Mittwoch, 22. Dezember 2021
Trip to the Samburus - a Massai tribe in the North of Kenya
Dani_in_Kenia, 19:56h
On the 27th of September, my boss Reverend Benjamin Lemosi, who is the general secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya, picked me with his car from my home. We spent one day at Nairobi and Friday morning we continued our trip to the country of the Massais. Benjamin is a Massai from the tribe of the Samburus.
Benjamin and his family live at a small town called Wamba. His wife is called Christabel. She is working as a nurse at the local hospital. They have one girl and three boys. Benjamin has also goats and camels.
On Saturday morning, we went for another two hours by car to a church at Ngilai.
But, we met only a few young boys. We shared with them about our plan to come on Monday with a program for children and youth at the church.
After that, we went back to Wamba. I used the day to play with Benjamin's children and to share with his wife. Every evening Benjamin is doing a devotion with his entire family. When he is not around, his wife is leading this devotion. During my visit, I was allowed to join that family devotion.
On Sunday morning, I joined Benjamin's wife for Sunday School at ELCK Wamba.
On Sunday morning, I joined Benjamin's wife for Sunday School at ELCK Wamba.
I was teaching the children some songs in English and Kiswahili. Afterwards, I told them the story of Jonah by using Kiswahili.
Because many of such local children do not understand Kiswahili, Benjamin's wife Christabel translated me into Kisamburu.
Finally, Benjamin came for the service. He used Kisamburu and English, so that I was able to understand some parts.
In the afternoon, I met the Sunday school children again. We celebrated a fish-party fitting to the story of "Jonah and the Big Fish". We played many different fish games. The children were very excited and we had lots of fun.
At the moment, Benjamin is building a bigger church to reach more and more people of Wamba with the Gospel.
After supper, when it was already very dark, we went to a meeting place somewhere in Wamba. By using Benjamin's generator and my projector, loudspeaker etc, we showed the people of Wamba the Jesus-Movie in their own tribe language Kisamburu. Some of the people have seen the same movie before in Kiswahili, but for many of them it was very exciting to listen to Jesus speaking their mother tongue.
After the breakfast on Monday morning, we went again to Ngilai. The church was completely full. Benjamin came with some milk and bread for them and gave it to the children and the youth. Then he asked me to do a small program for the children.
I had only ten minutes. Therefore, I decided to teach the children some action songs in English and Kiswahili. But very soon, I recognized that those local children did not understand enough English and Kiswahili, so that they were not able to understand the meaning of the songs, because they only speak Kisamburu. I felt lost. I asked the youth group leader to assist me and I thought them also the story of Jonah in Kiswahili and the youth group leader translated me into Kisamburu. Then Benjamin came and asked the younger children to go home.
Because, now was the time for the youth. I taught the youngsters about the life of Martin Luther, the German founder of our church by playing many games. Through the games, we experienced some parts of Martin Luther's life ourselves. The youth who were only used to frontal teaching, were very excited. In the beginning of the games, they were very shy. But finally, they laughed and enjoyed the games a lot.
After I had finished our program, Benjamin came and we tested the youth. We asked them questions about the life of Martin Luther's life and they were able to answer. We agreed to come back on the following day to show them a Christian movie.
Every Tuesday, Benjamin's wife Christabel is renting a driver for their lorry to carry her to the market at Ngilai to sell food. Therefore, I joined her. First, the driver brought Christabel to the market, then he dropped me with all the movie equipment at the church. After preparing everything, I started my program.
First, I taught the youth for one hour about "grace". Then, I explained them the topics of the movie "gracecard". The main actor is a teenager who faces many challenges and experiences God's grace and forgiveness. I took his life as an example to teach the youth about God's grace in their everyday life.
First, I taught the youth for one hour about "grace". Then, I explained them the topics of the movie "gracecard". The main actor is a teenager who faces many challenges and experiences God's grace and forgiveness. I took his life as an example to teach the youth about God's grace in their everyday life.
Then, I showed them the movie "Gracecard". The youth were very interested and really enjoyed the movie. Finally, they got again milk and bread, which Benjamin had organised for them.
On Wednesday morning, we left the country of the Samburus and went back first to Nairobi and on the second day, we finally reached Nakuru. I was very thankful that Benjamin took his time to introduce me to his home, his family and his community. The people at his place are very poor, they live in simple houses made from sticks, mood and paper bags.
The entire area is very dry. There is no water at all. At many places, you find erosion of the soil. The river is also dried out completely.
Nothing grows there, apart from a few trees, which you may use for firewood or even for charcoal burning.
Therefore, the Samburus are not able to plant any vegetables of fruits. To survive there, you need to have either your own animals to sell the meat if you need money. Or you have to look for a job. But there are only a few job offerings in the entire area. Some families even receive financial support from the Kenyan government to survive.
I am very sorry about all this poverty. But to be serious I am not even sure, if by digging a borehole to give them water, all problems are solved. The Samburus are nomads. They are used to cattle farming and not for agriculture. I believe that only when someone teaches them how to plant maize and beans, for example, you can finally help those people, in case they are willing to join such a planting project.
Please pray for the Samburu people that they get to know God more and more and that they are willing to change their lives to be more and more successful. Thank you.
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