Suswa Nights

Sleeping under the stars, roasted meat, visiting with Masai elders, dung beetles, sledge hammers, beautiful Rift Valley scenery, hanging out with friends, pocket knives, slingshots...what better way for teenage boys to spend a weekend?
I wrote a few weeks ago about our Iron Man competition in Sunday school.  Unfortunately life has gotten so crazy this past month that I have not sat down to post again...until now.  This year the 9th and 10th grade boys' Sunday school is looking at manhood.  As we explore our cultural expectations of men and some Biblical perspectives on manhood, it is interesting to hear the perspectives of kids who hold passports from about a dozen different nations and who have spent significant amounts of their childhoods in radically different cultures all over the continent of Africa.  Recently over 80 boys and about ten adult men headed down into the Rift Valley for a weekend camping trip.  The purpose? To stretch the young men with some physical labor and to give them an introduction into how another culture views and practices the transition from boyhood to manhood.  Ultimately, we want to see them be better equipped to make their own unique journey and more intentional about becoming the man that God designed them to be.

We left Kijabe early on a Saturday morning and headed first to a primary school down in the valley.  In Kenya primary school runs from Class 1 (first grade) to Class 8 (eighth grade).  Most children attend a primary school near their home, although some are sent to boarding school.  After completion of Class 8, students take an exam, the results of which determine where they will attend high school.  High school is four years, with the years labeled as "Form 1" through "Form 4."  Most children who attend high school do so at a boarding school.  The school that we visited on that Saturday is a government primary school that serves 350 children.

The original school building; our objective was to help build a new building for the growing student body.

The second-grade classroom, which houses 47 students.

For our workday, we were joined by the school headmaster, several teachers, and a number of the older boys who attend the school.  Forming into groups, we set to work on breaking up the rock ballast which formed the surface onto which we would pour concrete, mixing the concrete, pouring it, and finishing the concrete.

Ted making big rocks into little rocks in preparation for concrete to be poured

By the end of the day, we had finished pouring the concrete slab for the next phase of the new school building.  In addition, we did some repair work on the schoolyard fence in an attempt to keep the ubiquitous goats out.

The concrete slab about 2/3 completed; note the new school building in the background.

We then piled back into the vehicles for the short drive to our campsite for the night.  The property on which we were graciously allowed to stay belongs to the family of one of the security supervisors at RVA.  The family, which lives a largely traditional Masai lifestyle of herding goats and cattle, welcomed us warmly.  One of our first orders of business upon arrival was for the boys to select three goats from the family's herd to become our dinner.  After learning how to slaughter one of the selected goats, the boys slaughtered and butchered the other two.  (I will spare you the details and pictures.)  Dinner was roasted in the traditional way, and was supplemented by mashed potatoes, cabbage, and chapatis (chapatis are a fried flat bread that is a bit heavier and more fatty than the tortillas that are commonly seen in the US).

Dinner (goat) roasting.  Roasted meat is known as "nyama choma" in Kiswahili.

The night was spent on some rather lumpy ground under the stars.  Thankfully, it did not rain!  While I missed my backpacking sleeping bag that stayed in the US, the two blankets that I brought for the night worked just fine.  We did dig a pit latrine for our group to use, and the army of dung beetles that invaded it was reminiscent of a National Geographic TV special....but I'll spare you the details!

In the morning we had a chance to speak with several elders in the local Masai community.  We compared ideas on marriage (arranged or not, one wife or multiple, and views on divorce), rites of passage (the boys paled at the discussion of circumcision at age 15!), and the various stages of change from boy to married man to elder.  I think it was enlightening for all concerned.

I came away from the camping trip with a new appreciation for the challenges that this society faces as it moves from traditional lifestyles to a more western model that emphasizes education, paid employment and geographic mobility.  Many of the children growing up in traditional cultures are going on to university and employment in the larger towns and cities.  These changes place stress on the traditional social structures and practices.  Change is coming rapidly, as cell phones are now ubiquitous,  cars and "pikipikis" (motorcycles) have supplemented the traditional mode of transportation (the feet), and western-style malls dot the landscape in Nairobi.  At the same time, many still live much as their forefathers did, and there are many unique and beautiful aspects of the traditional cultures.  These are issues with which families all over this country are wrestling.  It is my prayer that, as the Kenyan people sort these and so many other problems out, God's wisdom will guide them and that He will be glorified.

Galatians 3:27-29

New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Wagalatia 3:27-29

Swahili New Testament (SNT)

²⁷ Kwa maana nyote mliobatizwa katika Kristo, mmemvaa Kristo. ²⁸ Hakuna tena tofauti kati ya Myahudi na Mgiriki, mtumwa na mtu huru, mwanaume na mwanamke. Wote mmekuwa kitu kimoja kwa kuungana na Kristo Yesu. ²⁹ Ikiwa ninyi ni wa Kristo, basi ni wa uzao wa Ibrahimu na ni warithi wa ahadi aliyopewa na