Maasai Mara
Today, we drove a lot of hours over very difficult roads to get to the Masaai village of Nkaimurunya. Africa Exchange is working with FBC, Greensboro and the NGO Maa Trust (themaatrust.org) to build an ICDC in this village.
The Maasai tribe are the people most people imagine when they think of Kenya. The Kenyan portion of the Serengeti (in Tanzania) is called the Maasai Mara because it is the traditional land of the Maasai people. This area is famous for the wildebeest migration that happens each summer.
We stopped first at the Maa Trust office to hear a brilliant presentation on the challenges facing the Maasai people. The Maa Trust has a conservation focus and does its work by focusing on the women and children of the Maasai. I’m more than a little overwhelmed by the challenges facing the people, ecosystem and animals in this part of the world.
Africa Exchange worked with Maa Trust to discover the community of Nkaimurunya. They learned the people of the community were open to working with them to develop a preschool. Over the last nine months the in-country staff of AE has worked with the community to prepare for the building of the school - including raising some building material funds.
Today, we got to experience the blessing and joy of this hard work. When we arrived we had a celebration. Everyone was there: The senior staff of Maa Trust, the team from FBC, Greensboro, the AE staff, all of the community leaders, the primary school principal, and lots of kids. Yes, lots of kids - including some preschoolers who will go to this school when it opens in January.
This was a ground breaking extravaganza. We planted ceremonial trees. Children recited poetry in English and offered dances. There was an actual ground breaking - although the soil was more like cement so we didn’t get very far. Finally, the community offered each person on our team beautiful capes and necklaces. We will all treasure these gifts of friendship and partnership.
After these celebrations in the hot sun, we toured the construction work happening on the school. It was fun to imagine what it will become. African Exchange has a Kenyan construction crew who comes into the community to build the school. The first building they built was a shed for them to store concrete and to sleep. They will work for the next 6 weeks to construct the school, hiring local help at various stages.
We next had lunch with many at the local church. Courtney and I were asked to preach a sermon - gratefully, 3-4 minutes was all anyone had time for. After lunch we visited the local primary school - a few kilometers from the ICDC - where the children will go after preschool. They provided a grand welcome. The children lined the driveway as we drove in. The 6th grade offered a dance for us, and then invited us to join. I keep getting asked and I keep going up to dance, but I still don’t have rhythm. The children loved having us there and we loved being there.
Tomorrow, we begin our trip home. We will travel to Nairobi and fly out on Thursday night through Paris. We will arrive in Atlanta on Friday afternoon and be home in Birmingham that night.
I look forward to being back at VHBC on Sunday. Sharon, Betsy and I will share more details about our experience on Wednesday night, October 29. I hope you will take the time to come listen and consider joining our team in May, 2026.
This has been a great joy for me both personally and as our pastor. I hope these daily blogs have captured some of the joy we have experienced and some of our learnings. Thanks for your trust in us. It has been an honor to represent Vestavia Hills Baptist Church here in Kenya.
Go in Peace,
Eric
