Out of Africa: Part 6 (Continued) – First Community Visits

On my recent trip to Africa, I disciplined myself to keep a daily journal of what transpired and how I felt about it. These entries are from that journal.

Saturday, October 22, 2005
Experience #2 - A Schoolyard Celebration

After lunch we visited the Engudi School for Masai children. We all felt the opening welcome when we arrived yesterday was incredible. And it was. But we had not seen anything yet. We learned full well the Africans have a great love for ceremony. We knew we were heading to a school and they were expecting us. But we had no idea of what was about to transpire.

After driving down a slight grade toward the school area, we crossed an open field to the “gate” entrance to the school. There in front of us were several hundred children in full Masai dress and lined in a military precision. As we exited our vehicle, they came toward us dancing, singing, smiling and looking for us to touch their head and bless them. Girls who had been selected approached us and presented us a “stick.” (Actually a small branch of a tree that was stripped and clean. It is what the Masai use to shepherd the cattle.) They then took our hands, one girl on each hand, to lead us to the area where the program would be about 100 yards away. We were seated in seats of honor in preparation for the program that had been prepared. As we walked I could not help but notice that the girls would lightly rub or touch the top of my hand. I was reminded that I had been told that I was the first white man many of them had ever seen, and they were feeling my skin to see that it felt the same as theirs. Tell me that does not give you the chills!

We were given Coca Cola or Fanta Orange and greeted very warmly by the dignitaries present. There was an elder, a former chief, a government official, numerous school officials and probably more than a hundred parents. Folks were literally climbing up in the trees to get a full view of the day’s events. It was apparent they had been preparing for this day a very long time and it was one of the biggest events to occur in this community for a very long time.

We had numerous dances and songs by the children of all ages. The women performed a song for us. We even got to see some of the legendary Masai jumping ability! There were speeches, presentations, and gifts, and an opportunity for each of us to address the crowd. I was more in awe than I think I have been at any time in my life. Actually, there may have been times that rival this one, but there were not many!

Following the program we visited the classrooms of the school, mingled with the folks and had some photo opportunities with the children. Here are some facts about the school itself.

* Started 1950
* The Headmaster was a former student here.
* Current enrollment 290 Boys, 160 Girls (shows the need to empower women and to keep girls in school and out of early arranged marriages.) The gender ratio is about equal until grade four or five.
* Eight classrooms, two are permanent
* Six teachers (Do the math here. There should be a student: teacher ratio of 40:1 at most. It is 90:1!)
* They use water from Mara River, sometimes water is contaminated by sewage dumped upstream.
* School has only three (3) toilets (one for boys, girls, and staff)

We were at the location a couple hours. After greetings and photos, we got in the vehicle to drive back. By then we were hungry and our host had prepared some sandwiches for the long rough drive back. One of the members in our group picked up a parasite probably from not using a hand disinfectant after shaking so many hands. In my vehicle I had brought it we did use it and I was able to explain to our African hosts why we did. We explained that our bodies all build up immunity to the bacteria we are in contact with regularly. Our bodies are not used to the bacteria in their culture and it would make us very ill, as happened to Taylor. We also told them that if they were to come to America, they would probably have a similar issue in our culture. We wanted to be sure they fully understood that we did not look down on them in the least. It was simply a matter of immunities.

The vehicle carrying our African hosts took off and drove like crazy to get home well ahead of us. This is no small feat considering the terrain. When we finally got back we realized why. They had rushed back to prepare us tea and cookies and a time to relax before dinner. The hospitality is legendary here, and we were experiencing it first hand.

As I debriefed the day’s events with Gary, Joshua, John, Taylor and our hosts, I was once again very humbled by the incredible experiences of this most significant day in my life.