Mstuni (the bush) Adventures...

A short-term team from Crossroads Christian Church (my home church Evansville, IN) came to visit all of us at AfricaHope last month. It was wonderful...having a taste of southern Indiana here, friends, time in the bush together at the lovely school of Olosirua, & watching people experience Kenya & the people here for the fist time, just like I did 6 years ago:) We camped out next to the teacher's housing at Olosirua Primary School for 4 days. Part of the group did VBS with all the school kids, & the other part taught at a pastor's conference in a nearby town. Here's some highlights:

• Rainstorm…a badly needed rainstorm. Only a couple of the tents leaked:)
• Hyena wake-up call
• Building about 20 new desks for the students, & repairing broken chairs
• Trying to carry water like Maasai women (place the strap tied to the large jerry can full of water on your forehead & let the jerry can hang on your back). Warning: it’s heavy & you could end up on the ground:)
• Watching the Jesus film projected on the outside of a manyata (mud hut) in nearby villages at night. Quite a few people were saved!
• Tomato sauce does not = tomato paste! Anyone know how to make spaghetti sauce with ketchup? :)
• Luncar eclipse. Amazing. And it made the stars even more radiant than they already were.
• Time around the camp fire. We ended up teaching Jackson (a co-worker of mine at AfricaHope) John Denver’s ‘Country Roads’ :)
• VBS craft time with the school kids…bags with finger print people on them, prayer journals, a banner made with handprints in the colors of the Kenya flag. Love their little hands:)

• Watching the kids play with a large parachute…you know, those parachutes we used to play with at VBS that you try to run under before it comes back down on you. It brought back memories:)
• Nashipae…the Maasai name the students gave me. It means ‘happy’:) They gave us all Maasai names after they performed some traditional Maasai songs for us on our last day there. Precious!



• Passing out deworming medication to all the students. Not glamorous, but definitely helpful.
• Visiting a nearby bore hole that AfricaHope helped make possible
• Nyama choma = roasted meat. On our last day, men from the community slaughtered a goat & roasted it for us! The goad fat soup that also comes along with a slaughtering was….an experience.
• Being able to witness a community meeting led by Tim, AfricaHope’s director, about improving the school for the children
• Maasai beaded jewelry from the parents that we were all given before leaving
• A few Moran (Maasai warriors) came by for a visit & performed a song for us! They requested that we remember them & bring back pictures. We just so happened to have a Polaroid on hand!
• Getting to know the amazing teachers & kids at Olosirua :)
I do love being out in the field:)

**If you'd like to see more pictures from our time in the bush, click here**