Maasai Mara

I finally returned to Kenya the end of February.  A friend from my church in Oklahoma traveled with me, which was a new experience for me.  For 10 years, I have traveled back and forth between Kenya and the U.S. by myself.  I have always believed a shared experience is a richer experience, and it turns out that traveling internationally falls into that category!

My friend's name is Zula.  She was wonderful and enjoyable -- a very good combination.  I will be sharing more about our two weeks together in future posts, but for today, I will share our wonderful time in the Maasai Mara.

Another missionary friend, Joanna, and her guest, Debi, joined us for a two day trip to the Mara. We sat and watched this group of elephants for a long time.  Its so fascinating to see them in their natural habitat.  We were close enough to hear them chew!  If you look closely, you can see the legs of another elephant behind the bush.

Cape Buffalos are not pretty animals, per se, but they are massive and can be quite mean and aggresive if they feel threatened.

We got to the Mara River and met with a Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) Ranger who took us to the river to view hippos and crocodiles.  Along the way we came across hippo footprints.  This is Debi's foot beside this print showing you the size comparison.

This crocodile was about 7 feet in length.  We were happy he was across the river!

After we got back to our tour van and started driving away, this hippo was seen just beside the road.  He probably came up out of the river we had just been walking beside.

I get a thrill every time I see a giraffe.  They are just so graceful and elegant looking.  All four of us had cameras and choosing only one picture to put on this post was difficult.

Impala's were plentiful.  We enjoyed every group we saw.

The rhino is becoming so rare to see, so when we drove up to this black rhino, we felt blessed indeed.  Poaching is a huge issue for these magnificent animals and their numbers are shrinking at an alarming rate.

These naughty little monkeys are fun to watch, but a pain to be around when you are trying to enjoy a picnic!

Our driver/guide, pointed out this leg hanging out of a tree.  When a leopard kills an animal, he drags it up into the tree to eat to keep it away from other predators.  I guess he got full before he finished his meal.

In the ten years I've been in Kenya, I have never seen a leopard until this trip.  We were so thrilled when our driver took us to see this incredibly beautiful animal. 

We were so blessed to see lions on this trip.  Three different prides on three separate games drives.  In all, we saw 41 lions!  It was amazing.  On the last day, we saw them in action as they were stalking their prey.  But they are very patient, and our driver said we had to go after about an hour of watching because it could easily be several more hours before they actually made their move.  We were disappointed, but understood that we needed to move on.

This next picture is out of order as it belongs with the first picture, but I wanted to include this baby with his mother.  They are so much fun to watch.

There are so many pictures I didn't include.  With a slow internet connection, it takes a lot of time to upload pictures.  So I hope you enjoyed what I did include.  I feel so blessed to live here, doing what God called me to do, but also in a position to enjoy His creation!

Ooleserian Literacy Graduation

On Saturday, June 11, we celebrated with 11 lovely Maasai women as they completed our first adult literacy class of 2011. The church shown below hosted the classes, and the pastor of the church, Pastor Richard, was their teacher.

Due to the fact that I am in the states undergoing cancer treatment, my faithful board members carried on without me and made sure the day was a huge success. A big thank you to Joanna, Jeremy, Pastor Paul, and James and visiting Global missionary, Denise. As they entered the church they saw the ladies' worksheets proudly displayed.

This is Pastor Richard. He is a Maasai from that community and has a great love for his people.

As is customary when visitors attend a gathering, each of the Starfish representatives were given an opportunity to share. Here we see James Weche addressing the crowd.

This lady is Hellen and she is the class representative. They would all share if given the opportunity, but given the time restraints of the program, we always ask for one lady to share the thoughts and hearts of the class. She said "I can open the Bible anywhere and read God's Word. All the Bible is open to me and I can also write my name." We truly take alot for granted, but this was huge for these ladies.

Pastor Paul Ochilo (left) preaches, while Jeremiah (Jeremy) translates.

We always make official certificates for the students to have so they can show others they have completed the literacy training. Joanna stands with each student and Pastor/Teacher Richard as the certificates are awarded. This beautiful lady is Damaris Kaikat

Hellen Parsapayat

Josephine Sammy. Most likely she is married to a man named Sammy. Many of these women don't have official identifications or birth certificates, so they take on the names of their husbands.

Joyce Muntet

Joyce Nina

Lucy Ilanet

Madaline Maseker

Maria Kurraru

Rohda Joseph

The entire class with the certificates

Its always a joy to watch them share their work with the families. The children are thrilled their mom's are learning to read and do math.

We handed out gifts for all the graduates which included a new wrap (lesso) and a goodie bag consisting of toiletries. However, it sometimes backfires on us and there are items in the goodie bags that require explanation. One of the ladies got hair conditioner. Since most of them shave their heads or at the very least cut their hair very closely, it was a difficult explanation. Denise was imaginative when she told the lady the product would make her head soft.

Then of course they had no concept of dental floss! Denise had to demonstrate. You can see how fascinated they were with this demo. Thank you Denise!

Our group - minus James the photographer -- stood on the platform while the class presented them with thanks and gifts.

No celebration is complete without a cake. Joanna's neighbor graciously baked this lovely cake for our special day.

Cutting the cake is a very special thing and highly anticipated.

Joanna was blessed to see the men serving the cake. Maasai men typically expect the women to do the serving, but in Christian circles, more and more we are seeing these servant gentlemen taking on that role. Such a blessing.

Pastor Richard serves his students.

The ladies enjoying their cake and chai (hot tea)

We don't always have a meal at these celebrations, but this group wanted to share lunch with our group. What you see pictured here is their kitchen. Joanna shared with me that the ladies from this community always wear matching lessos (wraps) for special occasions.

Hand-washing time before the meal.

Yum! One of my favorites. Stew and chapatis (sort of like flour tortillas)

This picture made me cry with tears of joy and longing. Its a little hard to see what they are doing, but when Joanna told them I send them my greetings, they cross their arms over their hearts as a sign that they received my greetings. Wow. Very special indeed!

Olopolis Primary School, Kisames Kenya

I love happy occasions! This week I got to experience one of those when Starfish Charities delivered books to a Government Primary School near our property. (For the "back story", please read the blog entry from August 2010.) Our container full of books arrived in October while I was in the states. Jeremiah and I spent the end of December and much of January sorting books so we would only give them age appropriate reading materials. The problem with sorting books is that I wanted to read every one of them! I love to read.

This is how we found the library building when we first went. The empty shelves were heartbreaking.

One of the teachers, Esther, had a desire for a library at this school. She cleaned this building the best she could, and organized the few books they had. However, all her efforts didn't produce the result she wanted for these children. So, she started praying -- asking God to send someone to help make this happen. God is so amazing. After reading the intro of the August 2010 post you will realize that Kathleen started collecting books to be sent to this library two years ago. God already had a plan.

James and Gregory went right to work preparing to plaster the walls so they could have a smooth surface to paint.
Voila! That ugly gray became sunshine yellow! What a difference a few coats of paint made in that room.
In Kenya, the blackboard is really just part of the wall painted black with paint that is actually called "Blackboard Paint". Now instead of the grey board they had when we started, they now have a shiny new blackboard.

On February 17, I went with four Starfish board members to deliver the books and officially hand them over. We asked for a few minutes of their time so we could take pictures. "Our" plan was to hand them over, allow them time to get them organized on the shelves, then come back at a later date for the official event. This is Kenya! Anything good is cause for a celebration.

This gentleman is the head teacher

Our short program turned into a three hour event. They brought in desks, invited all their school committee officials, chairman, and teachers. Each person was invited to introduce themselves and share what was on their heart.

When my turn came, I shared the story about Kathleen in Texas who started the book collection as a school project. (Jeremiah is interpreting for me. He talks with his hands as much as I do!)

These are the committee members along with head teacher.

From left to right are Jeremiah, Pastor Paul, me, Joanna, and James. We are five of eight board members for Starfish Charities.

We were fascinated when this Maasai man began handing out sodas. They didn't have a bottle opener, so he used one capped bottle to open the other one. Amazing. He didn't chip a single bottle.

On the table is a platter of boiled goat meat! Anything worth celebrating is worth having (1) meat (2) bread, and (3) sodas. These are things they don't get to buy often because of cost.

Ruth and I were sifting through the boxes. The teachers were so excited. I can only imagine how thrilled the children are going to be.

And speaking of children. They are the reason for it all. These precious lives are so worth investing in. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving to my ministry so we can pass on the blessings to these precious lives. This is an investment in their future. Thank you for helping me make a difference.....one life at a time!