Day 3 - My week and a bit with the Masai

14,500 Times a day

            Once again we were up early, ate a few tasty mangos for breakfast and off to board a bigger bus this time and off we were again north to Nairobi. Now Dr. Rick was up and ready to go, “Jetlag - what is that?” he said. Well, not far down the bumpy road I felt sorry for him, his poor head was rocking like he was listing to some heavy metal rock band from the 80’s!! I did not even have a pillow to offer the guy. Anyway, he will get over it - I hope…

            Back into the traffic of Nairobi, black exhaust spewing from vehicles; cars everywhere and piki piki’s – motorcycles - were diving in from every direction, down the center lanes. They were going faster and that was just not fair, right? So secretly in my little evil brain, (or what is left of it..) I was wanting to see some truck driver open his door right as one of these corkers was passing, it was not like we were driving fast. If you were there I am sure you would have secretly wanted to see the same thing. The good part of all this is that if it did actually happen we would feel sorry for the guy and go and help him right, after all, I have Dr. Rick with me and at least he could pull some of the broken teeth from this poor fellow. I never did ask Dr. Rick what he was thinking. Dr. Rick…?

            Anyway for two hours we slowly made our way to another bus station, crammed our stuff into another minibus and after an hour of waiting, off we drove. Dr. Rick and I in the front, Mark and James were mashed in the back with their now new family whom they had never met before. All strangers but they seemed content. This is a 10 passenger van, but hey, 15 will fit just fine.

            We were making our way out of Nairobi to a town called Narock. Well, you can’t get anywhere without some kind of problem. The timing belt was making noise, but you don’t stop and see what you can do to prevent a potential problem you just keep going and pray. The louder the noise the louder you pray. This is how many locals attempt to fix their problems. Now most Westerners are ‘prevention’ thinkers, looking for a way to keep a problem from occurring in the first place. Africans in many ways are ‘God will fix it’ thinkers, so prevention and maintenance are not very strong initiatives. These two types of thinking patterns have brought many a frustrations for the locals and the outsiders who work together.

            Anyway, we eventually reach a town and park next to a shop. The driver disappears without a word for at least 30 minutes. Finally he comes back with a so-called mechanic with a timing belt. Well, the timing belt is not for this type of vehicle but we will make it work, so with a sharp knife and some good carving skills the belt eventually fit. And off we drove again hoping to reach Narock before the sun gets too low.

            I didn’t ask Dr. Rick too many questions other than small talk. Sometimes people just need their space to process everything going on around them, although we talked a bit about life in Africa and some of the challenges of mission life. There is a few…

           

We arrived just in time for the prayer call from the Mosque just down the street from our guest house. The Mosque definitely made a statement in this community; it was if to say Islam is here and here to stay. This mosque demanded your respect somehow. A green glass dome seemed to be watching everything going on.

            East Africa is about 45% Islam and another 45% Christian, the remaining 10% is local/animist beliefs. There are still many superstitions that lie deep within the soul of an African, Christians included. I have never met an atheist in Africa, I don’t think there is any such thing. Many laugh at the idea that some people believe that we have come from monkeys, they think this is too foolish to believe, such rubbish.

Throughout East Africa and especially along the coastal region, Islam definitely has it’s strongholds in certain areas. But for the most part in East Africa, Islam and Christianity live side by side in peace. The struggles come when Christians begins to take a stand. We have Christian friends who have taken a stand and they have gone through serious levels of persecution.

If you held a high position in Islam, and become a Christian, your salvation is anything but free; it costs you everything and still some. Maybe this is why we have so many half-committed Christians around; their Christianity costs them nothing really so they don’t really value it. Perhaps we all need to go through some religious persecution from time to time, it is spiritually healthy, it makes you mature and go deep, if you don’t you will not make it. The west has no idea what millions sacrifice everyday to be called Christian. The sermons of today are all about prosperity and how God will bless my life. Tell that to the man who is on the run for his life because he was just baptized, or perhaps the persecution he experiences is because he just does not have enough faith…

            Islam proclaims its prayers five times a day, building its authority in the lives and spirit of the community. This is proclamations 5 times a day, 35 times per week, approximately 150 times a month or 1825 a year proclaiming its deception over the minds of the community. Now you take a town like Arusha let’s say, it has approximately 70 mosques x 5 times per day, that is 350 times. This is 2,450 per week, 10,500 per month and 127,750 times a year. Getting the point, now we wonder why Islam is such a stronghold. Istanbul in Turkey has 2,900 mosques x 5 = 14,500 times a day.  Istanbul (former Constantinople) used to be a Christian stronghold, It all happened because the Christians didn’t do much other that talk; now Islam dominates Turkey. What is happening in your nation? We also need to be a people of proclamation, not just churchgoers, Amen!

Back in Marock the sun is setting fast. The minaret or tower of the mosque holds onto the last colors of the red sun as it goes down over the hills, casting the last shadows of the day over its dominion.

            We found our way to a local restaurant and enjoyed a tasty pepper steak with chips and of course a coke and smile to wash it all down. Even Dr. Rick had a coke, I was surprised - he being a dentist and all. But I will have to say that I think that was the only coke he had during the whole trip so he did good, I was not so good…

Taking our last hot shower for who knows how long for tomorrow we head into village life, I washed a pair of my socks and hung them in the window, just hope I don’t forget them there in the morning when I pack up.

            Lala Salama – Sleep well!