By the way the driving here is crazy! Steering wheel on right side of car, but drive on left side of road. They pass with cars in the other lane coming right at you and nearly squeak in between just in time. I just don't watch. Also, an old man on a bicycle rode right in front of us and I thought we would hit him. He made it, but our driver pulled out a bull whip and hit him out the window. Wow! Also, Kitty wanted to know about the weather. Interesting enough since we are right at the equator, temperatures are in the lower 70s all the time. This is because of the elevation. It is the rainy season, but it has only rained once since we've been here and that was yesterday evening.
Ok, so we get out of the van and they said we have to hike a bit. We'll we hiked almost three miles through mud, every animal you can think of, dung and who knows what into the deep bush country. We came to a river and Luka and Comein said look, hippos! And there were at least 10 or 15. Wow! My mind was blown! Then we walked along the river to where there are several Maasai warriors standing. They said come across the river. I'm thinking you're kidding. But no, we had to ford the river. One of the warriors named Sammy (American name) told me to get on his back. He started fording the river. About half way across (I think he didn't realize how heavy I was) he said, "You down now." Ha Ha! Two warriors, one on each side of me, helped me across carefully. We continued our walk until we came to a chasm. The warriors told Adam and Brandon to jump. Of course Adam did, but not Brandon. They said Adam was now a noble warrior.
But just wait! We passed an elementary school, but they told me I had no time to stop. Celebration was planned for us. The houses are mud with grass on top and about as big as one small room of our houses at home. They had sheep pins build out of sticks. As we approached Comein's village all the warriors were outside waiting on us. This is in the middle of where all animals (lions, giraffes, elephants etc roam freely). I was looking constantly for them. The warriors started chanting and dancing and jumping in the air. I had secretly told Comein to get Adam and Brandon to dance with them, and they did. It was hilarious! Wait till you see the video. (By the way my videos will not work on the blog. It's a good thing I got this laptop, the tablet never worked.) Ok, so we go inside the village and meet Comein's mother. The people are so kind and so open-armed. Very welcoming! She takes us into her home that's about as big as 10ft by 10ft in the pitch dark. She has made tea for us. She sleeps on sticks with plastic over them. I know because that is where she asked me to sit. Then we went to meet Comein's second wife. He has two and is 28 years old with 4 children. Next the village chief came to greet us. He was huge and tall with what looked like an old-time round film case stuck in a loop of his ear. Talk about intimidation! Next we were asked to come to the field. There was a tall tree and before I could get where all the men were, Adam and a warrior were all ready at the top of the tree. Just like Adam! They call me "Mama" here, and they said for me to look. One of the warriors had a black sheep slung over his shoulder baaaaing. They held the sheep to the ground and one of the warriors pulled out his machete and gave it to Adam and said since he was a warrior now he must slit the sheep's throat. I couldn't look. He did it, and they poured the sheep's blood into a pitcher. They pulled it's skin off (FUR), and Adam helped them. Then they started cutting it up. They opened the stomach and took out a green mass of grass he had eaten. They cut it's organ's out and gave Adam the kidney to eat, which he did. I was about to throw up. Next they had Adam drink the lamb's blood. Vomit!!!! Then Adam and Brandon ate... Ok enough!! Next they cooked the lamb on an open fire which they started by twirling sticks together. They taught Adam how to do it.
Next we were called back to the village while the meat cooked. All the women had brought their homemade wares and layed them on the dung covered ground on top of plastic sheets. The saddest time of the day was when I saw the babies and small children whose faces were covered in running snot and at least 1,000 flies. No kidding! It was so sad. I had to pick something from about 20 women's wares. I paid $250 for all of it. But it's not K-mart special stuff, it's authentic. Morris said it was enough money to feed 30 of the families for a week, and that it was a gift from God. I felt so good inside being able to help them in some small way. They were all Christians. Morris haggled with the chief over how much to pay. Then we were called to come sit on the dung infested ground in the shade and eat the lamb meat cut off with a machete. It was very tough. Then we went back to Comein's house, and they gave us milk straight from the cow. It was fermented, and they called it yogurt. I took a few sips, but I couldn't take it. Adam, unbelievably, refused it. We said our goodbyes and the women sung and danced for us.
As we passed by the school, it was letting out, so I got a picture of some of the children heading back to the village. A Canadian came and started the school there. Then back to the river to ford. The same warriors helped me back across without incident. My shorts did get wet though. We loaded up in the van to head back to Nairobi. There are 8 men in the van and me! Ha ha! The warriors said I was very strong. I told them I taught Physical Education, and they said wow! Long ride back. Checked into hotel and went out to eat. We sat around telling stories again. We went back to the hotel to shower the river off and collapsed. Have to get up tomorrow at 6:00 am for pick up. The boys head off to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, and I go back to Elburgon with Morris, Comein, Luka and Junga. Now I will get to teach! But I found out I'm teaching in the slums. Please, pray for me. Hakuna Matata! (No worries!)
 |
| Gazelle |
years old.
proclaimed him a noble warrior. The warriors teaching Adam how to start a
fire.
They were shocked to see a muzingo
(white woman)
ground for me to choose from.
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