Weekend with the Maasai

This weekend, Michelle and I traveled out to the bush along with our two summer interns, Lauren Kolenda and Sarah Underwood. Saturday was filled with all sorts of new lessons for us. This month, Michelle had organized for two local nurses to come do physical exams for all the widows and orphans in our program. We learned very quickly just how scary getting weighed and measured could be for some of our little kids who had never done something like that before, not to mention the finger stick at the end to test for HIV/AIDS. So, we quickly changed strategies and invited some of our older, braver kids to come in first and go through the process while our littler ones watched. Once they knew what would happen, things went a lot smoother! We also continue to learn that we need to change our expectations here, especially in the area of time. Half way through the day Michelle leaned over and told me that even though she had allowed for a 3 hour delay, she had expected that we would be able to get through everyone. However, as we assessed the progress, we knew that wasn't going to be the case. Instead, the nurses saw half the children and we walked away from the day realizing that was a huge accomplishment! We'll just be inviting them back next month to see the other half and our widows!


Sunday was a day I will forever remember. We stayed overnight in the bush and were told that church the next day would be a baptism service as 7 women had decided to get baptized. We arrived in time to witness the making of their baptismal. Some men had dug a deep hole in the ground and secured a blue tarp with large stones inside to hold the water. Then began the filling process. Buckets of water had been transported by a BUV (Business Utility Vehicle), the product of the ministry of our CMF counterparts, Scott and Annelle Price, working in Tanzania through Business as Mission.

Maasai Baptismal

Next, we went into the church where the seven women were gathered to ensure they understood the biblical reason for baptism and to confirm their decision. Part of this process for the Maasai includes choosing a new name because they are becoming a new creation in Christ. As the women went around saying their new names, one in particular made me light up.  One of the women had chosen to take the name Nashipai, which is the Maasai name I was given and now go by when I'm in the bush. It means "Always Happy", which fits me pretty well most of the time. Gathered around the baptismal, we sang and praised God as the women were baptized, only instead of seven, we had nine as two more decided to be baptized as well!

Click here to see a video of the new Nashipai's baptism in the bush!

After church, we all piled into the car for the 2 hour drive home. Only on the way back it wasn't just the four of us... instead it was 15! We squeezed in to make room for the widows and orphans committee who came back with us to our training center in Arusha. They are here for three intense days of learning together what God's Word says about taking care of the oppressed and how they are going to address the problem of oppression of widows in their communities!

Driving back home - 3 up front and 12 in the back! We belted Disney songs together the entire way!! I think the Maasai riding in the car probably didn't know what to think about us! :)