Masai Mara: The First Day

Our first trip into the reserve started about 3:30 in the afternoon, and we would have three hours to tour around before the gate closed. They open up at 6:30 in the morning. As I said, there are no fences around the park, just gates at the point where roads enter.

There were some women from the Masai lined up at the gate, showing off various souveneirs, which they offered at vastly inflated prices. I think all of us were pretty much set for souveneirs at this time, so we tried to ignore them until the armed guard opened the gate and allowed us in. For the following two days, when we entered and left as the park opened/closed, we did not see these women. I guess they make enough that they don't have to get up early or stay til the end of the day.

A selection of skulls, just inside the entrance.

 



 Our ride was a van, and the roof lifted up to allow us to stand and get a view of whatever animal was in the area.

I have to admit I was uncertain about how many animals we would see. It was at the beginning of the migration time, so I thought that maybe we would spend a lot of time chasing down something to see. But we found some animals just a few short metres from the gate; wildebeest and Thomson's gazelles grazing together.

 

 

They were a little skittish, and kept an eye on us as we slowly passed by. Later on, as we were leaving, we saw some of the male wildebeest chasing off some hyenas. It was dusk, and they were a ways off, so we couldn't get a good picture. We saw some hyenas the next day, as well, which is when I took their picture.

 

 



 

We also saw some jackals:

 

and we would just catch a glimpse of warthogs before they disappeared into the tall grass. I don't think any of us got a good picture of them.

Anyway, the next animal we saw was a lone giraffe, ambling across the plain. Looking for Rusty, I think.
Heh.

 

Seeing these animals in the wild is hard to describe. At the time, you can hardly believe what you are seeing. Someone once said that if you have to beg, borrow, or steal in order to go on a safari, it's definitely worth it. The truth of that statement was becoming clearer and clearer as this first day went on.

We came across some more grazing animals as we went further, including zebras:

 

topi:

and impalas:

But then we saw, off in the distance.... elephants.
Ooooooh.
We raced over to them just as they reached a pool of water about the size of a dining room table. They stopped to throw some mud and water over themselves. They were very protective of their young, and especially of a very young elephant, and we were just in awe of them as they went about their business and then ambled off.

This was about an hour and a half into our very first foray into the park, and I thought at the time that this would be as good as it got. The variety of animals we had seen so far, culminating in the small herd of elephants, had made the expense of the trip more than worth it, in my eyes.
But it just kept getting better.
We were heading further in to the park. The sky was kind of cloudy, threatening rain, and there was a haze that obscured the hills on the horizon. We had just seen a secretary bird:

when we saw the first predator, gazing at the grazing animals in the distance, a cheetah:

And then, futher on down the road, a couple of lionesses on the prowl.

They were nice enough to pose for us:

 and even smile... nicely... for the camera:

 

And then it was time to head back to the camp. There was some rain coming down as drove out of the park, but it didn't last too long. As I reflected on the variety of animals we had seen, I was thankful that the trip had gone so well. We were going to have a couple more trips over the next two days, and I looked forward to what they would bring.

 



 



Farewell PACE, Hello Masai Mara

Our team left the guest house at PACE Academy on Monday, June 10th. We had an evening of fellowship and heartfelt farewells the night before. Glenda and her husband Wachira took excellent care of us while we were visiting, and we were all fascinated with Wachira's vision of an ever-expanding facility, ultimately serving 1000 students, as well as a seminary and a much greater medical facility for the surrounding community. We all prayed for the realization of this vision, which would do a lot of good.
The school is about 10 years old now, and the ministries that support it were celebrating not just their 30th anniversary, but the 40th anniversary of the family business and the 50th anniversary of Kenya's independence from British rule.

We were picked up early on Monday morning for the drive down to the game park by our driver, John. He would see us through all the way to our departure from Kenya on Thursday, and we greatly appreciated his driving and his ability to find animals in the park. 

As we drove down the highway, we saw many children waiting for their school buses to pick them up. One boy waiting at the point where the road from PACE met the highway was wearing a Batman t-shirt. A good omen.

PACE is near to the centre of Kenya, right on the equator, and the Masai Mara is to the southwest, right on the border with Tanzania.  It was about 400 kilometres (about 5 hrs.) to the park, and we saw some interesting sights and signs along the way. I saw one building that advertised itself as "The Bovine Building" and "The Lord's Answer."

Heh.

Other signs include "Classic Bart," "Sweet Banana House," and "Don't point fingers - anyone can get AIDS."  This last sign was fairly old, and partially papered over. I wonder if it is still in people's minds. I heard some strange stories about AIDS, such as one that said men in Kenya persuad women to have sex in high buildings. Their logic was that the higher you are, the less chance of passing on the disease.

The road was pretty good for most of the way to the park, but the last couple of hours they got progressively worse. Some of the parts near to the park were very bad, due to the earlier rainy season causing bits to wash out and become very rocky and full of potholes. 

Eventually we arrived at our destination, which was the "Rhino Tourist Tented Camp," just outside the Ololalmutla gate of the Masai Mara.Our "rooms" were indeed tents, but ones that had tiled floors, and fully appointed bathrooms. The guests eat in a central dining hall, and we were fed as well as we had been at PACE.

Before I get to what we saw in the park, I should say something about the Maasai and the formation of the National Reserve.

The Maasai people came from their original homeland of southern Sudan in the Nile Valley. They began to migrate south and east about 500 years ago, with a group called the Nilo-Hamatics, that included groups like  the Maasai, the Samburu, Pokot and others. The Maasai are a linguistic group, being identified by their common language, "Maa." Oral tradition says they arrived in the area of the Mara around the end of the 17th century to the start of the 18th. 

The Masai are not the most powerful tribe in East Africa, but they are certainly the best known. They are recognized for their handsome appearance, and also for being brave, stubborn, sometimes arrogant, and fiercly proud of their culture and traditions. They are clearly identifiable - the men wearing their bright red cloaks, often carrying a spear and rungu (short club); the women colourfully dressed and festooned with bangles and beads. 

We saw many Masai, both adults and children, herding their flocks of sheep, goats, and cattle along the roads towards (and inside) the park. The children often waved eagerly, but the adults were more reserved.

The Masai were devastated by the arrival of Europeans at the end of the 19th century due to death and disease and the dissection of their lands by the colonial powers. It took a long time for them and their herds to recover, but presently they are at an all-time high.

Cattle are at the centre of their existence. Their homes are built around a cattle enclosure, and the beasts are a sign of wealth and the medium of exchange. The Masai do not hunt, but rely on their cattle to provide them with the essentials of life. The Masai live in peace with the wildlife that shares the park with them. 

There are two long dry periods between the rains, which accounts for the Masai's semi-nomadic way of life. The wild animals that go through the Mara also migrate, following the water that is the source of life for them.

"Mara," is a Masai word that means spotted or mottled. Another word used to describe the area is "Serengeti," meaning wide or seemingly never-ending plains. 

The Mara is not actually a park, but a reserve, designed to protect the Masai's herds from diseases like rinderpest. It was first established as a triangle in 1948, and at that time it was much smaller. It was expanded in 1961, and further adjustments were made in 1984 to create the Masai Mara National Reserve with its present boundaries, an area of just over 1,500 square kilometres.

The reserve is controlled by the Narok and Trans-Mara County Councils. In 2001 the management of the original triangle ceded to the Mara Conservancy, a highly successful wildlife management experiment. 

Although the Masai's herds do encroach on the reserve, they mostly stay outside of it. The wild animals do not observe the man-made boundaries, however, and their is just as much wildlife outside the reserve as in it.

The future of the reserve depends on good, sustainable management which takes into account the needs of both the animals and the people. It will make the most sense if the healthy survival of the Mara increasingly becomes the Maasai people's number one asset, where everyone can clearly see its benefits.  

We saw many of the benefits, and the animals, during our three day safari, which I will get into in my next installment.

Sports

I think I mentioned before that we teachers are not allowed to teach the core subjects here in Kenya. It kind of left us with little to do other than play games with the kids. We have had a lot of fun doing that, and we have made some good friends among the student body.
But there is a sense that the other teachers look down on us. I think that they are very conscious of their position, and don't want to do anything that might take away any of their dignity, or allow the students some familiarity. There is a hierarchy among the teachers, and the higher the grade you teach the more people you can look down on. It reminds me of the way the Koreans order their society, in a way.
The teachers do have a lot of pressure on them to get through the curriculum. They are good at their jobs, from what I have seen. But they have exhibited some stand-offiishness when it comes to opening their classrooms to us. The only times we've been allowed to teach is with kids of grades 1 - 6 and no higher.
Another way they remind me of Koreans is the way they are all wrapped up in parkas all the time, like it's very, very cold. I've been told that May, June, and July are the coldest months here in Kenya, and it's even colder as high up as we are. I need to wear a light jacket at night to keep warm, and I'm glad of the extra blankets on my bed, but during the day I am fine in short-sleeved shirts. I would wear shorts if I could. It rained for a good long while yesterday, and it's been fairly humid, the past coupla days. It feels like what I expected Kenya to be like, hot and humid.
Yesterday, June 7th, was our last day to be involved with the school as teachers. I substituted for a first grade teacher, and then joined the others to put on a "fun day" of games, face painting, and crafts. It was a lot of work to prepare, but I think it paid off for the most part. I think most of the kids had a good time. The high school kids were very stand-offish, and not willing to participate in the games at all. They thought sack races, three-legged races, and games of that sort were too childish. The high school teachers, continuing their nose-in-the-air attitude, were absolutely no help at all. Leighton and Kelvin were so exasperated, they gave up and walked away from the games field.
Throughout our time here, we have taken the opportunity to play sports with whatever kids show up at the field about 4:00 in the afternoon. It has developed that we usually play frisbee soccer with the high school girls while the boys play regular soccer. The boys look down on frisbee soccer as beneath their great athletic prowess.
Well, we have done what we could to bring some enjoyment here, and have tried to maintain a positive attitude. Sometimes people respond, and sometimes they don't. Their problem.
During the fun day, I was doing the face painting. It was the first time I had ever done it, and it was too big a task, There were just too many students for me and another teacher to take care of. Eventually, some of the kindi teachers took over and set up a kind of assembly line where one teacher would paint one thing and send the kid down the line.
And a lot of our stuff went missing by the end of the day. The craft materials, stickers, the face paints, they all got... um... appropriated for the school's own use at a later date or ended up in the kids' dorms or something. The director was upset about it, but he understood it. These kids have had so little for so long, they can't resist the opportunity to help themselves when things like that come along.
We also served lunch to the kids. They get a cup of juice and a plate of food which is usually rice, beans, and maybe some meat and green vegetables if they're lucky. It's an assembly line kind of serving, and the tables get fairly messy as lunch goes along. I noticed some students eating with their hands. Other students get spoons from their teacher, which they have to hand back. otherwise they go missing. That having so little thing again.
But that was our last official day at the school. Saturday is turning out to be a day of rest combined with pre-packing so as to make sure there's enough room for everything. I think I'm doing pretty good. At least it looks like it'll all fit, anyway.
Sunday will be a day of worship both at the school and at a place called the "Happy Church." The pastor, whose name is Masharia, was the one who took us to the seniors fellowship last week. he was wearing this gold and purple jacket. I'd never seen anything like it, and I'm hoping he'll wear it tomorrow so I can get a picture.
And then Monday it's off to the Masai Mara game park for our safari. We are all super stoked and looking forward to it. I'll be sure to let you know all about it, if I don't get eaten by a lion.

Lesson Planning and Teaching

Last Monday (May 27th) we had another day with the nursery, teaching them a little spelling and addition, as well as the usual running-around-crazy-go-nuts physical education. There is not a lot of instruction during PE, just games and chase-the-white-teachers.
The kids are as cute as buttons, and insist on hanging on to you, as many as four on each hand, all calling out, "Me-me! Me-me!" They want to be picked up, or twirled around, or play with my sunglasses. I'm afraid only their Kenyan teachers can keep them under control. Whenever I try, it just turns into a game of tag the teacher and run away.
Heh.

On Tuesday, we went over to the main school, hoping to get in and teach some of the higher level kids, but instead we did a lot of sitting around and waiting for them to decide what to do with us.
It's understandable, because our arrival here was very last minute, and they don't really have teachers come here who want to teach. They are more about missions coming through and seeing their organization.
I think there might have been some trepidation from the teaching staff about why we were here, and how it was going to impact their jobs. The teachers have enough pressure on them already, just getting their students exposed to as much of the curriculum as possible. We should have perhaps sat down with them as soon as we got here and made it clear that we were here as much to learn from them as to teach their students.

I think we have done our best to build bridges and establish some trust with them, but we still are not being allowed to "teach" any grade higher than the third. I say "teach," but it is more like we walk into the classroom, ask what the teacher is doing, and then see what we can do ourselves. It is very easy, and not really in need of any planning per se. We don't really have enough time to do more than just give the students a small taste of us.
And we of them.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm student. Drool.
But I digress.
The lessons have a bit of teaching from the text at first, and I tried to get a little back and forth, question and answer, going with the students. I think they were catching on to what I was intending, but it was a little hit-and-miss. Then the students do some copying from the board. They can't really copy from their texts, as there are very few of them. In one class, there were two to share among 20 or so students.
I did give them an exercise to do from the text, which was to list the cash crops that were grown in their province. I had to direct them from the page we had finished on to the one that listed the crops, but otherwise they did okay.

I watched a class being taught by a teacher named Leonard, who was very energetic and engaged with the students. The teachers are more used to their style of teaching than we are, as are the students, so they do it better and more successfully. One of the "facts" that I learned from Leonard is that the Kikuyu (which is the local tribe) believe that if you have a turtle in your house, you will experience a drought.
Huh.
In the afternoon, we each took a high school class and gave them some tips on writing. Then we had them do some writing for us to correct. It took a while, but we eventually finished the corrections. Their writing reminded me a lot of the kind I saw in Korea. Run-on sentences, confusion of tenses, and inappropriate word choice. They just need practice to get better at English, and I hope the red marks of our corrections don't discourage them too much.
On Thursday, I got to do some teaching in the Grade 1 class. Their teacher was feeling a little under the weather, and I think she was glad to be able to take it easy. As I mentioned, we are very high up in the hills, and it is a lot cooler than you might expect for equatorial Kenya. It's nice for us. We can walk around in shirt-sleeves comfortably. But the Kenyans start their day wrapped up in as many sweaters and jackets as they can manage.
Heh.
On Wednesday, we took in a school for special needs kids, those suffering from autism, cerebral palsy, and retardation, who cannot handle themselves without special care and instruction. It was at a school north of town in an area called Manguo. There motto is: NIPE NAFASI NIJARIBU, which means "Give us a chance to try." Some of them do crafts to help raise money for the school, and I bought some nice bracelets and necklaces.
We did our usual thing of playing with them, and giving them a snack of bread and juice. We took a tour and they sang us a couple of songs. That trip and the one to Victory School on Friday (see previous post) affected us a lot. Getting a chance to do for these kids means a lot to them as well as ourselves.
Saturday saw us at Thomson's Falls yet again. I didn't go down to the bottom this time, but stayed on a nearby patio downing a couple bottles of the local beer, "Tusker."
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm beer.

It's a nice tasting beer, and it's about $2.50 for a 500ml bottle. The alcohol content is only 4.2%.
That afternoon we went to Wachira's bro's place again for a celebratory lunch. We were taken by surprise, as we were a tad underdressed and unprepared for the speeches that followed the lunch. it's time like that when I wish to have a book handy. Having a book and not needing it is better than needing a book and not having it.
The rest of the evening was ours. Sometimes we just go to the school and hang out with the kids. I usually like to stay put and watch TV on my 'puter or read.
Sunday (June 2nd), was spent going from service to service, it seems like. We attended the PACE service until 10, and then went to Pastor Mugo's church before having lunch in town.
After an afternoon of rest, there was a time of family fellowship at another of Wachira's bro's. He has a big family.
It is only a week until we leave this place and go on our safari. I will tell you what happened during the week next time.

PACE and CALEB

I think that I should take the time to talk a little more about the people behind the school. Pan African Christian Exchange (PACE) is a mission agency created and managed by Africans and for Africans, providing them with spiritual, social and economic assistance.

"In God We Trust?" Or "The Blues?"

Why can't we have both!

PACE runs this school, which is really three institutions: PAA (Pan African Academy), which is a school for kindergarten and Grades 1 - 8; PAHS (Pan African High School) which teaches kids in Grades 9 - 11. They won't have a Grade 12 class until next year, as the school has been "growing up" since it was first established in 2003 from students in earlier age groups to the older ones. There is also a Theological seminary, but most of those students only come here for short periods and spend most of their time at a school in town. PACE is about 3 kilometres south of Nyahururu.

Coming into town.

There is also a dental clinic on site, where Destiny has been helping out, with a dentist named Ben Mburu. They do more than just dentistry, such as general health diagnosis, treatment and lab services, as well as a limited pharmacy.
To take care of the religious aspects of the curriculum, the school is allied with an association known as the CALEB Pastors, who are drawn from a variety of churches in and around  Nyahururu. Indeed, PACE grew out of CALEB, which is just now celebrating its 30th anniversary.

One of the houses built for a pastor.

Wachira Ngamau and his wife Glenda founded CALEB and then PACE, and are the driving force behind the mission and community development, both regionally and nationally. Our team has not yet met Wachira, as he has been on a fundraising trip to Canada. His arrival is imminent as I write this. Another mission team is coming with him. We are not exactly a mission team, but a group of teachers who hoped to come here to learn and to teach. It hasn't always been easy, but more on that next time.

Maina slum

Another pastor, Peter Njihia, does a lot of work in Rwanda, and there are some students who have come to this school from there. One girl tells the heartbreaking story of seeing her father killed in the genocide.
Pastor John Mugo came here from western Kenya in 2007. At that time he had a thriving church, but during violent clashes after the national elections, it was burned down, and he was forced to flee with his wife and three daughters. His oldest daughter is now studying in the United States and his church here is growing, a testament to how his faith and hard work have sustained him.
We visited his church this past Sunday. he is a powerful speaker (and singer!).

Teaching in Victory School

Pastor Francis Mwaniki and his wife Beth run the Victory School in the Maina slum, which we visited last Friday (May 31st). They try to improve the lives of these children from extremely poor backgrounds. All of these children touched the hearts of our team greatly, and we have resolved to do as much as we possibly can to raise some funds for them and provide some school supplies and toys. All they have to play with in their dusty little yard are some old tires.

Pastor Ferdinand Mati and his wife Rosemary run the Kauka church and nursery, about which I have already written.
It has been inspiring to see how these and other pastors have come together to work for the betterment of the children in this area. We have been very happy to get involved in this work as much as we can. It's a little disheartening to see how much there is to be done, and some tears have been shed about the plight of some of these kids. We can do so little for them, but whatever we do is greatly appreciated. We all want to bring them home with us when we leave.
That leaving is going to be very hard on all of us, I think.