Transformed Thinking

We are traveling to spend our second day among the Maasai people at the campsite. On the way we made a quick detour into the marketplace to purchase maze and beans to distribute to the widows and orphans. We also bought a bag of soccer balls for the orphaned children in the area.  We hoped they would enjoy playing a game after lunch.

The market is an interesting place. You could buy almost anything there such as food, clothes, shoes etc. I was more impressed that there were so many beauty salons and everyone and I mean everyone had a cell phone. I tried to take a few snap shots of it all. People in Maasai land used phones while on motor bikes, walking on the side of the road from village to village, with water containers on head … on a cell phone y'all. 

While discussing some of the issues of the day, one of the Pastors mentioned in  conversation that we may be the first African Americans to travel to Maasai land and spend time with the Maasai people. I pray we are not the last. Theses are a strong people with an impressive legacy and a need that's unparalleled to say the least.

At dinner last night, Pastor Grace asked what I would tell others about the things I experienced earlier in the day. I began to rationalize some mambo jumbo about there being people in need everywhere and how surprised she would be to witness the conditions of poor people in the U.S. But today after having an opportunity to process everything I took in on yesterday, "I relent those words".  In all honesty I have never witnessed poverty to this magnitude  before. I am at the point where I feel like the words poverty and poor could not adequately describe what I am seeing. The Maasai people are in need of basic things for living in the 21 century such as an accessible clean water source, trash irrigation, plumbing, and health care. 

 I am one who could adapt easily to most things but I'm telling you as hot as it was in the bush that day I did not drink much water because I did not want to have to visit the bathroom. Plumbing at the campsite consisted of a metal box, a nail, and a hole in the ground and this was luxury in comparison to the living conditions the Maasai people would return to. The Maasai have lived this way for hundreds of years, while the whole world is advancing all around them. We were immediately able to identify multiple needs when we arrived to the camp because we had experienced far better, but they came because they had abnormal symptoms, pain, infections and headaches. The Maasai people didn't recognize what we perceived as a need. How would they? How could they possibly know? The Maasai live in their own isolated piece of the world enjoying life as they know it and everyday you can find them doing just that... living life.

I asked Grace what message I could share with others about the Massai people and she requested I make this simple statement, 'These people are poor and they need our help'.