Week In Kajiado

Here is what is going on in a Maasai community, 35 kilometers outside of Kijado. As most of you may know, I really don’t like being physically idle for very long. Our long awaited first day of physical exertion came this past Wednesday. This day we lent our hands and legs to the benefit of a dam building project. The need for consistent clean water in semi-arid regions is huge, since rains come in spurts.
First, we got to meet the crew. We saw 60 year old plus ladies cracking rocks, twenty something girls mixing mortar and sand, and about ten guys sitting under a tree watching. So I freaked out a bit, but they did the back breaking jobs later. We were first asked to carry boulders using wheel borrows, they probably would have had us stop there, but we found places to be useful. Tea time was unique as the men and women separated. It was interrupted by one guy wanting to get back to the grind. We joined in the water addition and assembly line of mixed mortar. It is quite frustrating when you are used to American machines that do the work for you, and I know that Dad would have been begging for his bobcat and a mixer. However, without construction ‘toys’ this community poured the man and God power into the project, when they didn’t have anything but their time to offer. After eating a very late lunch of beans and ugali, which is a solid rice and corn flour mixture, we found out that we made their day much easier than normal. We left them with our blessings, and Pam put it awesomely that without an amazing God, we would have never got to experience their community and meet them.
I know they needed the encouragement we were able to give. People’s bodies were exhausted, and it looks like about 15 more solid days of similar work for them to get done with Phase 1. It was way more inspiring for me to see what God can do when a group of believers take action together on projects that are beyond their own capacity to finish, than the help I provided. I think their community has something special that the world needs, yet it is hard to describe.
The Maasai make great believers, always knowing that only one god existed. Many have and are becoming Christians because of how well it fits their culture. There is rarely a hungry Maasai person, because everyone shares; they respect people with morals, and not those who have a lot of cows if you can catch the insinuation; and no one is a stranger, since they want to meet and genuinely greet every new person. Although not perfect by any means, they are a great model we should all strive to live as. Putting Him and His people first in all situations, I think that is it. Hope you all are as inspired as I am, I think it will take lots of pictures and talking to do it justice which may have to wait since our internet is quite fuzzy of late. ~Daniel
The most breathtaking part of the entire trip had to have been the scenery. Waking up every morning and walking out of our tent to the site of Mt. Kilimanjaro was remarkable. We would then venture out before breakfast to see the giraffes, wildebeasts, zebras, and gazelle that were grazing in the plains. Night time would be capped off with another viewing of Mt. Kilimanjaro, a bright orangish/red sunset, and the uncountable amount of stars that dotted the African sky late at night. I don’t believe any of us had ever taken the time to actually watch the moon rise before this trip but it became almost as beautiful as watching the sunset. It was hard to believe that Josiah and his family had lived on that land all of their lives because they were just as excited for every sunset as we were. It was by far the most picturesque place I have ever seen with the giant acacia trees dotting the plains. ~Ben