Before we left for our trip this weekend, I was going to entitle this update, “Camping in a skirt”. To be culturally sensitive, as an older (!) Christian missionary I needed to wear a skirt when visiting the Masai village. It wasn’t a problem for me, just a first. But this weekend was so impacting, that I couldn’t give it that glib of a title. And I don’t think I can yet share all that I gained this weekend, but I’ll share some of it.

Going into the weekend I was excited about camping in Africa, looking forward to a real taste of the “bush”, and glad to be going with our good friends the Jacksons (the same people we went with to Mombasa). And I was not disappointed in any of that. But there was so much more.  A big part of this was meeting Daniel and Lydia, our hosts for the weekend.

Daniel is a member of the Masai tribe, the eldest son of the second of his father’s 5 wives. When he was a child he had polio and it left him with some severe physical disabilities. He can walk, but with a decided limp which limits and slows his walking. Traditionally and to this day the Masai are herders of cows, goats and sheep. As a boy Daniel was frustrated by his disability and blamed God for it because he couldn’t do what all the other boys did. And he was totally unable to help tend the family herds.

Then the Kenyan government passed a law requiring one child from each Masai family to go to school. Because he was unable to help with the animals his father sent him to school. At the school, a special one for disabled students, several things happened. He got an education, he met his wife, and he heard the Gospel and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He was a changed man. Now he is grateful to God for his disability because it made a way for him in so many ways!

He and his wife are both such gracious and humble people who love God and what he has called them to do. They work at a home for disabled children and he has been trained in making braces and prostheses. And it was to this school in Kajiado (about 1 hour south of Nairobi) that we first went on Friday afternoon. Though Bill and Carol tried to prepare us for what we would see, they couldn’t. And it wasn’t because it was so difficult to see-it was because it was hard to realize these happy, vivacious kids had disabilities! Their motto at the school is “No Wheelchairs” and they succeed! One of the first boys we saw was about 8 and he had no feet, just stumps, yet he was running and walking like anybody! We saw kids with all types of disabilities, but they were all smiling and crowding around us. Bill (our friend who is a physical therapist) was known by many of the kids and they ran to him and hugged him so tightly. But they also quickly accepted all of us and I was soon walking around with a little girl on each hand and a third trying to get in. (This was the first time, too, when I had little children rubbing at my curiously white skin!)

After a delicious dinner of chapatis and stew we visited and then spent the night in a guesthouse they have there. The next morning we left for Daniel’s homeplace, a manyata (family compound) about 2 hours south of Kajiado, most of it on a dirt road. We were very close to Tanzania and could see Mt. Kilimanjaro at one point. As we drove we saw zebra, Grant’s gazelle, and ostrich.

Daniel’s family manyata consists of 3 mud and dung huts, pens for the animals made of thorn bushes, and the whole thing fenced in with dried thorn bushes. You could almost drive by without seeing it, except that Daniel and Lydia have built a small home of mbati, a corrugated tin type material for themselves. His youngest brother, Ngelli, lives in one hut with his first wife. Daniel’s mother lives in another hut, and a cousin lives in a third hut. Ngelli’s second wife is only about 14, so she lives with a younger sister in a nearby manyata. Eventually she will have a hut in the same manyata.

We had chai (tea) together then walked around and visited. When all the goats and sheep and cows were brought in it was time to milk them, and I got to milk a goat! I wasn’t too efficient, but I did get milk out. I’ve always wanted to milk a cow; a goat is close enough. We also tried the traditional Masai staple, mala. It is milk that is put into a gourd, which has been cleaned out with burning charcoal and then left for 2-3 days. Yes it’s pretty sour! It tastes like smoked, plain yogurt. Not bad.

Then, we had the traditional Masai guest treatment, a goat roast. The roasted goat (nyama choma) was an appetizer and the main meal was goat stew over rice. The woman who helps Lydia (Lydia also had polio as a child and has some pain with her disability) was cooking dinner and cut herself pretty badly. Carol and I finished preparing the meal, cooking it over an open fire in a very smoky kitchen in Daniel’s mother’s hut. What a rare opportunity. We took pictures and I hope they turn out well-it was really dark in there.

It was a wonderful opportunity to really experience redeemed, Kenyan life. It’s a hard life, but one that values and honors relationships whether they are family or brand new acquaintances. And it was a privilege to get to know Daniel and Lydia and their family. Daniel, is a well-respected elder in his home community and many of his extended family have come to know God because of his testimony. Truly, all of God’s ways are perfect-even when they don’t look too perfect.

With love to you all,

Nancy Peifer