Souly Positive

Aaahhh the Masai…what a long strange trip it’s been:) So my 2nd week in Kenya and I’m volunteering with the Masai. Wonderful people and a great opportunity. I enjoyed every moment but my world was definitely turned upside down…and that can be a good thing:)

I take a 3 hour bus ride from Nairobi and arrive in Nanyuki! I’m greeted by several people who want to help me and I’m hoping I can figure out the right person that is really supposed to be meeting me. A young man steps up and tells me he’s my guy, of course so have 3 others:) I ask him a few relevant questions and decide yes, he is really my guy! We stop at the store so I can get the essentials…water and toilet paper. I even get to use the restroom in the store. It’s a squat toilet and I soon find out this will be the norm for the week. I get in the car with the guy that met me, Franco, who is the eldest son of Joseph, my main contact. There is a driver and 2 small boys, Benjamin and Michael. We make several stops in town. Drop things off and pick things and people up. This last nearly two hours. I find out it is another 1 1/2 hour drive to my final destination, Doldol, and they are obviously making the most of this trip to town:) I am in a white sort of station wagon. 2 seats up front and the back seat that should probably seat 3. The far back is for cargo. By the time we leave Nanyuki There are 3 adults up front and a child. In the back seat there are 4 adults and two children. I’m back there and little Benjamin holds this white hand the whole way to Doldol:)

The man I’m supposed to be meeting is a Preacher. I happen to arrive when they have 35 people visiting from various churches bringing clothes, shoes and other donations. For the first night they squire me away in…well I’m not sure what…a little cement room.
Joseph, my contact, tells me I should talk to another “old” lady there named Purity:) Purity can’t be that old though, she has a 4 year old:) Keep in mind I haven’t eaten all day and it was a long bus ride. I kind of feel like a prisoner and I’m starving and have no clue what’s going on. Around 7:00 PM Joseph and another preacher come pick me up to get me some food. In the dark we go to this teeny tiny metal building with teeny tiny tables and I get a heaping plate of food. I didn’t mention this before but when you get food in Kenya, it’s always a huge heaping platter full. I assume this is because it’s all mainly starches. It’s way too much for me so I ask for two more spoons so my preacher friends can share:)

The next morning is Sunday and Joseph comes on his motorcycle to pick me up for church. He’s only 1 hour late:) I make the mistake of putting my arms around him while on the motorcycle to hold on…he quickly takes my hands and has me hold the rack at the sides…I’m such a hussy:) Church last FOREVER! I get there at 11:00 and I’m sure it’s been going on for at least an hour or two…we get out a 4:00 PM….Yikes, that’s a lot of church:)

At church I’m part of the show…Remember, I am Mzungu (white) and it is a rarity. I give money, pose for pictures etc. Afterwards Joseph takes me back to my cement room to gather my belongings…looks like I’m moving in with the family:)

I’m in the hills now in the middle of nowhere and Joseph tells me he has to go get the rest of his family…I’m pretty much alone and they don’t get back until after 7:00PM. Their home is a mud/cow dung home that consist of 3 small rooms. There is no electricity, no running water, dirt floors and an out house (squat toilet or hole in the ground) a good distance from the house. Yes, I’m home:) Joseph and his lovely wife Margaret have 10 children…two of which are his deceased brothers kids that they take care of. Only Joseph and Franco speak English and a couple of the teenagers speak a tiny bit. They treat me wonderful and I can tell immediately they are a kind, loving family.

For the next few days I go to the preschool with Franco. He teaches them for free. Volunteers have constructed this metal building with dirt floors. It amazes me that these small children walk there by themselves, and sometimes bring their 1 or 2 year old siblings with them. Again, I am the great white spectacle…the kids are adorable and want to touch my hair, hold my hand and sit by me…I am finally an object of fascination!:)

Home life with Joseph and his family becomes a routine. I help plant potatoes and ask him if he has fears that the crop might fail…I’m thinking drought, but he says, “yes, if the elephants come through they can destroy everything.” He’s very serious. I mean really…Elephants? Who would have thought that that is the fear of a gardener? Crazy! His son, Franco later tells me that this actually occurred once and Joseph was almost killed by the elephants:(

I try to help by peeling potatoes or whatever I could do. I sit and listen in silence for hours to the family speaking in a language that I don’t understand. The youngest who is 5, holds my hand and sits by me and stares in a constant state of wonder. They are sweet, feed me too well and before I know it, it’s time to depart…Franco and I get up before the crack of dawn and begin our walk to meet the same driver that brought me to Doldool…it’s a hike and I find the same thing that happened initially is done again. We make several stops and pick up other people in the same car… Our last stop involves an older Masai man. I see him and his friend chasing and grabbing the hind legs of some goats. It’s rather disturbing to watch. The next thing I know the back hatch is open and they are putting those goats in the back of the station wagon. My first thought is, “uh oh, my backpack is back there.” But they lift it and place it in the back seat. Before I know it I am riding in a car with 4 Masai and 4 goats. How bizarre that I’m riding in a car with goats and listening to the Commodores:) I think there is some auction or something…at least that is what I gather when we drop off the old Masai warrior and his goats off.

Getting back to Kikuyu I sit by a by a nice guy on the bus…he later tells me it’s the first time he has ever spoken to a Mzungu:) How weird! My time with the Masai had a magical quality to it…a world so different than my own. It was like stepping back in time a hundred years. I saw a heard of elephants coming in to Doldol, baboons and domestic camels while there and a giraffe, some deer and an array of amazing birds going out. And always the Masai…wrapped in their cloths, herding their animals or sitting on the flat rocks in the distance. My only regret was that with no electricity, my camera died two days after arriving so I have very few photos…but will always have the memories:)

What an experience!

From Kenya with the Masai…Break out of your comfort zone…the rewards can be amazing!