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!
Teacher Lais engages students in the lessons. He is a great teacher!
Students read the Bible in the biblical creation care lesson.
The post-lesson survey is picked up by a student who identifies her animal. This is an anonymous way to track individuals with an easy way to remember, instead of a randomly generated number.
The students enjoy soda and a muffin during a break.
At the end of the lesson, students are ready for smiles and a selfie (groupie?)!
Sorry for the delay in posting. There have been technical problems. The lack of bandwith is preventing pictures from this posting. I’ll add a post later with them.
There are four target research groups for this project: 1) confirmation students (as we engaged last Saturday); 2) Form 2 secondary students (about an 8th-grade equivalent); 3) women’s groups; and 4) lay pastor candidates in their training program (theological education by extension, TEE).
This last fieldwork visit was focused on Form 2 students at the MaaSae Girls Lutheran Secondary School (MGLSS) in Monduli. This is a boarding school for secondary education that is owned by the North Central Diocese, and started by the late American Lutheran missionary, Rev. David Simonson. My late husband and I were volunteer teachers here for 3 academic years (2002–2004) through the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). So, this is a wonderful place with great memories that I have returned to many times over the last 20 years, bringing church groups, university groups, and for my own ongoing research.
The Head of School, Tuli Saleiya, welcomed me to do research here, and there is an administrative overhead gift that is given to the school. This is following the philosophy of my supervisor, Prof. Knut Holter, that works to avoid “palm oil” scholarship, where scholars come to places to “extract” research to develop their own professional status but don’t give back to the community. This project is giving back, as it is designed to be a blessing with enough research activity for the European Commission to justify awarding funds to the project.
My trusted driver, Godi, took research assistant Joseph and me to Monduli in the early morning. I thought you might like to see an interesting sight from along the journey!
Form 2 is about an 8th grade equivalent in secondary school. I chose this level because when I was here, I taught the Form 2 Bible Knowledge course that focused on the Pentateuch. Genesis creation texts are important for understanding God’s commission to humans to care for God’s good creation (Genesis 2:15). Form 2 also includes an environmental science topic in the biology course. It is a bit unfortunate that the curriculum for Bible Knowledge has changed with Genesis appearing in the Form 1 curriculum, while the environmental content remains in Form 2 biology. In retrospect, I would choose Form 3, as all the content would be review, and the English competence would be stronger. Most of these students come from rural areas and have only had 15 months of English language learning. Yet, it is a lovely age group of eager learners.
This Saturday was about 6 hours of 3 lessons, breaks (including soda and a muffin), as well as the pre-lesson and post-lesson surveys. Next Saturday, there is a HUGE 30th anniversary celebration of MGLSS (where I will be), and so all the students—except Form 2 during the workshop—are cleaning and working to prepare for the anniversary celebration with an estimated 30 guests from the USA!
The workshop started with securing all the consent forms which had been provided last December before they went home for break in order to get a parent’s/guardian’s permission. Giving an animal sticker to all who had provided the consent forms meant that students could come row-by-row and pick up their correlating survey.
The lessons were written by Lais Josph, a Maasai teacher of biology and geography. With a bachelor’s degree in science education with these specialties, he teaches advanced (A) level as well as fills in on the ordinary (O) level. In his lesson plans, I was impressed at how he was able to take the three primary content foci (biblical creation care, Maasai traditional environmental knowledge, and climate science) and integrate them in very thoughtful summaries.
Lais also taught the lessons. He is a very good teacher that brings the content to the students in meaningful illustrations while engaging them with feedback lessons both as individual and as a large group. Again, he was able to make the lessons go beyond what even I was thinking. One example is that each of the 53 students who were participating in the pre- and post-lesson surveys were given an animal sticker to confirm that they had submitted a consent form. Each student had a different animal sticker, which was more than being able to identify individuals in an anonymous way, he also used them to illustrate biodiversity. Perfect!
After the lessons and surveys, I met with Pastor Nangole up the Monduli Mountains. He gave me a beautiful Maasai dress to wear next Saturday for the 30th Anniversary at MGLSS.
On the way down the mountain, the rains made the road impassable, even for a tractor (though with worn tires), so with Pastor Nangole driving in 4-wheel drive, we went back up an around the high road to descend on a different path. The view from the apex of the road was amazing. (Sorry, picture posted later.)
The site visit this week has had to be rescheduled due to our teacher’s appointment by Tumaini University Makumira to represent the theology faculty in Dodoma for the Tanzanian Commission of Universities, as there is a major rollout of new nation-wide curriculum requirements. This gives me time to catch up and prepare for the following week.
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
I’m joined by the survey presenter, Joseph, and teacher, Pastor Megiroo.
Lay pastor Raphael (left) is a natural leader and a great person to work with and make things happen. (I am among some mamas that are part of another project with which I’ve been connected.)
Upon arrival at the Lutheran church in the mountain village area, we were greeted by singing and a procession of handshakes by the elders followed by all other adults. Then, the children came by single file with their heads bowed before each of us. We gave them a Maasai blessing, touching each head. This is one of the many time during the day when I’m deeply moved.
There were 51 children present in grades 5, 6, and 7 who are in confirmation programs from all the surrounding neighboring villages. This is the Lutheran church’s typical way to have Christian education for middle school-aged students, after which the participants can be confirmed in their faith, also called an affirmation of baptism. In Tanzania, confirmation happens typically in grade 6, as grade 7 is the national exam year and takes priority without other distractions. (Next year, in the new Tanzanian curriculum there will not be a grade 7, so confirmation will be done in grade 5, and I’ve asked church leaders about issues regarding cognitive development for faith formation for even younger children.) Then, after their national exams, many students go to a boarding school for secondary education as there are no local secondary schools.
Here’s how the day went after our greetings and entering into the church.
First, our wonderful host, lay pastor Raphael, did a roll call of all the confirmation students, and we confirmed that we have consent forms signed by a parent or guardian according to the research ethics protocols. Then he introduces everyone and gives an overview of the day.
Roll call
Then, Joseph gives an introduction to the survey—what it is—and also the process—how it will be done. This takes even more time than the doubling of minutes I originally planned after talking with Laura and learning of the challenges of doing surveys in a Maasai context. My sense is that Joseph is very eager to please and is explaining each aspect thoroughly, very thoroughly.
We pass out the one-page (front and back) survey form with 20 questions and a standard school notebook for the students to support the paper as they mark their survey responses. After the survey introduction, we also pass out a pen. The survey has one sticker of a distinctive animal (different from the other animals) stuck to the upper right corner of the survey form. In addition, there is one sticker too keep for themselves—still with its backing—which is paper clipped onto the first survey. This is the animal icon to help me anonymously track responses (hopefully development of knowledge and interest) of individual research participants.
The sticker to keep
To help them remember their animal, I equipped Joseph with a script that included having them make the noise of the animal all together (or the imagined sound if they didn’t know the animal). This is another way to reinforce remembering their animal. We repeated making this noise several times during the sessions that day, which stimulated some good laughter!
Rev. Megiroo taught three lessons that he was the lead in writing with some collaborative conversations with the other 2 writers and my “conversation partner” lessons, after all, I’ve been doing a deep dive into this content and reading Tanzanian government environmental policy documents that most pastors and teachers don’t read. There was a break with chai between lesson 1 (biblical creation care) and 2 (Maasai traditional environmental knowledge).
Rev. Megiroo teaching the lessons
After lesson 3 (climate science for a pastoralist context), it was supposed to be lunch, but the cooks needed more water, which had to be fetched from somewhere. We had a break of singing and Maasai dancing instead. It ended up being a nice transition after lesson 3, because after the lesson, we had a late lunch, and most of the adults (73 adult participants beyond the confirmation students!) left, leaving the confirmation students to take the post-lesson survey. This is where we hope to see in the survey responses development of understanding, responsibility, and hope.
I spread out all the surveys on two tables and had them come to picked up the survey form with their animal (and they compared with the one sticker of their own to keep aiding their memory).
Amazingly, it worked! In less than 5 minutes, all 50 students had their corresponding survey with their animal sticker! With the possibility of tracking between pre- and post-lessons data, I can anonymously track individual responses over 3 surveys (a follow-up longitudinal study in 3 months) without using some forgettable randomly assigned number.
Joseph reads the post-lesson survey questions.
I will be back in 3 months for not only the longitudinal survey, but also to have a choir competition, which is prevalent in Maasai areas. (See one of the best video recordings here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym2U_FwyGbk) My Maasai friend and colleague here at TUMA recently defended his PhD dissertation on the missional use of music in Maasai contexts that included choir competitions. (I helped him with the home stretch of his dissertation preparation.) He will be the judge of the competing small groups who will develop a song with 3 verses, each verse focusing on the main point of each of the 3 lessons—and sung in Maa using a traditional Maasai tune.
Overall, I was encouraged with the outcomes of the day. I’m sure there will be some surveys that will not be perfect, but my sense is that there will be enough responses that will indicate an adequate amount of helpful content. There are things to tweak for implementation in the next 7 fieldwork site visits, but the core procedures work well. I was impressed with how the students were attentive throughout the day. When the lay pastor asked them if they liked the lessons, there was a resounding “Yes!” (in Maa).
The students then each left the church with a gift of a school bag that I ordered to be made by a local seamstress with another notebook, pencil, eraser, and pencil sharpener.
The colorful school bags before adding school supplies.
Then, we gave each a soda (a special treat) and gathered for a picture.
We headed back to Arusha, and on the way, we saw elephants, a few sitings of giraffe, hyena (rare), a couple Grant’s gazelle, several dik dik (smallest antelope) pairs, guinea fowl, and many other beautiful birds. What a great way to end a great day!
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
After a better than usual night of sleep at the Mount Ketumbeine Motel before a big event that I’m managing, the morning was off to a great start! I chatted with some French people during breakfast with a Maasai NGO leader, Musa, who I have met before. The French people are working with water projects. Musa is the older brother of a former student of mine, and he is the research assistant for my US-AID researcher and Fulbright Scholar friend, Laura, who is a mentor for my survey methodology. It was nice to see Musa again, and what a coincidence to be at the same motel! Laura and I were both ELCA volunteer teachers in Monduli and caught the “Africa bug” that has kept us coming back again and again over 30 years.
The night before, we had a final preparation meeting face-to-face at our motel with our host, Lay Pastor Raphael, a natural leader with a winsome smile and facilitator of joy. He and his wife had a baby boy just 4 nights ago. I was able to congratulate him in person for what I believe is his 5th child.
Raphael was concerned that Laurie’s car, a Rav 4, would not be the best vehicle to get up the mountain, which is at least an hour’s drive over rocky terrain. With recent rains, the road was rather bad. So, he recommended that we rent a car for the day—a 4 x 4 Land Cruiser with higher clearance. The owner, a friend of Raphael, gave us a good rate, Tsh 120,000, ($47) for the day’s use with a driver who knows the vehicle and mountain. Our driver, Godi, would come along to enjoy the day, complimented by my binoculars and East African bird book. This was Godi’s first time to a Maasai village.
My team was prompt and ready to go at our scheduled departure at 8:00 am. That would give us time to get to our village about an hour up the mountain (to 7,500 feet altitude) around the announced start time of 9:00 am, but knowing that the sessions would not start until at least 9:30 am. However, while people were gathering, we could confirm that the consent forms had been signed by a parent or guardian and get settled for our sessions.
Me with research assistant, Joseph, and the teacher for the day, Rev. Megiroo (also the primary collaborative writer of the lessons for this research group).
Oh, the best laid plans in Africa! At 8:00 am, there was no Land Cruiser. We were waiting for at least 10 minutes, when the motel staff brought chairs out to wait in the shade.
Waiting for our ride!
At 8:30 am, just as I was going to call Raphael, the Land Cruiser showed up. We loaded up our 4 crates of sodas onto the top rack and roped them in. We are off!
Just 1 minute from the driveway, the driver stopped to chat with a man on the side of the road. The message is that the Land Cruiser needed an oil change. I said, one more day won’t hurt the car, and we have 60 people waiting for us. Then, the driver explained that the Land Cruiser was low on oil. I said I would pay for the oil to put in the engine now and go. So, we drove to the petrol station, where the driver opened the hood and pulled out the dip stick. There was no oil on the dipstick! I guess it was good to get some oil, though they didn’t allow me to pay, as I was renting the vehicle for the day.
Next, we drive up the road into town and stop. The driver asks if there is electricity now. Yes, was the response. So, we back in to this side of the road repair shop and get air in the tires. Then we are off—but the opposite direction—back to the very same petrol station we were at just minutes before! We need petrol! When putting air in the tires, the pastor in the front seat saw the fuel gauge and asked if had enough petrol. Ok, despite another delay, it is important to have petrol for going up the mountain where there are no petrol stations.
An hour later, we are off and pick up Bethany, who will join us for the day. I first met Bethany in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1992, before she moved with her new husband to Tanzania. Over the years, we’ve had several lovely connections. In 2015, Anya (my daughter) and I even hiked up Mount Ketumbeine (3,000 meters; 9,840 feet) with Bethany, her husband and daughter who is just a bit younger than my daughter.
Ok, now we are finally going up the mountain! It was a very bumpy and at time precarious journey. Yet, we had a lovely view of Mt. Kilimanjaro and the other half-dozen other mountains in this area of the Great Rift Valley.
We arrived safely on a different road, as the other road was too dangerous. Not too long ago, a Land Cruiser slipped off the road and rolled down the cliff!
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
On the Friday morning before departure for the first fieldwork sessions on Saturday, I was a bit stressed. I had one last Maa revision to finalize on the survey’s consent form with research assistant Joseph’s Maa translation. Then, we walked out the Tumaini University Makumira campus taking a USB drive to one of the little printing shops that serve the students. The one I planned to use was closed. The next one was open, but the service person was in the midst of a large run. I had basically 2 hours to get the print outs of about 350 copies—most two sided—to stay on schedule. I leave Joseph with the task of staying around for the printing, while I go back to my house to finish preparations. Then, the power goes out. Joseph was charging his phone at my house (as he had no electricity the night before), so I couldn’t call him. He uses the phone of the print shop worker and asks if he should look for a print shop with a generator. Sounds like a good plan. The time passes. Without this survey printed, it makes no sense to go to do the fieldwork. Everything depends upon having the surveys. Typically, I would not wait for the last morning to print because of things like power outages, but I was getting translations revised by two native Maa speakers and working with the revisions due to feedback from Laura and Betsi.
Ok, I’m thinking about delays and alternative plans and communicating them to the driver and the 2 people we will pick up on the way. Then, I pray, singing a chorus, “Lord, I put my life in your hands.” Perhaps a bit overstated in this instance, but it is from a John Michel Talbot song that calms my soul. Just then, the power comes on. I’m in my house with Joseph’s phone charging, but I can’t call Joseph to see how things are progressing. “Lord, I put my life in your hands.” Then, Joseph shows up just at the time I had planned to eat lunch before our driver would arrive. With enough time to eat and for me to do the dishes, we were ready when the driver arrived.
Off we go for a 3-hour drive to rural Maasai land, and rather amazing for Africa, the hopeful time schedule is working very well—for now!
Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!
