Wednesday, July 23, 2014

We Visit Kambala and Celebrate Birthdays















“Maasai woman, I see you as flowers in the desert; how do you see me?”

It is almost 9 pm and we are sitting listening to African drumming and watching a troupe of 6 dancers performing traditional African dances.  It is an experience unlike any we have seen in Tanzania in past years and is full of joyful, rhythmic, syncopated action.  The dancers are also singing while they are dancing.  Where do they get the wind to sing while dancing such strenuous, complex dances?

For the first time we were able to sleep in this morning as it was a planned day off of work at Mazimbu.  Bishop Mameo and his wife, Rose, were blessed with their 4th child who was born a month ago.  Rose is in Bishop Mameo’s home village of Kimbala and our dalla dalla picked us up at 10.  The planned trip of 1 ½ hours took a bit longer when our van had a flat tire on the highway.  Luckily there was a spare tire on board and even the tools for changing it!  Much discussion and some modification of the jack was required but we were on our way again after about 20 minutes.  However, our speed was greatly reduced because our driver wanted to ensure our safety and the spare was not all you would want in the condition of a tire.  So instead of arriving at noon, we pulled into Bishop Mameo’s home at 1:30.  Kimbala is in the middle of “Maasai land” and is a village where about 3000 Maasai live, spread out over a large area.

Bishop Mameo gave us a little history of a current conflict between the pastoralists (Maasai) and the farmers.  Kimbala, along with other Maasai villages, have boundaries marked by the government.  There is no doubt about the borders of the villages.  But the farmers are encroaching on their land, planting their crops and conflict has arisen between the two groups.  The government is not supporting the Maasai, whose entire livelihood depends on animals, but is supporting the farmers because they say food is more important to everyone.  The farmers have gotten violent and have been burning some village homes.  During a conflict last summer 3 Kimbala villagers were killed.  The Bishop is working with people in the government to come to a solution to the problem.

The Bishop proudly welcomed us into his home and introduced us to his mother, Mytapwi, his mother-in-law, and Rose with new-born Edward.  We were served tea and then given a very filling lunch of rice and beans.  While we were there a woman from a nearby home brought some handmade Maasai beaded jewelry and the team bought everything she had to sell!

(The dancers have just grabbed team members and Andrea, Eileen, Lana, River and Catherine are dancing on the stage!)

We left shortly after lunch but were taken to the village elder to pay our respects.  Again, we were invited in.  Much to our surprise, we were served lunch.  Again.  Hospitality demands that we accept so we all had a very small portion of rice with a delicious sweet potato stew on top. 
As we began our return, 2/3 of which was over a very bumpy and rutted dirt road, there were many heads nodding.

After a brief stop at Mazimbu to check on patients, we were back at LJS in time for dinner.  The team pulled off a surprise birthday celebration for Anne and Pati, whose birthdays were within the last week.  We feasted on cake and ice cream, a true treat.


Finally, before the dancing performance, our entire team, plus Robert and Linda Spitalari (resident missionaries from Asbury Methodist in Tulsa) moved to the common room.  Although Andrea has been wearing her medical hat most of the week, she is an ordained ELCA pastor and she led a very short worship that included communion.  It was a true blessing for us all to worship our Christ together and celebrate with the Eucharist.  

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