Day two. We woke up at 7:30, had a good sleep last night. My roommate snores. I love that guy! We got up and joined the others for breakfast. It was interesting and delicious. I have a passion for passion fruit juice. How refreshing! The first plan for the day was to visit the Oloroppil Baptist Center where Compassion works with the Massai tribe, which was very excited because - my freshman year in college I read a book called Christianity Rediscovered by Vincent J. Donovan and the book was all about reaching the Massai tribe for Christ. Which meant meeting their physical as well as their spiritual needs, and dealing with the difficulty of ministering in a different culture.
The Massai culture is very unique. They wore everything from the traditional tribe dress, to gauged ears and incredibly intricate clothing and jewelry. Very welcoming people the Massai are.
Our leader Jo Ann said something this morning that really hit me. She said that Kenyans don't wear watches because they value relationships - they will give you all the time in the world. They are patient, generous, and caring people but we, as Americans wear watches yet never have any time (especially for the things that matter!) How true.
We experienced a very warm welcome - Speeches from the pastors and leaders in the church about the center - how they operate - how families and children are impacted by what God does through the Compassion organization, and then we enjoyed a great meal that some of the Massai women prepared for us! Rice and chick peas, goat meat, bread and tea with milk and sugar. The goat meat was interesting...
To sum it all up though, I have never seen such amazing, selfless, generous people in my life! Toward the end of the visit we split into 6 groups and each visited a family in their home. These people had literally nothing. A house made of sticks and mud, no electricity, no running water. The home had a few small rooms with beds which were basically just made of sticks with cloth on top of it.
- A place to keep their dishes
-A place to keep clothing
The Father had 2 wives, but one passed away. They had 10 kids. Serina was the 10 year old sponsored child that attended the center. The children are taught in school, study the Bible, and learn a trade. Thanks to Compassion many of the children are able to have an education and a future.
They also owned animals - 10 goats, a few dogs, and some owned chickens given to them by Compassion.
They invited us into the second part of their home where the father sleeps and the Compassion letters are kept. This house was a bit more sturdy than the first. Instead of sticks and mud, they had a tin roof on the 2nd home. We talked with them about how they live, what their days are like and then Elizabeth gave them some gifts for the children. The mother gave her a necklace. It was very humbling, and amazing. These people have nothing and they gave us everything! I have never seen such joyful people! Some little children walk 1 1/2 hours to school everyday while others travel 9 hours by foot every day just to get water. This completely shattered my view of poverty in Africa. It is much worse than I thought, but such beautiful hearts, such hospitable people with their eyes fixed on Jesus. More tomorrow!
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