Whithersoever thou goest

The plan was that my friend, Laurie (a retired Lutheran missionary), was going to go with me to Ketumbeine, a rural Maasai area that is a 3-hour drive from my rental house on Tumaini University Campus. The following day, my group would drive an hour up Mount Ketumbeine to our village, Olchoroonyokie, hosted by the local lay pastor. I have hotel reservations for my group and things seem to be in order.

Two days before departure, Laurie calls letting me know that she is sick and won’t be able to travel. However, we have a good friend, Godi, who is a trusted taxi driver that regularly drives Laurie’s Rav 4. She is generously going to let Godi drive her car, and Godi is game to take us and spend the overnight for the trip. Whew!

Previously, I had asked two colleague/friends who are social-science research specialists and who both teach research methods to review my survey in its original English (prior to the translation). I realized that I needed some expertise to review my semi-final survey (which each of the 3 collaborative writers previously had an opportunity to view and give feedback), as this survey is the only means of data collection. Again, working with vulnerable people groups—especially youth—it would be very difficult to have ethical clearance for recorded interviews, transcriptions into English (with language check), etc. So, anonymous surveys are my only data collection vehicle.

Thanks to Dr. Betsi Litte and Dr. Laura Wangsness Willemsen, my surveys were reviewed with very helpful constructive feedback. Laura, like me, was an ELCA Lutheran volunteer teacher in Diocese secondary schools Monduli; Laura in the late 1990s at Moringe Sokoine and me in the early 2000s at the MaaSae Girls Lutheran Secondary School. Like me, Laura has been returning for over 30 years to this place we love. Recently, Laura, an educational anthropologist, finished a Fullbright Scholarship dealing with the effects of climate change in pastoralist areas in Tanzania.

Laura helped me develop the survey methodology for this project, as she has prior experience. The reality is that surveys are difficult in a Maasai context. So, adapting typical Western context surveys, which I have done for other research and evaluations, is important. She recommended and provided resources to develop the “spoken survey” method.

While the surveys are taken in a formal “spoken survey” process to aid those who do not read well or are familiar with taking surveys (which we take for granted with all the online surveys we are asked to fill out). I’ve brought in a friend’s younger brother, Joseph, who has helped me with some tasks over many months. He is tri-lingual and from the general area of the first fieldwork site. Joseph will introduce and read the survey questions in Maa.

For future fieldwork with a rural Maasai women’s group, I’ve been talking with my friend and missionary colleague, Bethany, who works with the women’s cooperative. Yes, in the rural areas, most middle-aged and older women and older men do not speak or write Kiswahili or write Maa as they did not go to primary school. (Please note that this is not a reflection upon intelligence and wisdom. Their traditional knowledge is rich! If there is a zombie apocalypse, I hope I’m with my traditional Maasai friends, who will take care of me with their generous hospitality and teach me how to survive on the savannah!)

Bethany and I have developed an idea to respond to Likert scale questions that I will run past Laura. You may know this as questions that have a scale of responses instead of a yes or no answer, such as: strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree. Watch for a description of how we will do this with our women’s group next month!

Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!

There are some research design issues that make some aspects a bit complicated. One is that the research group, the Maasai, are mostly bilingual between their home language, Maa, and the language they learned in primary school, Kiswahili, which is the lingua-franca and unifying language of Tanzania.

In the rural areas, Maa is the dominant language. I speak some basic Kiswahili (not nearly what I hope to know someday) and only polite words in Maa. So, I’m dependent upon translation helps. Fortunately, Google Translate has a Swahili translation function that is fairly good. I can start by preparing this and having someone check it. It saves time (and money from the budget). It also helps me practices my vocabulary, as I’m checking how the translation is rendered into Kiswahili and back translating into English before the Kiswahili speaker check.

With Maa, it is all translated by a native speaker, which I then ask another Maa speaker to check. The challenge is that the vocabulary has not needed to be developed previously in some important research terms for a consent form! Fortunately, for climate change vocabulary, early on I realized that I would need a tri-lingual list of key vocabulary that is used consistently in the lessons. The challenge is that my two climate science expert stakeholders basically had to create quite of bit of descriptive Maa language to reflect the concepts! As probably the most educated and experienced Maasai in climate science in the nation, I’m so fortunate to have them on my stakeholder group!

Above: The surveys in Maa. See below for beginning explanation of the animal stickers!

So, I have consent form information and consent forms in parallel Kiswahili and Maa. And I now how the surveys in both Kiswahili and Maa. The surveys are SO important, as these are the only method of collecting data due to working with vulnerable people groups: youth and women who have never had the opportunity to learn how to read or write.

Because of working with vulnerable people groups in this research, all surveys are anonymous. This helps to get through the ethics reviews who check the research protocols. I’ve had 3 ethics reviews (EU project proposal, Norway’s research authority as my research university is in Norway, and Tanzania’s research authority to be approved to do research in Tanzania).

The research includes a pre-, post-lesson, and follow-up survey to analyze development of cognitive (know) and affective (feel) aspects of the lessons. We are evaluating our lessons, not the students. So, the surveys are anonymous to emphasize this as well as have stronger ethical methods for working with vulnerable groups.

I’ve developed a method to be able to anonymously track individual research participant responses in a way that will have a chance of being remembered 3 months down the road. Instead of some randomly generated numbers—which few if any will remember in 3 months—I’m using unique animal stickers for the participants to remember, as seen on the picture. See below for how—IF—it worked!

More on the survey challenges to come!

Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!

After Christmas with Anya in Cupertino, CA with my in-laws, I returned to Tanzania on 1 January 2025. Most of the month was focused on preparing the final version of the lessons prior to teaching them for the fieldwork site visits in February and March (one is delayed to April, due to research ethics requirements of parental signatures for minors who are in a boarding school).

What was amazing to me was the Providential coordination of schedules for 3 teachers and 8 research sites! There are quite a few moving parts, and yet, it was amazing how the puzzle pieces fit together! Yes, Providential—and a huge relief!

Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!

The day after the stakeholder meeting, Knut and I took a shuttle bus to Kenya, where we were hosted by Prof. Esther Mombo (below right) at St. Paul’s University in Limuru, Kenya. It is a beautiful campus with majority ownership by Anglicans, but other Protestant denominations share in the ownership. Knut had visited the campus 25 years ago, and now returns to visit colleagues, including Prof. Mombo and Dr. Elizabeth Mburu, and long-term collaborator, Prof. Aloo Mojola (below left), who is a wealth of information on African Bible translation, including the Maasai Bible translation.

Knut and I were invited to give a guest lecture. Out of the options we sent, Esther chose one which Knut and I collaborated on for a Society of Biblical Literature conference presentation in the African biblical hermeneutics section. To reveal our nerdy side, the title was, “Comparative Methodologies in African Biblical Hermeneutics: Analysis of Past Approaches as a Foundation for Engaging Epistemologies in Tri-Polar Comparisons.” We generated thoughtful questions from an attentive group of students.

Again, I’m so grateful that I discovered Knut on a google search, found his writings, and was able to contact him about pursuing a PhD with him. Speaking of his writings, I think the St. Paul’s University library had 6 of his books on the shelves!

Yes, so grateful to work with Knut! I’m following in his footsteps by taking pictures of theological libraries in Africa!

Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!

The amazing group of stakeholders regathered on a national holiday, which was chosen to not conflict with teaching and work schedules. Two came from Kenya, one came from the southern parts of Tanzania, spending a whole day on the bus to get to Arusha.

Last April, the stakeholders met to set the core values of the project and establish the learning outcomes for 3 lessons that I had set forth as preliminary ideas to guide the conversations (always easier to critique than start from scratch with a group of 10 people). The three lesson topics settled into: 1) biblical creation care; 2) Maasai traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) and how there were similarities with the “biblical creation” triangle with the Maasai tripolar worldview; and 3) appropriation of climate science for a pastoralist context. Each lesson ends with hope, addressing the rise of climate anxiety among many—especially youth—today.

Since the April stakeholder meeting, I recruited 4 collaborative writers who each specialize in one of the target groups (confirmation, middle-school students in church-owned schools, the theological training for the lay pastors, and Maasai women’s groups). Unfortunately, one writer was in a bad car accident and hospitalized. Thus, one writer modified lessons to fit the other adult group, which in the long run brings more cohesiveness to the lessons (which is actually a research design challenge). (See the pictures of 2 writers from the 2024.09.13 post.)

So, at this stakeholder meeting, the goal was to review the lessons that had been written. The lessons were posted online a week prior to the meeting, for any stakeholders who wanted to engage with them prior to the meeting.

At the meeting, the stakeholders—who are all Maasai—were divided into 4 groups, aligning with their specialty. For example, the climate science lessons were reviewed by climate science specialists. Dr. Neema Kitasho has a PhD in environmental science specializing in climate science in pastoralist contexts from the University of Geneva, and Julius Laiser has a master’s degree in geography and environmental management from the University of Dodoma and has been working with an NGO that serves over 35 client NGOs working with environmental projects to help them be more effective in their missions.

Each small group of stakeholders reviewed 4 lesson plans developed by each of the 3 writers (and a “conversation partner” lesson contributed by me). They evaluated them according to the core values and learning outcomes that they developed in April, as well as other pedagogical and practical issues. The stakeholders were very diligent in their evaluations, contributing feedback and comments for strengthening the lesson plans. (Yes, this meant that I collated all the notes and returned them to the authors.)

At the end of our time together, I facilitated a debriefing of the day. In this session, the stakeholders started asking: What is next for them to support this project? How can they continue to be engaged? How can this important first step continue on beyond my project? This was so encouraging to hear, as it was a fundamental affirmation of the value of the project and the eagerness to extend this rather small project beyond what I had started. This is when Knut and I knew our planted seed was germinating!

In a supervisory review session, Knut and I discussed the strong outcomes and continued to identify challenges that are inherent in an intercultural research project in Africa. Overall, we were encouraged with the fruitfulness of the session, especially the sense of value expressed by the stakeholders.

Mikitamayana Engai! / Mungu akubariki! / God bless you!

I have a wonderful supervisor! Knut Holter was my PhD supervisor, and he continues as this Marie Curie project supervisor. I couldn’t have asked for a better supervisor for either!

Knut came in September for the second Stakeholder Meeting as check in for the supervisor at this important landmark for the research project. He arrived a few days earlier, so that I could take him to most of the research sites for the later fieldwork and meet some hosts and all of the collaborative writers. It was encouraging not only for Knut to see the sense of ownership developing in the 3 writers (his words), but also for me to hear this being articulated to Knut in a way that was another interpretation of their understanding of the project.

Pictures above of Lais Joseph, with biology teaching expertise, writing for middle school students in Lutheran secondary schools in the North Central Diocese; and Rev. Ezekiel Megiroo, writing for confirmation students. Knut and I were encouraged to hear each writer’s enthusiasm for the project.

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 (8^th 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!

I’m grateful for gratitude. In the old days, it was called counting your blessings.

Now there is social-scientific research that demonstrates that positive benefits, that “simply expressing gratitude may have lasting effects on the brain. While not conclusive, this finding suggests that practicing gratitude may help train the brain to be more sensitive to the experience of gratitude down the line, and this could contribute to improved mental health over time.” https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_changes_you_and_your_brain

Snow!

I arrived in Sweden yesterday in the beautiful snowy weather. The primary reason for being here for a few weeks is that my visitor’s visa will expire in a few days, and I need to leave the country. With some frequent flier miles, it made sense to head back to Sweden where I have free housing (in my condo where Anya lives), will present at paper at Uppsala University (and much better in real life than via Zoom with sketchy electricity and pathetic Internet), and have access the libraries of the Nordic African Institute and Uppsala University, but especially, have time to be with Anya.

So, I’m recognizing all the things for which I am grateful:

• Drinkable water from the tap,
• On-demand hot showers,
• Fast and consistent Internet,
• Eating salads and raw vegetables with reckless abandon, and
• Especially, being with Anya!

However, my devotion that I prepared for my Wartburg Seminary students and didn’t have a good opportunity to give (the group was too jet lagged to make it work as planned), is that gratitude is good, but let’s think theologically about beyond gratitude. What do I mean?

I’ve learned that gratitude is important. I personally bought and passed out blank gratitude journals to my small groups in Sweden and the USA to encourage a practice of ending the day by jotting down three things they are grateful for. Yet, I’ve led many groups to Africa which has caused me to think a little more complexly. For youth especially (but not exclusively), I soon hear something to the effect of, “Wow! I took X for granted! Now, I’m thankful for X!” Fill in X with my first four bullet points above, but also, other things: education, good roads, access to health care (those who can afford to travel have access to health care), etc. This is good, but I encourage us to go beyond this beginning reflection to a deeper understanding.

Let me explain. In my family, we often pray a quick table prayer, “For life and health and every good, we give you thanks, O Lord.” Yes, I am grateful the Lord, and yet, 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, states, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

If I’m only able to give thanks when things are good, we have our own milder form of prosperity gospel. Instead, we are invited by the Holy Spirit to have a deeper dependency upon Jesus Christ that is deepened when things are not good and easy, as well as greater compassion for others that comes from deeper identification with their conditions.

There is a Franciscan Blessing that reflects this.

MAY GOD BLESS YOU with discomfort,
at easy answers, half-truths,
and superficial relationships
so that you may live
deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people,
so that you may work for
justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears,
to shed for those who suffer pain,
rejection, hunger, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand
to comfort them and
to turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you
with enough foolishness
to believe that you can
make a difference in the world,
so that you can do
what others claim cannot be done,
to bring justice and kindness
to all our children and the poor.

Finally, related to this “shift” of thinking, I draw upon the wisdom of my ELCA missionary colleague and friend, Bethany Friberg.

Bethany (right) with Wartburg Seminary President, Kristin Largen

One colleague here was informing the Wartburg Seminary group of the work of the ELCA in East Africa, especially Tanzania. He described the long-term work of Dr. Steve and Bethany Friberg in a very remote area of the country. He described their service as “sacrifice.” Yes, they have given up a lot of conveniences, living in a place that—especially early on—had very limited resources in a very simple and rustic way of life. Anya and I have stayed in their guest room and know the basic place they’ve called home for over 22 years. This was in my head when we went back again in January to visit the Fribergs. In our 4 days in rural Ketumbeine, we saw their amazing work that has been such a huge blessing in so many ways to many, many people in that remote area. Bethany told our group (in a close paraphrase), “Some people say that we have sacrificed a lot to be here in the bush, but I believe it is a privilege.”

So, I’m encouraged by Bethany to be grateful, and yet to go beyond a latent prosperity gospel to not just evaluate well-being according to blessings but the privilege of being a blessing.

Mungu akubariki! (God bless you! in Kiswahili)
Mikitamayana Engai! (God bless you! in Maa)

I’ve been to 2 bishop consecrations in my life. The first one was in Sweden, where I could bicycle to the Uppsala Cathedral. To be honest, I went because I wanted to see someone from the royal family. I hit the jackpot with both the king and queen! I knew that I would have to get their early to get a good seat. I was chatting in a low voice with a woman from church, joining the quiet hubbub of many conversations. Soon, there was a hush that swept over the whole cathedral. The king and queen walked down the center aisle to the high alter, where their special chairs awaited. The amazing thing was that there was no magnetometer, no security check of bags. I thought this would never happen in the USA!

This morning, I was able to catch a ride with Randy Stubbs, my colleague at Tumaini University Makumira, as he was playing piano. But because the Vice President of Tanzania was going to show up, the VP’s motorcade would shut down the roads. So, Randy and the choir needed to be there by 7:30 am, which meant being picked up at 6:30 am.

I found an edge of a pew toward the back, thinking it was a place to sit that was not going to be squished. I had to work to not be pushed off though, when things were packed to overflow plastic chairs in the side aisles. I also chose the spot that had a likelihood of cross breeze from the open doors, and I was right and happy.

Before the service, there was a parade of the clergy with 198 pastors in the Diocese (though some came later, and later, and later). When the VP showed up, half a dozen clergy were displaced to plastic chairs.

The service started around 9:00 am and finished at 2:25ish. So, over 5 hours! (5 hours of trying not to be pushed too far off the end of the armless pew, and a pew that had a center pillar that was higher than the ends, so a bit of a teeter-totter for 5 hours!)

Prayers for Bishop Godson Abel Mollel

Prayers for Assistant to the Bishop Laretoni Loshiye

Assistant to the Bishop Loshiye is brother to one of my Wartburg Seminary students, who was here for the January-Term course last month, and I was invited to greet him last week in the Diocese office in Arusha.

Yes, is is a strange worship service with a 300 person choir, a long sermon (didn’t time it, but I’d guess 30 minutes minimum, but after the consecration, the VP also spoke for about 30 minutes (where he gave 20 million Tanzanian shillings–almost $8,000–and promised to tarmac the dirt road to the church!

The new Assistant to the Bishop of the North Central Diocese

I also greeted Maria Laiser, the widow of the late Bishop Laiser, who I met last month in Ketumbeine. Then there is food, but they didn’t start serving right away.

Afterwards, Randy and I went to the bishop’s party that was massive–and located at a Diocese high school. Randy estimated 15 roasted goats, but we didn’t wait for the food, as we were ready to head home.

This is a special roasted goat called kakey kakey!

Mungu akubariki! (God bless you! in Kiswahili)
Mikitamayana Engai! (God bless you! in Maa)