Thanksgiving in Kurungu

Tribal. Isolated. Hot. These are a few words that explain our Thanksgiving weekend. We had the opportunity to go up-country to Kurungu (a village close to South Horr) with James..and what an amazing time we had! Even though it was not Thanksgiving here, it was a long weekend, as Friday was Moi Day..so we left early Friday morning and flew out with AIM Air. Even that was so neat..to see the Kenyan countryside as we flew by in the small plane, the mountains, the trees, the lone roads here and there..Trevor got to sit up front with the pilot, so that was pretty cool as well! It took 1 ½ hours to fly what would have taken 2 days to drive! We landed in a valley with mountains on either side…small dirt airstrip…greeted by the missionaries that we went to visit, along with some of the local Samburu people who came to see who had flown in. The view was incredible!!
We stayed with Walt and Monica Middleton and their three kids…they have lived in Kurungu for about two years. There is also another missionary couple who has been there longer, Rick and Carrie Maples, and they have two kids. The whole weekend was filled with so many different things..a lot of visiting, exploring the area, learning about the culture…Trevor also got his hands dirty and helped fix their vehicles, so that was a huge help to them, as the roads here do a lot of damage to the vehicles!! We also went into the town of Kurungu to get some sand to bring to the preschool (the picture on the left shows the guys loading sand...they only had three shovels, so that is the reason there are so many guys just standing and watching!!), and joined in other little projects here and there to experience the daily life of the missionaries who live there.

Trevor with some of the local kids who live in the town of Kurungu. They LOVED being on pictures!!

Sunday afternoon...a bunch of Samburu people heard there were more wazungu (white people) who had arrived in Kurungu, and so they brought many things to show us in hopes that we would buy something...In the picture I am trying to barter with a drunk man...it was an interesting event! We ended up buying some neat items from a few different people..

Kids filling up their water jugs at the well...beautiful, beautiful kids..

The people that the Maples’ and Middletons are minstering to are the Samburu people..a nomadic tribe who travel with their goats and camels, and live very simply. Most of them speak only Samburu…some speak Swahili, and very few speak English. Only the boys go to school, and it is only those who are considered “useless”, who have no desire to herd the animals and live the nomadic lifestyle. This lifestyle is considered the highest calling, and those who are not interested are sent to school, and suffer problems from their people for it. For a boy, to become a Moran (warrior) (Morani - Warriors) is the greatest achievement…there is a lot of ritual and tradition that comes with it, and it is after the boys are circumcised when they reach adolescence that they can start to go through the process to become a warrior and start their journey into manhood. The Moranis hold their positions for 14 years, until they marry and become elders. The women marry as soon as they reach adolescence, and are in charge of building the huts, collecting wood, water, and cooking. It is a very interesting culture..one that is hard for us to understand. The Samburu are very tribal in dress and tradition…they wear a lot of big beaded necklaces, bracelets, earrings…their clothing consists of big pieces of brightly coloured cloth wrapped around them, often in colours of pink and red…their hair is mostly shaved, with the exception of the warriors who have long red hair that is then shaved in a tribal ritual…many of the children are naked, but still wear bracelets and necklaces … everything was so unique and foreign to us, and we were constantly asking questions of the missionaries..”what does this mean? why do they do this? “ and on and on the questions would go!
Their ministry with the Samburu is very exciting! Because most of the people are illiterate, they are going through the “storying” technique, which means they are going through the Bible, starting at the beginning and picking stories in chronological order that point the way to Jesus Christ, and then telling these stories to the people. This is the way that the Samburu have kept their history and stories, by telling them to each other and passing them down throughout
the generations…no books, no “technology”. The people are memorizing these Bible stories now, and really, really know them well! There have been many people who have come to Christ, and have a solid foundation of what they believe. It’s so exciting!! The vision is for them to one day be able to have thriving, growing Churches without the foreign missionaries there to constantly lead them, but for them to lead their own people. It is a very challenging ministry, as the Samburu are nomadic, and so they often only stay on one area for a month or two, and then move on to find more grazing land for their animals. Pray for the missionaries working with them…they need a lot of wisdom!
We had the opportunity to go to a Samburu “night Church” on Monday night…amazing, amazing, amazing!!! We left after dark, walked over two kilometres on dusty, dirt roads with the moon as our light, arrived in the village to the sounds of Samburu singing, praising the Lord…were greeted by many kids who were so excited that we were there…joined in the clapping…sat under African Acacia trees…were surrounded by camels, goats, and little Samburu manyattas (huts)…and took it all in as they told the story of Abraham taking Isaac up the mountain to sacrifice him…everything was told in the Samburu language, by a Samburu man who is a strong believer in the Lord. Sitting there in the dirt, surrounded by kids…both Trevor and I could hardly believe that we were actually sitting there, witnessing something like that! We could hear the sounds of goats and donkeys, the sound of fires crackling, the sounds of babies crying and their mothers comforting them, of children giggling as they touched our white skin, birds of every sort chirping loudly…seeing the silhouette of the mountains on either side of us, seeing the huge centipede crawling on Trevor’s leg..!!! Looking around I could see the women with babies on their backs, soaking in the Word of God, and remembering the stories so well, and understanding them because they are told in their heart language. I saw some of the men who are rising up and taking responsibility, and one of them walking over four kilometres just for those few hours to tell the people about God, and then having to walk back that night…we were so blessed to be able to be a part of that. What an amazing God we serve!!
The next morning we also had the chance to go to this village by daylight..and got to go into one of their manyattas (huts) to see what it’s like inside! The manyattas are portable huts made up of mud, hide, grass, and blankets/tarps, etc. First they wanted to clean it up for us, so we waited for awhile, then they said that they were ready for us, so we ducked through the tiny opening, turned a little corner, and sat down on the mat they provided for us. It’s just tiny, with a fire inside for cooking, goats wandering in and out, the mats that we were sitting on was where they would sleep at night…they were so excited to have us come in, and when I would take pictures, they would want to see them, and would laugh and laugh when they saw themselves!! It was really neat to sit with them…Walt was the one who took us there, and he has learned to communicate well with them, so that was really neat to see as well. (the camping tent in the picture is Walt's tent...he set it up in their village so he could stay with them sometimes...and the other huts you see are the manyattas.)
Throughout the weekend, we also got a glimpse of the daily life of the missionaries living there. The people come to them for a lot of things…we saw a man who’s head was cut open, a baby who had an infected sore on his head, a man with an infected finger, a boy who had a gash on his leg, another guy who got something in his eye…and on and on it would go!! The Maples and Middletons would stop what they were doing and help whoever was the one in need, spend time with them…it was really interesting to witness. Another thing we noticed was just how much work it is to live there…the town of Kurungu can’t really even be called a town…it’s just a road going through with huts on either side (the pictures on the right are of downtown Kurungu!!)…so they can buy camel milk from the people, some honey, and maybe a few other things, but most of their groceries have to be purchased when they go to Nairobi once every 6-12 weeks!! That’s a lot of planning ahead, saving, being very resourceful…I have so much respect and admiration for anyone who can live like that!! It’s pretty amazing! And another thing is the isolation and loneliness that they face…it’s very difficult when there are only two missionary families living there together…and “getting away” means travelling for two days on difficult and sometimes dangerous roads…it really opened our eyes this weekend to see this way of life and the many sacrifices these people have made to work with the Samburu people.
By the way…our Thanksgiving meal was camel meat! It was cooked over an open fire, and really very good! And on that note, Happy Thanksgiving to each one of you…we are so thankful for you, for your prayers, your support, and so thankful to God for all His provisions for us…We serve a great God!!
Oh, and another cool thing was that some Samburu people rescued a baby dik-dik from the mountains on Sunday morning and brought it to the Middleton‘s house!! (a dik-dik is a very small deer, the smallest of the deer family). It was so tiny, just a few days old, and the size of a small cat! The Middleton’s are now keeping it and feeding it milk with a syringe…it was so cute!! And we also saw a couple of chameleons, baboons, monkeys, and a toucan! Just backyard animals when you live in Kurungu, Kenya!!