Lulenge

Today, we visited a village for the first time: Lulenge. We all piled into the trucks and an hour and a half later, there we were. We arrived to a large church next to a big shady cashew tree, under which we sat for tea. We sat on benches and some of the members of the village brought us bread and chai tea, which tasted strongly of ginger and was delicious. Then, we all walked down to the well that the village uses at the bottom of the hill. It seemed like quite a hike to us, and then we realized that in order to obtain water, they have to carry heavy buckets of water up the hill to the village. We learned that the man who put the well in cheated the village a bit, as the handle fell off shortly after the well was installed, and they aren't actually sure how deep it is. It cost approximately $15,000 to install a well like this.

Two things that I am learning the importance of thus far that I have taken for granted or not given much attention to before coming: water and patience. After looking at the well, we hiked up to the top of the hill and waited some more before church began. As we entered the church, we could hear the drum and the singing and stomping feet of the children's choir - it was a feeling unlike any I had ever experienced. The service itself was about 3 hours long, and considering the fact that we could not understand anything being said, it went amazingly fast. Our group sang twice - all 4 songs we had practiced. We felt like we looked pretty silly next to the children's choir though, who had choreographed all of their songs with clapping and stomping and dancing. They also all wore the large necklaces with silver chains hanging off of them that shook violently when they moved. One song was choreographed to re-enact the story of Good Samaritan.

Along with all of the song, dance, Pastor Hafermann's sermon, and Luka's speaking, one of the Masaai warriors got up and spoke. Later on, Pastor Hafermann told us that he was sort of requesting acceptance into the church. The Masaai warriors are a sort of prodigal son, and they have all returned now to fulfill a life of Christianity in the church. After all of this, it was time for communion and offering. Communion was extremely similar, if not exactly the same, as we do at my church at home. Offering, however, was quite different. Everyone brought up their money and put it in a small bucket in front, and then two women came up with chickens, one with a rug, and various other things. Then the children sang and danced around the offering in a circle before Pastor Hafermann and Luka placed the offering at the alter to be blessed.

When the service was over, everyone exited the church in a line and each person stopped so that the line kept extending on and everyone was able to shake everyone else's hands. Once everyone was outside, the choir came outside and finished singing and the auction began. Luka auctioned off all of the things that had been donated at the offering, and Lindsey ended up buying a chicken which rode home with us in the back of the truck. We got out all of the bubbles and stickers we had brought, and played with the children and others from the village for a while before lunch. The children LOVED to see their own faces on the camera.

Lunch was a large ordeal. We went through a line where we were able to get rice, spiced rice, veggies, and goat. I recently started eating meat, and weeks before coming here I have been mentally preparing myself to eat goat. I thought I was doing really good until one of the men from the village put goat stomach on my plate. I tried hard, but ended up giving it to Luka who thankfully took it so I wouldn't offend them. Weak moment.

After lunch, the Masaai warriors did their jumping for us. I don't know how after eating so much, but doing so on a full stomach didn't seem to affect them. With the chanting and the children singing in the background, they took turns dancing a bit and jumping. It's amazing how high they can jump. The children with the big necklaces on also took turns dancing facing eachother so as to make the necklaces hit eachother. At the end, one of the mamas from the village took a necklace off a child and put it on Kim, who took her turn at dancing. I think she did quite well!

Afterwards, we came home and had a second smaller dinner. Pastor Hafermann explained to us various things about the day that we had questions about, as well as told us more about their culture and sociology in general... specifically religion. Tomorrow we have a full day of language school and then the orphanage so everyone is going to bed early to try and rest up.

Peace,
Anna