Our Adventures with the Maasai!

Saturday morning Megan and I packed the vehicle and headed off for our four-day stay in Mairowa.  This was our very first outing "peke yetu" = Swahili for ALL BY OURSELVES!  We were excited, a bit nervous, but rested in knowing God was right there with us the entire time - guiding and providing for our every move!  Thankfully, we were up and on the road before the police had arrived to their stations (quick detour) - police here are all on foot and located at specific posts, they pull you over by standing in the road with their arm up in the air, they frequently pull over white people, and are often asking for bribes....so it is always a great day when you aren't getting pulled over, which happens quite often here!

Megan drove the first hour on paved road (like a pro, I might add - you would have never guessed she didn't know how to drive a stick-shift before coming here or that she was driving on the opposite side of the road, sitting on the opposite side of the car and shifting with her left-hand)!!  At our turn we switched drivers and I drove the rummbly road for an hour out into the bush.  We arrived in great time and without any troubles, PTL!  Soon our December Widows & Orphans Day was underway after most of our women and children had arrived (some walking 4-5 hours from their homes).  I spent the lesson with our Widows while Megan went with the kiddos!  As a "guest" it is always expected that we either share a lesson or spiritual insight, at the very least greet everyone and introduce yourself.  To this very day, even though it has happened to me more than I can count on two hands, I am still awkwardly not expecting it!!  Great lessons in culture!

After our Bible lessons, Joseph invited the women to discuss different trainings they want to have over the course of this next year.  Everything was said in Maasai, of which I understood zip - Joesph reassured me he would recant everything to me later, but I did notice the ways in which decisions are reached among the Maasai women.  Some throw out their ideas, usually everyone gives respect to the person talking, then as disagreements arise, people start talking over one another until an elder lifts her hand and all fall silent to hear what she has to say.

Then Megan and I were on picture duty - taking pictures of children to be available for sponsorship, sponsored children who had received something from their sponsors and want to express their thanks, and newly sponsored children!

Nashipai (full of happiness) posing for a thank you to her sponsor

Nainganya loving the gifts from his sponsor

Olias is happy to be newly sponsored this month!

Daudi (David) flipping the pages of his Bible

Elia is always giving us smiles!

After lots of pictures, our committee of Tanzanian nationals handed out notebooks, pens, and pencils to all the children in our program not yet sponsored.  Once the day's activities were completed and we were all thoroughly exhausted, Megan and I went to the guest house to check-in.  We had a great room about 10'x10' with two twin beds.  There is an outhouse with four rooms - 2 with holes in the ground for the bathroom and 2 with drains for taking a bucket shower.

We ate supper at Joseph's house (our national partner for Widows & Orphans) then made the walk back to the guest house.  Sunday morning we headed over to Joseph's for chai (hot tea with milk) for breakfast then drove out to his church, Oloserian (place of peace).

Megan and I LOVE worshiping with the Maasai, even if the women constantly laugh at us because our bodies just don't move like theirs.  The different people who shared lessons each spoke Maasai, which sounds like one of the most difficult languages EVER (we are trying so hard to learn some words), so they asked for someone to translate into Swahili for us AND it was awesome because Megan and I could pretty well follow along and understand about 2/3 of what was being said....which was such a great feeling!

Of course, as guests, we were brought chai to enjoy!

 Joseph invited us to his house again for lunch and dinner and we spent the rest of the day playing with the kids at his house.

Monday was our big day at the market!  We told all of our sponsored kids on Saturday to meet us there to purchase their school uniforms and school supplies.  Over the course of 5 hours, we helped 24 of our sponsor children get their uniforms (dress, sweater, shoes & socks for girls; shorts, shirt, sweater, shoes & socks for boys) and their supplies (3 notebooks and 2 pencils for nursery school; 9 notebooks and 2 pens for primary school).  The great thing about the market was that both of the sellers we worked with spoke Swahili....the not so great thing about the market was that quite a few of the people there had either never seen white person before or they acted as if they had never seen a white person before.

Shopping was also very different than anything we are used to in the U.S.  For uniforms, the lady had a tarp laid out with piles of different colors of sweaters, shoes, and other clothes.  There is no "oh what size is this child, let me look for that number," instead it is the woman looking at the child, asking which school, then finding the right colors, holding up the dress or shirt or shorts or sweater and then moving on to shoes, which she would also do by trial-and-error...but she was definitely an expert at guessing sizes!  Some kids tried on the clothes over the clothes they were currently wearing, which made Megan and me even more hot just by looking at the layers they had donned.  After one group of kids was done and no more had yet arrived, we walked over to the next row of tarps to buy our supplies.  The seller was a teacher so he knew how many of which kind of things each child needed depending on their year in school, which was a great help.  After all notebooks, pens and pencils were allocated, we went back to the uniform lady to help the new children who had just arrived, then repeated the whole process a few more times.

Nanyori in her new uniform with
school supplies in hand

The shop where we purchased our school supplies

Little Lekule waiting for a new school uniform

 Funniest moment of the day was when a young guy pulled up on his piki-piki (essentially a dirt bike they use as a taxi service) and parked about 15 feet from us.  He proceeded to use the bike's extremely loud radio system to play English rap songs, one of which had the lyrics "girl, I want to take you home and make you my wife."  Megan and I laughed through his outlandish attempts to get our attention and proceeded to the work at hand!

Best moments of the day were when I saw each child's face after they just picked out the best clothes they now owned and the excitement in their eyes to begin a year at school!

On Tuesday, we wrapped up our visit with spending a few hours in the office with Joesph to file things, talk about issues and plans for this year, and update our information.

After our day in the sun at the market
notice the watch line on my wrist :)

The red head and her farmer's tan
even with lots of sunscreen

We returned to his house in time for lunch by 2pm and then loaded the car with children who attend boarding school in a town on our way home.

We made it back to Arusha safely and happy for our great times with the Maasai!  Megan and I are so excited for our next trip out to see all of our friends!