Baby-wipe showers, mud huts, foreign handshakes, community shampoo… Yep. This is Africa.
The Lord took our prayers for an abundance of rain seriously. We’ve been living in the Rift Valley for 5 days now with the Maasai tribe, a beautiful people that hasn’t seen rain since December. Our tents were completely flooded last night, and the whole team was confined into one hut to sleep. Nine of us girls slept head to toe on the floor of a room smaller than my bedroom at home. The rain started again at about 3pm today, and now we are all hanging out under the tin roof with our head lamps, journaling, reading and sleeping. On the bright side, I LOVE the sound of rain hitting a tin roof. What is even better news, though, is that the watering hole went from dry to overflowing in one night.
This place is beautiful. Being surrounded by green mountains makes it feel like we are living in a bubble. The entire valley is close to impossible to even comprehend, and the fact that we walk everywhere we go makes it seem even more enormous. The living conditions are rough. There is no electricity or running water, and we walk on dirt paths instead of paved roads or gravel. But when you live that way for a little while you get pretty used to it. The people here are wonderful. None of us knew what to expect, but as soon as we got off our bus they were greeting us and helping us settle in. Pastor Amos and Pastor Josphat have planted a church here, and we are actually only the second group from North America to visit the tribe. They are fascinated by us.
I have been so incredibly blessed to be able to sing, dance and worship with them this week. It has been a beautiful experience I will always remember. Our first night here was Wednesday, one of the days they get together for fellowship. Two of my new friends, Helen and Elisabeth, made sure I walked only on the path after pulling 6 stickers out of my feet, and we skipped along to one of their tribal songs until we got to the house we were to worship at. From the moment I got there, everything that happened was so foreign and exciting, I couldn’t help but grin until it was over and they served us our shai (Chai Tea). On the way back Helen taught me the words for donkey, sheep, cow and goat as we passed each one. Turns out the last of those, the Enkine, tastes delicious.
I wish I had time to write about more of my experiences here. I wouldn’t trade any of them for some Starbucks, or even running water. 🙂 After we finish at the internet cafe we are heading home to the church in Kijabe. Pastor Simon, Margaret, and Vicki are taking wonderful care of us, and we are so thankful for them. Know that we are safe, and are already seeing God to amazing things. Thank you so much for your prayers!
