After a great morning at Maasai Education Discovery, meeting their leadership in Kenya and even those visiting from America, it was time to head out to the field. M.E.D. is run by a group of Maasai, with passionate hearts for their people. They work to expand the opportunities for education to any Kenyan, Maasai or not, in hopes of lifting up the entire community. In the last several years they’ve built their own 3 story office building that houses a community library, several open computer labs, office space for the staff and visiting lecturers as well as class rooms. They focus on computer training at their center and have become certified by CISCO Systems as a training center here in Kenya. CISCO has also donated generously with equipment and instruction.
Education in Kenya reaches well beyond computers. They also have rented a block of buildings where they’ll house as many as 100 girls at a time that they rescue from forced marriages. Female circumcision, followed by arranged marriages, for girls anywhere from the age of 9 to 12 years of age is common in the outer villages. It’s also against the law in Kenya. Lillian Seenoi, our hostess here in Narok, and her staff- along with security- go into the villages and rescue girls, usually on their wedding day, and bring them into town, giving them safe shelter, love, education and an opportunity to provide for themselves.
The disruption this causes in families is beyond our understanding. The marriages have usually been arranged by parents and in the case of the groom, a dowry has already been paid for the bride, that the grooms’ family will fight to get back when the bride is rescued. The disturbance touches the entire community. Lillian and the staff at M.E.D. are incredibly brave, but also passionate about restoring love in these broken families. Once a girl has settled in at their rescue center and has begun to find a bit of herself, they also take the first steps in the long road to reconciliation with the community.
Marty and I had the opportunity to visit the rescue center and meet with some of the girls at the end of our day Monday. They had been there for almost a year and seemed like teenagers from anyplace else on the planet. Dressed in cute clothes, MTV on the TV blaring loudly, they were dancing and laughing when we entered the room. After getting to know them for a bit, Marty wanted a couple of photos. As they quickly preened for the camera, it was hard not to think what their lives might have been like without rescue… and this is just one small part of what M.E.D. does. You can check them out at their web site at: www.maasaieducation.org.
Though not a specifically Christian organization, they’ve arranged our visits to the Maasai schools and villages this week to show the Jesus Film, without restriction and with their full endorsement. They’ve given us the opportunity to use their name to open doors into communities that would otherwise be closed to us, well, probably forever. Lillian, who we’ve come to know best, is a Godly woman and has taken the time out of her schedule to introduce us to village leaders, pastors and headmasters and has gladly laid her reputation on the line for us. God has used them to make a way and I look forward to working with them in the years to come.
Monday morning, Jimmy Luka, was waiting for us in the lobby of our hotel, hoping we’d come to his village, 75 kilometers out dirt roads, impossible to return on in the rain. For those following my blogs, you’ll remember that earlier Jimmy had emailed us promising a great celebration and gifts for us if we came to his village, I’d asked him to talk to Lillian… he didn’t. Now, we were expected elsewhere and had to say no to Jimmy, leaving him without a ride back the 75k he’d just come to get us and with bad news for the villagers in waiting. There is so much to do in Kenya- we’re busy every waking moment and don’t begin to scratch the surface. Pray for Jimmy and his village. I’ve promised we’d visit on our next trip… Lord willing.
Our schedule took us to a small village that just has allowed a Christian witness within the last year. The leaders are not believers, but they allowed a small wooden church to be built by a Maasai pastor and other believers in the village last year. After riding the miles of dirt trails, we found the spot, not what anyone would imagine, hardly recognizable from the rest of the bush, save a couple wooden frames of huts and the little simple church. Setting up to show the film, greeting villagers as they arrived, (our van is our best advertisement- it’s engine audible in the bush- and visible for miles to the keen eyes of those who live in the region- they come once we’ve parked), soon, the wonders of our projector, sound system and screen, were bringing the words of Jesus to the people, now in Maasai, our fourth language to show this trip.
The translator was wonderful as I introduced the film. I explained that though we came with technology foreign to them- it was not meant to separate us but to unite us in God’s love- and invited them to share His story with open hearts and open spirits. One side of the church was filled with students that had walked from a distant school for the event. The other with the village elders: mostly men, dressed just as Maasai warriors have dressed for millennia. As the film began to show, people leaned into the screen to catch every image, to hear every word. A rain storm, the kind with thunder and lightning that rattles your fillings, began about half way into the film. Because of the steel roof, we had to crank up the volume, praise God we bought the larger amplifier! Then the roof started leaking on our projector, Marty, hovered over it like a hen, keeping it dry, risking electrocution! I sat with the people, in the back of the room, praying we would have a way out as the rain fell not in inches but by the foot! AFRICA!
When it came to the crucifixion of Christ, it was storming in the movie, and the Heavens opened with even more fury on the little village. Thunder and lightning rattled the room, not from the film, but from The Hand of The Father as Christ cried out from the cross. To say that I had goose bumps, would be putting it mildly. The room was electric with the moment. Incredibly, for the resurrection, the clouds had mostly passed and as Christ was seen in all His Glory on the screen, the rain stopped, and His image radiated throughout the room. It was a moment made by The Hand of God and I pray I never forget it.
When I gave the invitation to receive Christ- gnarled hands of old men and the eager hands of young men- along with those of students, lifted towards Heaven. I gave counsel to them all: start coming to church, get to know your pastor, talk to Jesus- He knows and loves you for just exactly who you are. Inwardly, I felt woefully inadequate for the moment. Then and again this morning as I write, I reminded myself of a saying I use with Jackets for Jesus all the time: “God knows and God sees.” He didn’t miss one upraised hand or one heart that began to soften to His Son as He knocked. God knows and God sees and He sent Central Community to this little village I can’t even remember the name of. He’s too good.
Marty began to break down our gear. Alan, our driver, worked putting chains on our tires for the extreme mud and water we now had to somehow get through. Lillian, informed me that because of the storm we would never make our next visit and showing… all the while the pastor celebrated… he talked with the people, opened his community for us to return or to stay the night if we were not able to make it out… and prayed thanking God. Then he asked if we would pray for their elder- the lead man- who had refused to come and was living in open disobedience to God. Join me in prayer today. The heart of a leader can change the direction of so many.
Our schedule today is full. We begin with a medical clinic in villages and end late tonight at a High School here in Narok that’s invited us. Pray that God uses us. Pray for our strength and health. Pray that bridges continue to be built that we can cross for years to come. This community is rich in ways our community’s often overlook and we have much to learn and much to share as we work together.
Know that you’re in my heart and prayers today.
Eric
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Eric and Marty,
Praise God through whom ALL blessings flow!!!
God is so good! Amen!!
I was just singing Winner to myself the other day and remembering how it sounded in Kenya. I was telling someone else about the kids singing it to us. They love the Lord so much! You are both in my thoughts continually. To see the Lord moving and continuing to use nature just as He did in Jesus time. "Who is this man that even the waves(thunder storm)obey him!?"
We pray for your strength, your endurance, your faithfulness, to be filled with the Holy Spirit with a hedge of protection around you.
Praise God!
Rosie
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