That was one of the first things that we heard when we headed out to the bush in Kenya. That we would be hanging out with the Maasai tribe for two weeks and the rite of passage that they have for their young men when they turn seventeen is that they go out, find a lion and then kill it with only a spear and it’s got to be an older one as well not a little young one.
Jamming all our stuff in the back of a pickup and then packing ourselves into a matatu (aka a small bus) we headed out from Kijabe. After riding along the bumpy rut filled roads, getting pulled over by the police, stopping to buy some groceries and eating at a restaurant we finally arrived at Tangi Tato, translation Three Tanks.
One of the first things you’ll notice about the people in Kenya is their hospitality. People here shake everyone's hand and will invite you into their homes and give you tea and any food that they may have. We would go door to door five days a week visiting the people and sharing the gospel and giving them words of encouragement and praying over any needs that they may have. And it was pretty much synonymous with every family in needing prayer for rain, funds for sending their children to school and that they would stay strong in their faith. Since the people here have so little, Christianity is like food and water. No one is afraid to talk about it, the people here will openly admit how they are doing in their faith or if they are even saved or not. Even if they aren’t saved they still would like for us to pray for them and would tell us that they were glad for what we were doing and that it encouraged them when we would visit them. Normally I am NOT the kind of person to go around preaching or what not, but here in Kenya its coming place and just a part of the culture. The two pastors at Tangi Tato will go out and visit every home and school in the area to help encourage the people. And for the first week the people would have dancing and music every night, since we came with a generator they whipped put a keyboard from somewhere and they just love it. They’ve been playing on it every night since we got here, so much that our team just loves it 😉 But that has been something that I haven’t really seen before in the states, is how much these people just love to dance, sing and share about how God is working in their lives and how much they want and need Him.
After walking all over the place visiting homes and schools, getting to eat some African food, frying under the sun, getting lost in translation at times, having our giant tent get blown over twice, laughing at times, bored at others. We’re saying goodbye to the Maasai people and heading off to the next area…
