#5 My week and a bit with the Masai

Day 5 – Sunday 

Milk gourds

            Today is Sunday and they say there will be a full house, if the driver shows up on time we will be on our way shortly. I went out for morning stroll in the bush and saw some impala making their way back up to the hills. They come down during the night hours to the valley to feed. The mist is heavy today, cold.

They offered us a shower this morning but standing in the nude in a tin bucket did not sound to exciting this cold morning. I will make do with washing my face and of course brushing my teeth. You know Dr. Rick is here; I need to make a good impression, that I am a good boy and take care of my teeth.

Speaking of teeth, it is no wonder Dr. Rick pulls out so many teeth. The chai/tea here is intensely sweet, full of sugar. Your teeth just cry out for mercy. Anyway to be culturally polite, I simply ask for chai without sugar…. Goats milk is generally used in the tea, cow’s milk is too precious for mixing in your tea.



A good healthy cow will only give about 1 liter of milk a day here; in the Western world a good cow will give 20+ liters a day, a big difference. Cow’s milk is used for making a thin sour yogurt; it is used for special tribal ceremonies. It is also used as an offering for the dead ancestors; placed on the grave to appease the spirit of the deceased. Without this offering several times a year it is believed that bad things will come to the family.

The milk of the cow is the top honor that a guest could receive. Milk is highly valued. It is stored in gourds; these gourds are often decorated with beads. These gourds also need to be cleaned, hot ash and charcoal is used to clean out the bacteria etc. This then also give a smokey taste to the milk, so you have smoke flavored milk, smoke flavored yogurt, even smoke flavored tea. Now that is one flavor that Starbucks does not have, the Masai are one up on Starbucks!! Maybe I should market that flavor and raise money for our missions support, what do you think?

The church service is full; ladies generally all sit on the left and the men on the right side. There is one thing about the African people which I love; it is that they know how to celebrate in song and dance, now that is something that we Westerners could get a dose of in our churches.

A thing that is unique to the Masai traditional music is that there are no drums, where in most of the African culture there is always a drum somewhere. What is also interesting is that when the music is playing most people move with the music side to side, but the Masai go front to back. There are times when the men will just begin to leap high into the air showing their strength and celebration. This practice is used throughout the Masai culture.

Dr. Rick gave a short word of encouragement and showed the church where he lives on the globe. Most Masai women in the area have not been out beyond those hills over there, the men get out a lot more due to taking their cattle for many weeks looking for greener pasture. So for the Masai to see Dr. Rick blow up this plastic globe, that in itself was quite an experience.

Today I spoke on the ‘Mind’. This is our biggest enemy, you know. All the lies we believe and live by. Wrong mindsets are lies that keep a person down, and there are many. I tried to show that poverty is not a money thing rather it is a mindset thing. The Masai may have hundreds of cows which are worth lots, yet they believe they are poor. This poverty mindset has cursed the African race for generations, we whites feed that lie because of our own mindset that says that Africans are poor, so we, the west treats them that way. It is a vicious cycle.

The bible speaks a lot on the mind. The corrupt mind, un-renewed mind, passive mind, the carnal mind; but we are to put on the mind of Christ. It all starts in the mind, everything. From there is goes to the heart, then eventually goes back out through the mouth. In the end we all prayed for our minds and broke the curse of the lie and then spoke truth to our minds. There are many superstitions that the Masai live under. For the most part these are all lies that have been passed down for generations which keep fear in the hearts and give authority to spiritual powers. Romans 12:2 says that “Transformation comes from the renewing of the Mind.”  

          After the service was over there were lots of handshakes and thank you(s). Now that the driver was actually in church this morning, we have a ride home. He did have another flat tire last night actually. Speaking of being poor, this poor guy needs to get some new tyres…

A very needed time of rest for the afternoon, another walk through the bush taking pictures of flowers and trees; you know, things you do when you are in Masai land.

A goat is being cooked for tonight's supper, a meal that I always enjoy. It is cooked over the open fire, they bring in a whole leg at a time with a local Masai knife for each and away you go, carving your own dinner.

I miss the family back home, wonder how they are doing. No phone reception here.

Love you all at home,

From Daddy  ♥