He has really learned Swahili well and that is one of the big things we need here. But we had an American Elder transfer in so we felt good about that. His name is Elder Herr.
He is from Tucson, Arizona. He will be going home in August. We were told he did not speak Swahili but he bore his testimony in Swahili at meeting the first Sunday he was here and did a great job. The members all clapped for him. They really get excited when an Elder learns to speak their language. We look forward to getting to know him.
The first big event of this half month was another trip to Elias’ village. He had invited us to attend the circumcision celebration for his young brother some time ago. But we were unable to attend. Elias was invited to the celebration of his young Father’s boys and he invited us. We debated whether to go or not as the long wild drive last time left us with not much desire to go out there again. But we really wanted to see the celebration so we decided to tackle the trip again.
Sister R. decided to wear her Maasai jewelry.
What an experience. You may have seen some Maasai dancing on a TV documentary, but this was the REAL THING. They were not dancing for us at all. The ceremonial dancing is what they have done for centuries. And they didn’t even acknowledge that we were there.
We arrived quite early as far as the celebration was concerned so we just stood (or sat) around and talked for about 3 hours. Elias told us there would be people coming from miles around to celebrate way into the night. As we visited, men would wander in and sit or lay down on the ground and visit. They had put up a little tent sort of thing and they invited us to sit in the shade there.
The kids were really fascinated with our camera.
Elias explained a lot of what was going on.
The village is the yard where the houses of a family are. It is surrounded by a fence to protect the people and animals at night. There is a house for each of the wives of the man of the village. Near the door of each house they had dug holes and stood trees up for the number of people of that house that were circumcised that day.
The boys that had been circumcised were all in a little house near the entrance to the village.
They have the men cook off a ways from the village. This is the head of one of the goats they were cooking.
Women are not allowed to go where the men are cooking. But since Sister R. is a Mzungu (foreign person) she was able to go there.
Then at some point the men all go out of the village and over to that area and eat. When they are done they bring food for the women and children. We noticed several women starting to put fancy bead work on. Sister R. tried to take a photo and they got a little upset.
They said they were not ready yet. Actually most of them did not want their photo taken at all. They would move behind something when we tried to take photos.
When we arrived we had noticed young men dressed in black laying outside the village under a tree. They started coming around and we noticed these very fancy head dresses some were wearing.
Being dressed in black signifies that they have been recently circumcised. They must wear black and not bath until the father tells them to change to the red clothing that the men wear. Elias told us sometimes the father will require a whole year of wearing black. They all gathered together on the far side of the village and started chanting and dancing across toward us.
Then we heard singing off in the distance and Elias told us the women were coming. Several groups came.
They would sing and move toward the village stopping every little bit and doing the jump and stomp thing.
They would sing and move toward the village stopping every little bit and doing the jump and stomp thing.
Then when they came into the village they went to one of the houses and were invited in to eat. They had brought gifts of food for the house.
One of the men wandering around was wearing very fancy bead work. We asked if he was someone special. Elias explained that he was to marry one of the girls of this village. We asked where the girl was and Elias said he had not seen her. During all this we noticed a couple of girls come out of one of the houses and they were dressed in black. Elias told us one of them was the girl that was to marry that man. He said the two girls had also been circumcised that day.
After the groups of women had come into the village and visited each of the houses we heard more chanting off in the distance. Soon there was a group of men with spears and shields coming toward the village. They were chanting and dancing all the way. They came into the village and into the center animal area. Then the women with the fancy beadwork joined them and they all chanted and danced.
By then it was getting late and we decided we needed to head for home so we didn’t have to drive in the dark. As we were getting ready to leave more young me dressed in black showed up. And these young men had painted their faces with white.
Just as we were about to leave we heard this horn sound and soon another group of men came.
Elias told us they would celebrate all together way into the night. This is really a big thing in their culture.
On the way home we saw a camel herd,
a huge giraffe and several other wild animals. The giraffe was right in the middle of the road and wasn’t going to give way to us. We whipped out the camera and tried to get a picture of him through the windshield but later discovered we did not have the camera on. It was really something to watch him trot along. It was like he was in slow motion.
The next big item was a trip to Nairobi. Elder and Sister Tuttle were having their farewell party and we wanted to attend.
They were the couple we had ridden with when we went to the couple’s conference to Lake Nakuru in Sept. We have stayed with them in Nairobi and they have visited us here in Arusha. We also had been invited to teach dance to the YSA group there in Nairobi.
While there we decided to see a couple of the highlights of Nairobi. There is a Baby Elephant project there where they rescue baby elephants from the wild when their mothers are killed by poachers or die of some other cause. They had some very young ones.
And some older ones.
They feed them human baby formula and they drink a lot of it. They would empty these containers in just a few seconds.
The babies require a lot of care. One of the caregivers has to actually sleep with them at night and feed them every 2 hours. They keep them there until they are about 3 years old, then they try to reintroduce them into the wild.
Then Sister Rydalch’s highlight of the day. The giraffe park.
On Friday we taught dance to the YSA. They really had a lot of fun.
We taught for 3 hours. That’s a long time for a couple of old people. The next day we were pretty tired and sore.
We really enjoy our visits to Nairobi. The couples that serve there all stay in an apartment building they call “The Nest”. So when we visit we stay with one of the couples and get to know them much better. And it is such a boost to our moral. We get lots of ideas and a spiritual lift every time we go. The couple replacing the Tuttles are on their third mission. And this one is right back to the same mission, same apartment and the same assignment as they had last time in this mission.
1 comment:
Who is replacing the Tuttles? When are they arriving?
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