I was able to recruit 4 strategic Maasai people to write 3 lessons each. Half the writers are men and half are women. Each writer will focus on a research group:
Confirmation students, written by a pastor who teaches confirmation (and former teacher at the lay pastor training institute);
Form 2 biology students (8th grade equivalent), written by a biology teacher, with the permission from the head of school;
Mamas’ groups, written by a Maasai pastor and theologian; and
Lay pastors, written by a Maasai pastor and theologian who is the director of the lay pastor training institute.
I had 2 writing workshops this week. The first one was in my home. The two writing for adults happen to be the women and located on the Tumaini University Makumira campus. This is good for any follow-up collaboration between them. The two men writers are located in Monduli, where I plan to do fieldwork with the first 3 groups identified above.
The writers are being paid for their time, which is important for me. I don’t want to do “extractive” research. This project is meant to be a blessing, which includes financial support.
I am so grateful to have writers eager to join me in this project and bring their expertise and knowledge of the Maasai community.
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
One of the challenges of many projects is that the outside funders do not understand the local culture. Thus, projects often end up not meeting the expected outcomes—especially in the long term. For example, when I taught at the MaaSae Girls Lutheran Secondary School (MGLSS) 20 years ago, there had been a recent project by Belgians that developed 2 water reservoirs close to the MGLSS campus. It had 2 reservoirs, with the upper one fenced and meant for water for humans. The lower reservoir was for watering cattle. I was told that within a few weeks after the reservoirs were finished building, the fence was gone. It seems to be seen as an available resource, because the fence didn’t make sense to the Maasai. The silt slowly filled in the reservoirs, and within a couple years, there was no identifiable reservoir left to be seen.
So, hearing stories like this, I knew that my project needed to be developed with a sense of ownership by the Maasai. The challenge for me is that I lose control! I open up the project to aspects that I can’t manage. But if I didn’t, then it wouldn’t foster the opportunity for buy-in. My favorite leadership principle is, “People support what they help create.”
To nurture ownership by the Maasai, I established a group of stakeholders. I am absolutely amazed at God’s providence for providing a group of Maasai leaders who were all eager to be part of the stakeholder group. With some providential networking, the group includes (all Maasa):
The Vice Chancellor of Tumaini University Makumira, my local collaborative partner supervisor;
A representative of Bishop Godson Abel, of the North Central Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (choosing to send a representative instead of the invitation to participate directly);
A PhD in anthropology (Canada) and professor at a local college, who also was a leader at World Vision Tanzania;
A former minister of parliament;
A woman who is probably the first PhD in environmental science with a specialization in climate science (Univ. of Geneva);
The director of the theological education program for lay pastors—one of my research groups;
A woman who has a bachelor’s degree in environmental management and has represented the Maasai at an international climate change conference in Nairobi, as well as represented the Maasai at the UN in New York, who is also an MGLSS alumna; and
A Maasai mama who lives in the traditional boma (family settlement with stick, mud, and cow dung huts). It was important for me to have representative from a mama, as the mama is the center of the family, and if you teach the mama, then the whole family will learn. I plan to do research with the women’s cooperative where she is a leader. It is important that the mamas develop a sense of trust with the project. This mama is wonderful and able to speak her mind in the midst of some fancy and educated people!
The group is 50% women!
The stakeholder group
In addition, my project supervisor, Knut Holter, arrived from Norway to connect the project with VID Specialized University and the history of supporting biblical and theological education in Tanzania (and other places in Africa).
Rev. Prof. Dr. Knut Holter and Rev. Prof. Dr. Joseph Parsalaw
The day started with devotions facilitated by Vice Chancellor Parsalaw and continued with an overview of the project.
I started the overview of the project for the stakeholders by holding up a calabash (a gourd), which is found in every traditional Maasai home, as they are used for milking cows directly from udder to calabash. Then, the calabash is shared and is a blessing to the family. I said that the EU is giving me an opportunity to be a blessing to the Maasai, but it is like this calabash—an empty shell. It will only be a true blessing when it is filled with Maasai values, Maasai traditional knowledge on creation care, and Maasai wisdom. So, the stakeholders will be filling the calabash with the content that will determine the direction of the project.
The main goals for the day was for the stakeholders to:
Determine the core values for the project;
Establish the learning outcomes for 3 lessons.
It was a full day! I was so pleased that the stakeholders were diligent in their tasks.
As we were debriefing at the end of the day, there were 2 important of many constructive comments.
One person was concerned that things would be lost in translation from Norwegian, to English, to Kiswahili or Kimaasai. So, I had the opportunity to clarify that I’m not writing the lessons, but there will be Maasai writers. (Also, I won’t be teaching the lessons, as it is better to empower a teacher who can use the lessons over and over!) So, another person said, “So, it is Maasai talking to Maasai!” Yes! This is a sense of the ownership needed for the project to have a chance of being successful.
Then, one stakeholder said, “But this is important, and two confirmation classes, and two Form 2 biology lessons, etc., is not enough! We need this all over Maasailand!” I said that I’m so encouraged to hear this! Yes, it is not enough, as this is basically a pilot project to develop and test the content. But this is why we have a representative from the bishop’s office. If the message gets back to the Diocese office how important this is, then it will be used throughout all the confirmation classes in Maasailand, all the Form 2 biology classes in Diocese schools, all the trainings for the lay pastors, etc. Hallelujah! The value of the project has been affirmed by Maasai stakeholders.
If you want to read the stakeholder core values and learning outcomes, you can read them at https://www.mamaanya.com/writing-research-resources/. The stakeholders will meet again 16 Sept. to review the lessons developed by the Maasai writers.
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
