Don't judge a village by its chai...

…or chairs, or food (or lack there of)

Explanation: something that I had found myself doing after my first week was “judging” a village… like, if they had a church then we would probably get chai And a snack in the morning, and even soda with our meal after the service…or if the village hardly had any chairs for us- just some small stools and only chai then the people probably wouldn’t be as friendly…. It sounds ridiculous but its true. So, whether or not we get Chai AND maandaazi or chapati, or nothing at all, or whether or not the chairs are “nice” or not, or if we get soda… one cannot judge the character of a village and its people like this!!

probably one of my favorite pictures!!

a glimpse of the "mazingera" (or environment) of the place I sat all day (and where the service was held)

Pastor Heri serving PH communion after everyone else





Tuesday February 19th

I was still tired today obviously, but was grateful for a casual day in a village and a break from my lessons. Luka, PH, and I left about 8:45-9am and after about 35 minutes we picked up an evangelist named Luka, and then a couple more evangelists, and then we picked up the evangelist Moi who I was so happy to see again (it had been a month)!! The last person we picked up was Pastor Heri ( he was one of the three pastors with us a week and a half ago and I did not know his name- so in the picture from Fri the 8th he is nameless)! The secondary and tertiary roads were interesting to get through again- but we made it eventually…about 10:45-11am. Today was much more relaxed than normal as this was a very small village- and not a typical Maasai village as it is very “progressive” according to PH- therefore they had some houses that were not made of mud/dung/sticks/bamboo- and I guess the father has made education a huge priority for all of the children/young people. A different evangelist greets us and the 9 of us sit on plastic chairs/stools underneath many large shady trees for essentially the next 2.5 hours. I was definitely the only female again all day and did most listening of course! PH and Luka left a couple different times for about 20 minutes or so- looking around the area I guess. A young man- who was also 21 I guess- chatted with me for about 20 minutes because he just finished Form 5 in Dar es Salaam and is home for a break. Therefore, he wanted to speak in English and we talked about our majors, and about the differences between American and Tanzanian weather and food! We had the first sacrament, chai, around noon or 12:30 and then I did more listening… they told a lot of animal tales/stories- about snakes, baboons, cats/dogs, cows- and once in a while PH would only have to say a couple words and then I got the general gist of the story. About 1:30pm I walked with PH and a couple others down the road a bit to see the church as of now- just made of sticks- and there are some small benches in side- made of sticks…PH said- imagine that…in America many people will complain about sitting on padded pews- how would you like to sit on a stick/small log. One would have a very sore bottom… anyway, the first picture is of PH with two little boys holding his hands….they were adorable and immediately latched on to him and grabbed his hands when we started to walk to the church and then again back from it…and then when he was sitting in his chair next to me the two little boys just loved to stand near him and play with his hands…
For the next hour, people slowly gathered under the tree- and Luka and I chatted before we finally began about 2:30pm. It was very small today… mostly all women/children. In fact, the only baptism was one young boy- about 14-15. The service went by fast again- and we even had men’s choir-which I LOVE…and Moi is great at leading with his loud voice and confident personality…it’s really great to hear the men sing in kiiMaasai- it sounds really cool :)
We ate after the service of course- about 4:30pm-rice and some beans and potatoes in a nice orange sauce :) Also…many times when babies don’t actually breastfeed (which is rare) they will drink milk out of a small gourd….well-at this village there were some larger gourds and moi shook one of them and says to me “maziwa” (milk)…I said “Najua” (I know). However…they pour out this kind of “milk” into glasses and people were drinking it straight…even PH I think (unless he put in sugar). I have seen what it looks like before (similar to the runny yogurt at the school) and I cannot even look at it without my stomach feeling queasy… well- they eventually put a glass in front of me- and I did NOT want to drink it because I KNEW it was going to taste as bad (if not worse) than it looked but I wanted to be a little respectful so I took a small drink and tried to keep my look of disgust at a minimum before I handed my glass to Luka. I don’t know the best description…watery cottage cheese…or think of the smell of sour milk- that’s maybe been left out of the fridge for a day or two… I was brought a nice glass of wonderful chai though!!! :)

We left about 5pm and eventually dropped everyone off…I was tired and lonely- haha. Before going back to the school PH, Luka and I went to a small hospital in town to visit Amina (I had not seen her since my 2nd week here in January)…she is a young woman- couldn’t be more than 25- who has HIV or AIDS and has been taking ARV medicine that’s literally keeping her alive… PH told me some drama that occurred a week and a half ago when the other center was at threw her out and her father had to come get her and she had stopped the medicine…well, anyway- she is still alive and we visited (well, PH did) for about 10-15 minutes, and then returned back to the school here about 7:15pm. I had some studying to do as well as more writing the rest of the night.

**Thought I would mention something about today’s baptism. The people in the village have all been baptized, but PH said he noticed this young man (14-15) sitting off to the side very quiet and PH asked him if he would like to be baptized and smile spread across his face and he just shook his head yes enthusiastically… turns out, he had the name of the type of ants that were trying to run all over my legs in the village a week ago, and he told PH that he was “just the Herd Boy.” So, he asked his mother and got the OK… he also therefore was not literate and so I think PH gave him a small work book (grammar) to start with.




Wednesday February 20th


After breakfast and morning devo I had class all morning…it went alright- I’m still moving pretty slowly. After lunch I took some time to write so I brought my computer outside to sit in the sun for about 35 minutes. My afternoon period from 2:30-4 just went downhill as I lost all energy/motivation to focus and my head started to hurt. I grabbed a couple small bananas at 4pm tea break and brought them back to my room to eat so I could just sit and relax and try to upload some pictures.

I went to dinner feeling pretty disheartened, but thank God for Julie who actually asked how I was doing and then actually stopped to sit down and talk with me...and while doing so, sharing a bit of her own struggles and even opening up very briefly about her past... it was such a blessing to chat with her...even if she and her husband are very outgoing baptists!! :) I also received a small package from the Wartburg College GMCS office (Global and Multi-Cultural Studies)- it was a Wartburg Newspaper from Jan 28th, and a notepad and even a couple pieces of candy! Those starbursts sure tasted great!!!
I really think I just need some sleep. I think that Im feeling a lot more tired because I stopped taking an iron supplement and another vitamin as I wasn’t feeling well digestively a week and a half ago… though I am feeling better, on the flipside I now feel like I am more lethargic.

Maybe I’m feeling the weight of mid-terms and the winter blues here…I don’t know how it’s affecting me, but somehow it is??!


**Note: I forgot to mention…the older Maasai men, they actually wear gym shorts underneath…so they don’t just have their red pieces of cloth slung casually over half their body…thought I would inform you! :)


Praying that you take some time to rest as it is very important…and as I seek to do the same!

struggling to stay afloat,
Alana :)