more clubs. As we get out of the van and show an interest in the Maasai spears, we are told that they are 2500 Ksh each. This is an outrageous price, especially as we are right in Maasai land. At the Maasai market in Nairobi I have been offered two spears and a shield for 1800 Ksh (although they did start at 6200 and they went down to a smaller shield during negotiations). We leave without even speaking to the vendors there.
Our three hour drive back to Nairobi is uneventful and I am able to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Unfortunately we hit the city at rush hour and it takes us over an hour to get through to the college campus. Whenever the traffic comes to a stop there are vendors walking through the traffic offering everything from snacks of chopped nuts to CDs. One man is a walking hardware store: he has a TV antenna, a reflective emergency triangle as well as assorted tools. Another man is offering an electronic keyboard!
We finally arrive home at about 7:00 pm and are invited to Pastor Bernard’s home for supper. It is just a quick one: I still have to get ready for my class tomorrow morning, including the marking of 67 tests that I need to return to students tomorrow. I also have to prepare to preach at chapel at 8:00 in the morning.
I am pretty tired by the time I climb into bed at 10:00.
Pastor Omweri gives us a tour of the property. We find out that during the night it has rained in the mountains and the pipes have delivered water to each of the water tanks. Praise the Lord. Just last night the nurse was telling us that water was to be rationed because of the drought. Now there is plenty.
We see the boma with the animals that belong to the work and we meet the two men who are tending the goats and cattle. Then we walk over to the school and see the buildings there: classrooms, teachers’ quarters, boys dormitories (only the boys stay overnight; the girls only come for the day), and kitchen. We get some pictures of the seven foot anthills.
The rains that came in the previous week brought a flooding of the land. There is no evidence of it now, but Pastor tells us that he was confined to his home for a while because of the water that was everywhere.
We return to the clinic where we get a tour of the facilities. There is only one nurse (Pui Meng’), but one young man has just earned a certificate in pharmacy, so he will be a good help to her. There is an outdoor waiting area where Pastor ministers the gospel to those who are awaiting medical care.
We walk about a kilometer to a boma where an elderly midwife lives. There is a cow laying outside which has just given birth. The calf is inside the boma. The midwife has suffered a stroke recently and her arm and hand are weak and painful. She is unable to shake hands, but she graciously extends her arm and we touch her wrist. Two other mamas come with their young children; they are church members. Pastor Lazarus leads us in a word of prayer.
Now we walk further on in search of a fissure in the ground. Pastor has seen it, but is uncertain how to find it again. We come across smaller cracks in the ground that are part of this phenomenon. They have happened since the recent heavy rains. Eventually we find the biggest of them. It has started to fill in, but at one point they were unable to see the bottom of it.
We begin the walk back to the mission station, using Kiluani mountain as our reference point. The nurse wants to take us to Namanga for lunch. Namanga is a Kenyan town on the border of Tanzania. After a delightful lunch of chapati, chicken and sodas we walk over to Tanzania; as we are walking my skin begins to feel warm, and I realize that I have not put on any sunscreen, but it is back in the van. We walk through the market in Tanzania where Pastor Bernard buys us some bananas and we walk back. There are border guards and offices, but we are not asked for passports or ID. The gates are open for foot traffic, but vehicles need to have larger gates opened for them.
We say good-bye to our hosts and we leave Namanga at about 2:30 — considerably later than the 11:00 departure time we had originally scheduled.
We stop in the Maasai village (Maili-Tisa = Nine Miles – from Namanga) on the highway closest to the Lenkijape church to pick up the pastor who needs to get to Nairobi. It is market day, and one Maasai comes to offer me a club for sale. 100 Ksh. That seems like a much more reasonable price than anything I have heard at the Nairobi markets. We get out of the van and look at their other wares. I try to get four of these clubs, but there are only two available. Once I have expressed an interest in anything for sale, I am swarmed by other salesmen; I am shown a variety of tree branches and trunks which have a variety of medicinal properties, including a cure for malaria, apparently. Chairman appears on the scene and intervenes for me. It is time to leave, so I pay the asking price for the two clubs. I probably should have negotiated more because the salesman also throws in a Maasai toothbrush into the deal. This is a thin tree branch that you rub against your teeth, and the ends of the branch or twig separate into bristles almost like a toothbrush. The Rendille in Balaah also used these.
We stop at a Maasai curio shop to see if I can find two more clubs. As we get out of the van and show an interest in the Maasai spears, we are told that they are 2500 Ksh each. This is an outrageous price, especially as we are right in Maasai land. At the Maasai market in Nairobi I have been offered two spears and a shield for 1800 Ksh (although they did start at 6200 and they went down to a smaller shield during negotiations). We leave without even speaking to the vendors there.
Our three hour drive back to Nairobi is uneventful and I am able to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Unfortunately we hit the city at rush hour and it takes us over an hour to get through to the college campus. Whenever the traffic comes to a stop there are vendors walking through the traffic offering everything from snacks of chopped nuts to CDs. One man is a walking hardware store: he has a TV antenna, a reflective emergency triangle as well as assorted tools. Another man is offering an electronic keyboard!
We finally arrive home at about 7:00 pm and are invited to Pastor Bernard’s home for supper. It is just a quick one: I still have to get ready for my class tomorrow morning, including the marking of 67 tests that I need to return to students tomorrow. I also have to prepare to preach at chapel at 8:00 in the morning.
I am pretty tired by the time I climb into bed at 10:00.
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