Rev. Dr. Suzana Sitayo does a wonderful job teaching the lessons. She wrote the lessons, and this is the third time she has taught them.
The lay pastors in training are actively engaged, diligent in their note taking, and sit for most of the day on uncomfortable slatted bottom pews. (I’ve learned to bring a camping sitting pad along or grab a plastic chair!)
This was a very Maasai context (note the traditional Maasai earlobes below). There are even two sons of the local traditional Maasai shaman in the group, who in the lessons affirmed the power of the Holy Spirit as the only power for good.
This is another area where the government has been recategorizing the traditional Maasai grazing lands to be conservation areas that end up as private hunting grounds for the royal family of Dubai. (See Gardner, Benjamin. Selling the Serengeti: The Cultural Politics of Safari Tourism. Athens, London: University of Georgia Press, 2016.)
So, I asked questions to the district pastor how he guides the local churches. We had a long conversation, but to summarize: First, we tell the people to be peaceful. Second, we pray. Prayer is our power. In addition, there are people who are raising up, especially lawyers, who are not selling out to privileged government positions meant to keep them quiet. So, we have hope because God hears our prayers.
While in Wasso, I heard from Suzana that one the older students has a daughter in her early 20s. A health issue resulted in not being able to conceive with her husband, so the husband’s family rejected her and sent her back to her father, but she remains stigmatized in her community. She was helping to teach confirmation with her father, which she was enjoying. So, he was wondering if there was an opportunity for her to be equipped to be a lay pastor. When I heard this, first, I was so moved at the depth of compassion of this father toward his daughter. In a patriarchal Maasai society, this is not so common. Then, I said to Suzana, the scholarship in my husband’s name is to support lay pastors’ children in their schooling. I will get her funded. Finally, I said to Suzana, that I appreciate her wisdom, as she makes it possible for me to be a better blessing. The needs are innumerable, so having Suzana’s wisdom to know how to strategically be a blessing is important. She understands the culture and circumstances in order to determine priorities.
Please also pray for Suzana, as just a couple days ago, her grandfather passed away.
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
I am grateful for Rev. Dr. Suzana Sitayo, the Principal of Oldonyosambu Theological College (OTC), the center for training lay pastors (called evangelists in the ELCT) through theological education by extension (TEE). Suzana has incorporated the lessons that were developed for the research project that I am facilitating. Suzana is the writer and teacher of the lessons for the TEE students.
In addition to coming to OTC a couple times per year, the TEE teachers go to areas within the large North Central Diocese for additional teaching in a more local area.
Previously, I was in Kibay, a 7-hour drive to the south for the TEE training. This time, I was in Wasso, a 7-hour drive to the north through the absolutely gorgeous area between Oldoinyo Lengai (the “Mountain of God” in the Maasai language) and Lake Natron, a soda lake complete with flamingos. It is a long, dusty, bumpy, and hot drive, but I loved it. I feel so privileged to be able to be here, invited by Maasai friends.
We brought along the district pastor, bringing him back home. But I realized that because I wasn’t a Tanzanian citizen, I would have to pay a daily fee to enter into a conservation area (revenue for hunting safaris). Several years ago, when I brought my home church group in partnership with Rev. Nangole, he arranged for a waiver for the entrance fees, as this was church business. So, we were not only able to avoid the fee for church business, we were able to provide a ride home for the district pastor who did the talking at the gate.
He also arranged for us to have lunch at a church along the way. It was the church at Engersero, at the base of Oldoinyo Lenga (a volcano—not dormant—not erupting; “The Weirdest Volcano in the Word”).
One of the most amazing days of my life was here in 2008, when we were welcomed with a parade of singing and dancing Maasai warriors and a church choir! My home church was helping them to build a building, as their stick and mud church was literally held up by a log holding up the tilting wall! Amazingly, it still is standing!
Now, there is a beautiful church.
I told them the story of being here in 2008 and 2016, and the wonderful memories of the amazing welcome that day. One of the young women in our 2008 group said it was the most amazing day of her life!
Pray for this community, as traditional grazing lands are at risk from government plans!
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
My research sites are predominantly in places where I am known and trusted, because relationships are vital. It is false to think that one can be a neutral unbiased researcher for many reasons (no one is neutral and hermeneutical philosopher, Hans-Georg Gadamer, say that our non-neutral interests motivate us to ask questions, but I won’t bore you with this right now). In addition, without a relationship, there would be a natural protective response by the research participants, especially when a white person (mzungu) comes and asks questions in a Western mode (a paper survey). Now there is another risk on the other side of the pendulum swing, that the research participants will subconsciously reply with information that they think I want to hear. So, each survey introduction has a statement to indicate that the best response—what I would like to know—is your perspective or opinion.
However, there is another challenge; paper surveys are very difficult for women who have never had the opportunity to go to school and do not read or write. Many researchers (and early anthropologists) would stick to getting information from those who are literate and speak the lingua franca of this country, Kiswahili, which means that until the last decade or two, the research participants would be men. However, I am committed to the struggle to find ways to include Maasai women’s voices. With the help of Bethany, the long-term ELCA missionary (who is the facilitator of the Naapok Women’s Cooperative), we figured out a plan for the pre-lesson survey that would be respectful and culturally sensitive. We could not do paper surveys for women who do not even sign their name with a pen, but rather, they make a thumb print. The plan Bethany and I developed was for one of my stakeholders, Julius, is from Ketumbeine (a referral from Bethany) would orally present the questions and discuss the question as a group. Their whole community and work as a cooperative is done as a group. Julius is trusted, as he helped the women develop their constitution. So, Julius went prior to the day of lessons and met with the Naapok women for 2 hours and then wrote up a report.
It sounds like there was some discussion about the terminology that was new to them. (Yes, I’ve worked with my stakeholders to develop climate science terminology that would be consistent for the 3 different writers in 2 languages (Kiswahili and Maa). So, this protocol is different from what was done for the other groups who had at least primary school and could read and write. With the appropriate explanations of the divergent process, I see that the greater good is that the lessons are taught in a way that the women can be informed and create the space for them to discuss the concepts.
Unfortunately, Suzana (the writer of the lessons) was sent with short notice to the capital for an important meeting for her primary job. For the sake of calendars, Bethany and I decided to call upon Julius again. His master’s degree is in geography and environmental management, and he has professional experience with environmental NGOs (in addition to being a great guy—and tri-lingual with English, Kisawhili, and Maa). So, I left my house early, picked up Julius along the way, and arrived in Ketumbeine for a lovely day with the Naapok women.
The lessons are developed to engage active learners with good opportunities for small group discussions and reporting. We made sure there was one who could read and write in each group.
While there is too much to relay from the day, here are three important developments.
First, in working with developing the lessons with Suzana, we realized that “the greenhouse effect” was actually a distraction from the content as these people have never seen a greenhouse. So, it would take a huge effort to explain a greenhouse to then abstract it in the metaphor. Thus, we’ve been using the “blanket effect.” The Maasai are known for their blankets, and my flipchart picture has a Maasai blanket keeping in the “planet warming gases.” Julius, a good Maasai, had his Maasai blanket which was used for a visual demonstration! Of course, I got a picture!
Second, one woman asked, “Why should we be concerned about taking care of the environment, because the government is just going to take away our land.” Oh, this makes my heart ache for the Maasai. Yes, the government is eager to take Maasai land through weaponizing conservation as a ruse to increase tourism revenues, especially lucrative hunting safaris. (See McCrummen, Stephanie. “‘This Will Finish Us:’ How Gulf Princes, the Safari Industry, and Conservation Groups Are Displacing the Maasai from the Last of Their Serengeti Homeland.” The Atlantic, 8 April 2024.)
Julius invited me to respond. I said (which was translated to Maa), “First, God has commissioned us to care for God’s creation. It is first God’s creation. Second, many Maasai are working together to protect traditional Maasai lands, and it is making a difference.” It became understood that the women are being left out of the conversations. The men are in seemingly endlessly talking about how to protect their lands and are in dialogue with the local leaders, but the information about the meetings and what is said is not being passed onto the women. So, Julius, who has been in some of the dialogues was able to bring in some of the information. How discouraging it must be to be marginalized within your own community due to the patriarchal structures. Traditionally, the men think of the women as being like children and not having the mental acuity to engage in the important discussions.
Thus, these lessons were not only important for the content of creation care in a Maasai context (integrating biblical creation care, traditional environmental knowledge, and climate science), but this day ended up equipping the women with information to be stronger participants in their own community and a bit of empowerment to be able to engage in the dialogues with the men on issues that have a huge effect upon their and their children’s lives.
Finally, at the end of the sessions, one of the women stood up—of her own initiative—and said that these lessons were very important. These lessons need to be shared farther with the other women and even with the men! Bethany turned to me, with the translation, and said then commented, “There could not be a better compliment than this!”
So, yes, it takes more effort to engage the women who were never given an opportunity to go to school, but as one of my students, Rebecca, at the MaaSae Girls Lutheran Secondary School taught me: “If you teach the mama, the whole family will learn!” Yes, the research protocol is messy for this group, but the greatest good is being a blessing to the women—not me trying to get clean research data. Bethany confirmed that this was a blessing for the women. Hallelujah!
P.S.: And it is pretty cool going to Ketumbeine, where we get to see elephants, giraffe, hyena, impala, etc.!
P.S.S: I paid for a car wash also with a rental of my friend car. Thanks Laurie!
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
Hallelujah! I wrote 2 grants that raised $54,000 to build a mothers’ hostel at the Oldonyosambu Theological College.
I recruited Rev. Dr. Suzana Sitayo to be a stakeholder on my research project, as in addition to being on the faculty at Tumaini University Makumira (TUMA), she is also principal of Oldonyosambu Theological College (OTC), which focuses on training the lay pastors for the North Central Diocese of the ELCT, a predominantly Maasai area. The training is mostly through theological education by extension (TEE), but twice a year, the student come for a week or so at OTC.
However, this residential visit is very difficult for mamas, because there isn’t adequate housing. The dormitory-style housing was built for men by the German missionaries many decades ago. But in Maasailand, all the women in the village are married and then are raising children. Each child is nursed for 2-3 years, and the next child comes with the next round of nursing. So, it is very difficult for Maasai women to access theological education in order to be equipped as a lay pastor and serve their church community. This is one of the few opportunities for rural Maasai women to have opportunities beyond being a mama.
Thus, Suzana’s idea was to build a mothers’ hostel, where a few en-suite rooms are available with an extra bed for a family member attendant. This may be a grandma or a sister with her own young child. The TEE student can breastfeed during the breaks. We hope that within 1 year, we will have our mother’s hostel ready. A quarter of the planned project is funded by the Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church Endowment Foundation in Decatur, IL. And three-quarters is funded by the Lund Missionary Society in Sweden, with Operation Bootstrap Africa (OBA) willing to serve as the project manager. OBA has experience with brining construction projects to successful completion.
There will be still a need to furnish the rooms for the mamas, and I’m hoping to get solar panels for the college. So, I continue to pray and think innovatively.
In summary, this is more than a building project; it is a women’s empowerment opportunity in a very patriarchal society! This hostel resource will provide access to mamas to live out their calling as a minister of the gospel and serve their church and communities. Thus, we celebrate with Hallelujah’s for the generosity of the FELCEF and the Lund Mission Society.
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
Four days later, I’m back in Monduli for another fieldwork site visit at Lendikinya, a village in the rural parts of the Monduli Parish. The focus this day is on confirmation, with lessons written and taught by Rev. Megiroo, the lead pastor of the Parish.
We arrived to hearing the students singing in the church. I love the rural Maasai churches where simple structures provide protection from the intense sun and—later today—a deluge of rain with a powerful windstorm.
The students were well discipline, beyond what I would expect for 4-6th graders. They engaged with a sort of call-and-response fill in the blank as well as eagerly raising hands and standing when called upon to give an answer or comment.
The small groups gathered in tight huddles to read the Bible. I’m sure there was limited oxygen at the core as they were packed so tightly!
During the last lesson—after a lovely lunch with soda (again in glass bottles)—a rainstorm quicky came up upon the church with a corrugated tin roof. The tin sheets were recycled, as you could see the holes left from being nailed down in a previous installation. Rev. Megiroo told me, “If we don’t leave quickly, we’ll be sleeping here tonight!” So, he wrapped up the session quickly. Though, we still had to take the post-lesson survey, which is a key part of this research project. As the rain pelted the tin roof, the research assistant, Joseph, had to gather the students close and yell out the survey questions (in our model of a spoken survey, which works better with the Maasai). The wind forcing open the door and spraying in rain encouraged the students to get closer to Joseph in the front.
When we drove to the church, we precariously drove through 3 dry creek beds. Now with the downpour of rain, they seemed impassable with various amounts of water and sticky, gumbo mud. Amazingly, Rev. Megiroo skillfully drove the 4-wheel drive vehicle through the creek beds and up the other side. I didn’t think the last one was possible!
It was another wonderful day to see the students eagerly engaging the lessons and sharing at the end that these were good lessons with important information for them. In addition, I was pleased to see the evangelist who hosted us. He is a friend from 23 years ago. In fact, he was a good friend of Eric, my late husband. This friendship was part of the impetus to establish the Eric Hanson Memorial Scholarship, which was set up for the district pastor at that time to identify evangelists children for further studies and get them in enrolled in a co-ed Lutheran secondary school in Monduli. Now, I’m also able to get girls enrolled in the MaaSae Girls Lutheran Secondary School. In addition, one is a young woman studying to be a pastor at a Bible college. This is a great way for our family to honor Eric (as we make donations to the scholarship fund instead of giving Christmas and birthday gifts). The scholarship is managed by Operation Bootstrap Africa, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
Another surprise of the day was wonderful food. Most often in Maasailand, I take as little meat as possible, because typically, the meat is chewy, gristle-ly, or connected to huge chunks of fat (though I am trying to be a reducitarian and reduce the consumption of meat, I am glad that I can be an easy guest in Maasailand). However, today, the meat was lean and tender, and the stew sauce was one of the best I’ve had. I praised the cook profusely!
The village church is in the midst of a building project. As funds are raised, they buy more building materials, so building projects can take a decade or more. As I talked with the pastor about the $500 donation as a research site, it seemed good to us that the money goes to support their church building project. That is my primary goal of this project—to be a blessing.
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
One of the challenges of living in TZ is that there are so many palpable needs. Some of the most vulnerable are widows. In many patrilineal societies, the widow’s in-laws can take all the property of the grieving widow without recourse, leaving the widow in destitute poverty.
I learned about this from a pastor friend, Hoyce, with whom I was invited to join her in developing a paper on this concern and the role of the church in caring for widows. I brought in a section on a remedy through legal aid. I learned that IF there is a will, then the widow and her property are protected by Tanzanian laws, which are actually rather good (though it is the husband that writes the will!).
For the paper’s research, I met with a lawyer, who is a widow’s son and knows personally this story of predatory in-laws, which motivated him to become an attorney when he realized that the courts can protect these widows. So, with a bit of support from me, he has started an NGO, the Hope for Widows Initiative. The strategy is providing free templates to write wills with current information from the Tanzanian legal codes for couples (husbands!) to develop a will. Additional legal aid is available on a sliding scale, with those able to pay a modest fee makes it possible to provide pro-bono aid for the poorest.
However, one of the challenges is the taboo against writing wills. This is seen as cursing oneself to die, as only the dying write wills in many traditional understandings. So, in addition to some good theological teaching by the church, the other strategy is to develop a “joint declaration of marital property.” This is not technically a taboo invoking act! Yet, the joint declaration is not idea, as wills are officially registered with the government. Still, a joint declaration is enforceable through the courts of law.
This attorney is also a professor at Tumaini University Makumira, so one plan is to equip all the law students at TUMA to help family members to write wills when they go home during the breaks. We will also work through church networks—where the theological teachings that Hoyce developed—can be used to counteract the sense of taboo. The information and forms are currently online at: https://www.mamaanya.com/hope-for-widows/ but the DRAFT dedicated website is under development at: https://hope4widowstz.org/
Next month, we will gather those from the widows groups who will benefit from writing wills to protect their remaining assets for their children from further challenges from the in-laws.
Pray for the widows of Tanzania!
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
What is the collective noun for a group of widows? A comfort of widows might be appropriate.
The fourth fieldwork site gathered 2 of 7 widows groups of the Amazing Grace Widows and Orphans Tanzania NGO. Each group is comprised of about 30 women. I’ve gotten to know the director, Winney, through my Monduli network. She was very eager to host my research project as a means of letting the widows know that they are valued.
With about 60 women in attendance, Rev. Dr. Suzana Sitayo taught a revised version of the lessons she developed for lay pastors in training, but now, with a focus on women in a Maasai context.
While only 12% of those present were Maasai, Suzana did a masterful job of brining the Maasai women together in a strategic way to address the research goals of equipping the Maasai community with best practices of climate change mitigation and adaptation.
All present were blessed—and challenged—with the information that includes biblical creation care, traditional environmental knowledge, and climate science. All the active participants received a small thank you gift.
One of the teaching points engages in the climate and health problems of plastic. Plastic production and disposal is responsible for 5% of global carbon dioxide production, and 50% of this amount is single use plastics. So, one small but significant ways to mitigate climate change is reduce plastic drinking bottles.
One practical way in a Maasai context is to return to the traditional use of gourds. There is a bit of charcoal used to sterilize the gourds when cleaning, but the other huge benefit of using gourds is that there are horrible health problems connected with plastics. First, there are chemicals leaching into the water (within 24 hours). Second, there are nanoparticles that are entering all the body’s organs, including passing the blood-brain barrier and lodging in the brain. There is a 50% increase of plastics in the brain since 2016. (Nihart, Alexander J., Marcus A. Garcia, Eliane El Hayek, Rui Liu, Marian Olewine, Josiah D. Kingston, Eliseo F. Castillo, Rama R. Gullapalli, Tamara Howard, et al. “Bioaccumulation of Microplastics in Decedent Human Brains.” Nat Med (2025): 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03453-1; LaMotte, Sandee.)
While simplifying the message for widows, the majority of whom did not have the opportunity to go to primary school, it was clear on the faces o the women that this scientific message was new to them. I was struck with how this information is so important for health, but where else would they hear it? The majority of the widows to not read or write. It is humbling to see a woman gingerly hold a pen to the research consent form and focus diligently on writing a few letters to indicate her name, sometimes with the help of a neighbor.
The women had a simple catered meal with sodas (in returnable glass bottles). At the end of our time, I relayed that I am also a widow, and Suzana said a lovely prayer for all the widows. Afterwards, they joined for a picture and sending us off with blessings and a song.
A final note: Each research site receives a $500 gift for administrative overhead. The funds are wired directly to their bank accounts (schools and NGOs), so that their organization’s financial practices reduce the risk that it is misappropriated. Then, the leadership can determine the best way of using the funds in alignment with their institutional mission.
Pray for the widows of Tanzania!
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
On Wednesday, Rev. Dr. Suzana Sitayo (henceforth Suzana), taught the three lessons for my research project. This is the third fieldwork site and the third teacher. I have thought that this might be seen from some as a design flaw, as there is a significant amount of variability: three teachers writing lessons for 4 target research groups. However, one of the project’s goals is to evaluate which of the 4 research groups demonstrates effectiveness is the learning outcomes. With very limited resources in this context, the goal is to identify the stronger use of limited resources in the future.
The group of 15 students in Kibaya is the first group of adults, as lay pastors in training. In addition, it was the first group with Kiswahili surveys. Yes, another potential research design issue, but again, there are three languages used in this context: English in secondary school, Kiswahili as the lingua franca, and Maa is the language that is dominant in the rural areas. So, if I am evaluating the effectiveness of these lessons in the target groups, the appropriate language needs to be used.
Suzana teaching (my quick drawing of an ecosystem).
In this Kiswahili context with students—who few if any attended secondary school—it was clear that the survey question: “What is the cause of the “greenhouse effect?” was not going to work. No one has seen a greenhouse! So, it would take so much effort to teach what a greenhouse is in order to use it metaphorically. This is a cognitive leap. So, in talking about this with Suzana, we decided that the metaphor of a blanket of these planet warming gases (not greenhouse gases) is keeping in the heat from the sun and warming up the earth.
The students sat on uncomfortable pews (three slats instead of a solid seat) each day. Yet, they were very attentive, actively taking notes, and asking insightful questions. Suzana said that she was excited to teach the lessons, especially the third one on climate science. I asked why. She replied that the first two lessons—biblical creation care and Maasai traditional environmental knowledge and its correlation with biblical creation care—were lessons where they had some foundational knowledge, but the climate science appropriate for pastoralist Maasai would be new knowledge.
Students are engaged and taking good notes.
One of my pet peeves that also relates to climate change (and environmental and human health) is burning plastic that releases CO2 (a planet warming gas, as plastic production and burning are linked to 5% of what is causing climate change) and toxic chemicals.
A view of plastic garbage while en route
A quick look at a survey question with pre- and post-lesson responses is that there was a significant shift in understanding. For the Likert scale question—“I believe that burning plastic drinking bottles is a good way to reduce trash in the environment.”—in the pre-lesson survey, 20% strongly disagreed or disagreed, and in the post-lesson survey, 67% strongly disagreed or disagreed. A 47% change in only 3 lessons! Still it is not 100%, which we would like to see. However, there is a practical issue. So, what are they supposed to do with plastic bottles? In the urban areas, there are recycling centers, but these are not funded by the government. There is no recycling in the rural areas. Well, we start by reducing. So, I make sure that when I buy sodas as part of a thank you gift for the research participants, I buy crates of sodas with glass bottles. I’m even wondering if I can find a connection with Coca-Cola Tanzania and suggest that they produce bottled water (there is bottled soda water). All plain drinking water is sold in plastic bottles. UGH! So, if Coca-Cola would bottle drinking water and sell it for just a bit cheaper than the plastic bottled water, they would not only expand their market into the drinking water market, but they could develop their “green” profile and market this (though they do sell soda in plastic bottles too). I have given up drinking Coke Zero at restaurants in Tanzania, as it only comes in plastic bottles, and I’m not sure if restaurants are recycling.
It is easy to say stop buying plastic bottles, but it is hard to have a replacement for safe drinking water. So, I pack my water filter and fill my own water bottle and offer to fill in water bottles for others. However, few have their own water bottle, like is pretty common in the USA and Sweden, so I think I will give gifts of stainless steel water bottles to my friends here! Now, if they boil (and cool) tap water on an electric stove, this is not so bad, as there is a lot of hydro power in Tanzania. But in the more rural areas, food is cooked and water is boiled with wood, charcoal, or propane—all emitting planet warming gases. Oh, it is not easy!
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
Before sunrise on Monday, 24 February, I was picked up by a North Central Diocese—ELCT (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania) Land Cruiser driven by the most senior driver for the Diocese. The vehicle already had Rev. Dr. Suzana Sitayo and Rev. Ezekiel Lemaso inside. Sitayo and Lemaso are both Stakeholders for my research project. Also, Sitayo is a writer of lessons for the lay pastors in training (called evangelists in the ELCT) and for women’s groups, and she will be the teacher of the lessons. In addition to being on the theology faculty at TUMA, Sitayo is the Principal of Oldonyosambu Theological College (OTC), the center for training evangelists through theological education by extension (TEE). Lemaso is the academic dean for OTC, and he is the bishop’s representative to my research project. So, I know them from Stakeholder Meetings, but also from an early February time at OTC where retired missionary, Jean Wahlstrom, and I lead two days of pedagogy workshops for the teachers at OTC.
I was given the front seat as the guest, but also because along the 6–7 hour drive south, we picked up several TEE students for the week of lessons in Kibaya. I was glad to have a seatbelt in the bumpy roads. Along the way, we saw zebra, wildebeest, dikdik, guinea hens, impala, Thompson’s gazelles, and some beautiful scenery in the middle of nowhere—on a dusty and hot drive.
Too fast to photograph wild animals, but we had to slow down for the cows in the road.
The road to Kibaya
The 6–7 hour drive was filled with laughter between Sitayo and Lemaso! I have never been with adults who laughed so much! Maybe silly teenagers or inebriated young adults but not grown-ups! What joy! What a great friendship these two coworkers have.
Lots of laughter on the way
On the way down south, we stopped at Orkesumet, where Suzana led a session to train Christian education workers. A group of about 30 people are learning how to be teachers of the Christian faith. I was able to encourage them with this important role and pray for them. I told them a story about my Christian education teacher at Bible college, Josee. When I returned to the college on staff, I got to know Josee, as we would go to art exhibits and do some kayaking, as well as being prayer partners. I learned that my saintly Christian ed teacher came from a pretty messed up family. So, I asked how she escaped the same fate of so many family members with difficult life situations. She said that a neighbor invited her to go to church with her, and the Sunday school teacher showed her love and helped her know the love of Jesus. It changed her life! She spent the rest of her life equipping others to be Christian education church workers and teaching Sunday school teachers, because she know personally what a difference Sunday school can make! So, I encouraged the students in Orkesumet that they have an important role to love their students and show them Jesus’s love. They can be used by the Holy Spirit to change lives.
On the way out of town, we stopped for nyama choma, roasted meat and ugali. I found some good pieces to eat (there are some gristly chunks), and some were surprised that I could eat ugali with my hands. (Travel tip: keep dental floss handy for after nyama choma.)
The rest of the week’s meals were eaten at the Lutheran church in Kibaya, using extra chairs in the pastor’s office as a table. The food was good and typical Tanzanian food: breakfast of chapati, hardboiled eggs, mandazi (like a doughnut); lunches and dinners of rice or ugali with meat stews, some boiled mchicha (like spinach).
I was offered the big room in the guest house, for which I paid Tsh 15,000 ($5.72) per night. It was the only guest house I have been to where toilet paper was not provided. When I asked for some, the guy said wait a bit, as he had to go a buy some for me! It was a small bathroom, but I made it work with a scooch around the door to get to the sink. The width of the room was less than the distance of my elbow to elbow.
I bring my own water filter (gravity fed purification from tap water hung in a bag) to reduce plastic bottles, so I at each place, I have to figure out how to hang the filter. Often the bars on the windows are the solution. However, this bathroom had a solid hook on the back of the bathroom door (another scooch around the door) that kept it out of the shower splash zone, as the shower was in the middle of the small room without any shower curtain. Any overflow, would just go down the drain in the floor rather than puddle under a window in the room.
I slept well in my queen-sized bed (I did check for bed bugs), but aided with a small travel fan, eye mask, and earplugs.
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
The estimate was that there would be about 30 people from the USA coming for the MGLSS 30th anniversary. It was about 25, but still, this is an turnout to celebrate a school that many didn’t think would last.
In 1994, they could find only 24 Maasai girls in secondary school in the entire nation out of a people group that was estimated to be about 300,000 at that time. Traditionally, the Maasai marry off their daughters in exchange for cows when menstruation starts. This has more recently been after primary school, due to governmental protections of girls IF they are enrolled in school.
Twenty years ago, one primary school principal in a rural Maasai area told me of how he brought his daughter and two classmates to his home after the last day of the national exams for the last year’s students. He described the 10 or so warriors with spears surrounding his house, who were sent by the promised husbands of these girls. Traditionally, the fathers make wedding arrangements for their daughters and the girls have no say in who or when they will marry.
The school principal watched for the warriors to fall asleep, and he quietly snuck the girls out of his house and into his car. With the start of the engine, the warriors awoke, but the principal was flooring the car to get away to Monduli, where he brought the three girls to be part of the very first class in 1995.
Amazing alumni from the first years of MGLSS, including Jane, the first acting head of the school.
A celebratory parade to launch the celebration.
The stories are amazing of transformation to doctors, lawyers, journalists, engineers, architects, teachers, a district commissioner (like a governor), and even a pilot. While the fancy positions are amazing, I think that the biggest transformation is ongoing, as hundreds of MGLSS alumni are now teachers in rural Maasailand inspiring Maasai girls with the power of education!
I am with MGLSS alumni, Elisifa (now the matron of the school with a bachelor’s degree in social work), and Theresia (a medical doctor), and former teacher and chaplain, retired ELCA missionary, Jean Wahlstrom.
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
