Wednesday, November 4, 2009
We are back at the Eland Hotel again, in our triple room on the second floor. The mosquitoes have been giving me some trouble this year – there is something that they like about me because they don’t bother either Russ or Larry. They have been telling me that I must be “sweeter” than they are! But I have had to pull down the mosquito netting over my bed almost every night to prevent a mosquito onslaught. The first night we were in Nairobi I didn’t pull the netting over my bed down and I had welts all over my arms and head. Since then I have decided to use the netting when it is available. It can be a bit troublesome, but it worth it to me. This morning I found a couple of big fat mosquitos in our room, but I don’t think they got me. The other tow guys must just sleep through it!
Usually we get up between 6:30-7:00am, depending on what we have going on. We generally head down for breakfast at around 7:30. This morning we were supposed to leave at 10:30, so I decided to take some extra time putting reports and letters together while the others went down for breakfast. When he came up from breakfast Russ told me that they had liver and onions in addition to the regular morning breakfast buffet. This excited me, since it has basically been the same thing every morning for breakfast for almost two weeks. But when I went down for breakfast, it was the same old tune: Fresh watermelon and muskmelon, tea or coffee, and eggs with a hot dog (they call it a sausage). Oh well - so much for something different!
After breakfast I walked down to the Bureau de Change to exchange US dollars for Tanzania Schillings. The current exchange rate was down a bit from 1320 to 1315 Shillings per Dollar. When you exchange money here, you end up with quite a wad of cash. The main bill here is the 10,000 Tsch, which is worth about $8. In the same building there was an Internet place, so I took some time to stop in and check my e-mail and try to get some info on the blog. I know that internet connections are a bit slower here in Africa, but this morning took the cake. I was in there for 30 minutes and I was able to read one short e-mail. It was almost painful! Finally at about 10:15 I gave up so I could walk back to the hotel in time to leave. The internet place is about 7 blocks from the hotel and it is an interesting walk. There are many small shops along the side of the road, cars rapidly driving by and honking at other drivers and pedestrians, and people crowding the sides of the streets. Arusha is a very busy town.
When I returned to the hotel Jeremiah and Pastor Lengutai were there waiting. Of course we had to wait another 30 minutes before our ride arrived! The leader of the Masai church we were going to visit was Sayore. He rented a Dala-dala for us for the day, so we had it all to ourselves for the trip out and back. It was almost like riding in style – except for the fact that the vehicle was dragging necessary parts on the street below, had holes in the floor where you could see the ground passing under you, and looked like it was soon destined for the automobile graveyard! It was nice not to have to worry about stopping at every intersection to pick up more people though. Two men traveled with us - the driver and the conductor (he is in charge of getting people on the bus and colleting the fares from them). As we were driving the conductor would regularly stick his head out the window and inform prospective passengers that they were not stopping for them with his patented wave of a hand and shake of the head. Yes, riding in style...
It was about a one an a half hour trip to the Masai village. We left Arusha heading due West. We passed a small airport, coffee farms, and left Arusha in our rearview mirror. We soon entered Masai land, which was covered with goats, donkeys and some cattle. The donkeys are used to carry water from rivers and other sources to the people’s homes. We were told that the Masai often have to leave two hours before sun-up to get water for their homes, and travel many, many miles to get it. This is a trip that is repeated every day of the week. This was one of the reasons why we were not meeting with them until the afternoon. The land here is extremely dry. It is not always been this way, but they have been suffering from a severe drought here for almost two years.
We are back at the Eland Hotel again, in our triple room on the second floor. The mosquitoes have been giving me some trouble this year – there is something that they like about me because they don’t bother either Russ or Larry. They have been telling me that I must be “sweeter” than they are! But I have had to pull down the mosquito netting over my bed almost every night to prevent a mosquito onslaught. The first night we were in Nairobi I didn’t pull the netting over my bed down and I had welts all over my arms and head. Since then I have decided to use the netting when it is available. It can be a bit troublesome, but it worth it to me. This morning I found a couple of big fat mosquitos in our room, but I don’t think they got me. The other tow guys must just sleep through it!
Usually we get up between 6:30-7:00am, depending on what we have going on. We generally head down for breakfast at around 7:30. This morning we were supposed to leave at 10:30, so I decided to take some extra time putting reports and letters together while the others went down for breakfast. When he came up from breakfast Russ told me that they had liver and onions in addition to the regular morning breakfast buffet. This excited me, since it has basically been the same thing every morning for breakfast for almost two weeks. But when I went down for breakfast, it was the same old tune: Fresh watermelon and muskmelon, tea or coffee, and eggs with a hot dog (they call it a sausage). Oh well - so much for something different!
After breakfast I walked down to the Bureau de Change to exchange US dollars for Tanzania Schillings. The current exchange rate was down a bit from 1320 to 1315 Shillings per Dollar. When you exchange money here, you end up with quite a wad of cash. The main bill here is the 10,000 Tsch, which is worth about $8. In the same building there was an Internet place, so I took some time to stop in and check my e-mail and try to get some info on the blog. I know that internet connections are a bit slower here in Africa, but this morning took the cake. I was in there for 30 minutes and I was able to read one short e-mail. It was almost painful! Finally at about 10:15 I gave up so I could walk back to the hotel in time to leave. The internet place is about 7 blocks from the hotel and it is an interesting walk. There are many small shops along the side of the road, cars rapidly driving by and honking at other drivers and pedestrians, and people crowding the sides of the streets. Arusha is a very busy town.
When I returned to the hotel Jeremiah and Pastor Lengutai were there waiting. Of course we had to wait another 30 minutes before our ride arrived! The leader of the Masai church we were going to visit was Sayore. He rented a Dala-dala for us for the day, so we had it all to ourselves for the trip out and back. It was almost like riding in style – except for the fact that the vehicle was dragging necessary parts on the street below, had holes in the floor where you could see the ground passing under you, and looked like it was soon destined for the automobile graveyard! It was nice not to have to worry about stopping at every intersection to pick up more people though. Two men traveled with us - the driver and the conductor (he is in charge of getting people on the bus and colleting the fares from them). As we were driving the conductor would regularly stick his head out the window and inform prospective passengers that they were not stopping for them with his patented wave of a hand and shake of the head. Yes, riding in style...
It was about a one an a half hour trip to the Masai village. We left Arusha heading due West. We passed a small airport, coffee farms, and left Arusha in our rearview mirror. We soon entered Masai land, which was covered with goats, donkeys and some cattle. The donkeys are used to carry water from rivers and other sources to the people’s homes. We were told that the Masai often have to leave two hours before sun-up to get water for their homes, and travel many, many miles to get it. This is a trip that is repeated every day of the week. This was one of the reasons why we were not meeting with them until the afternoon. The land here is extremely dry. It is not always been this way, but they have been suffering from a severe drought here for almost two years.
Maasai children's playground toys!
We pulled off the highway and began to head south on what looked like a “farm road” – basically a light path thought a very barren landscape. There were big ruts in the ground that functioned as rivers during the rainy season, but were nothing more than dried up crevices. We also saw a large number of rocks, many of which were volcanic looking. Sure enough, we found out that the was an active volcano in the area and that it had erupted only about 2 years earlier. In Masai, the mountain is called the “Mountain of God.”
After a very winding trip we arrived at a very secluded area with several buildings. The first was a hut used as a kitchen, the second was a larger building used for a school and church, and the third was a fence of sticks a bit more distant which served as a latrine. We were told that you should always be careful when entering a hut like the kitchen because cobras will enter there to find shade during the heat of the day and hide in the corners or in the branches of the roof. They also shield themselves from the sun in piles of rock, so you have to be careful where you sit!
The church/school building was made of the large towering shoot of the sisal plant. This is not a wood, but become almost as hard as wood, and will not be eaten by termites. The building was sheeted with iron and housed about 40 children. They would like to add another classroom to this existing building so that more ages can be added to the school. Right now the older children have to walk a very long way over very rough terrain to get to school.
After visiting the school we met out under the shade of a huge acacia tree. Rocks were already set up in a circle for the people to sit on. We were invited to sit with them and after introductions, we were given the opportunity to speak to them. Pastor Lenguati was with us and speaks both Masai and English so we didn’t need two translators (sometimes it can be hard to find such a person so one person translates from English to Swahili and another from Swahili to Masai. It can become quite the ordeal. After our meeting they offered us bottled water and sodas as a demonstration of their appreciation for our coming to see them. It is really amazing to see the Gospel at work in such a remote area, and with a people so far removed from society. Even more exciting was the fact that Sayore has several of these stations going right now – several of which have no church building at all, but simply gather for worship under an acacia tree like the one we met under. What an opportunity!
In His service,
Nathanael Mayhew
“And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation” (Romans 15:20).
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