MFSP Operational Area

Today's tour of Maasailand will take you through the basic outline of the MFSP working area.  Start in Mai Mahiu  at -.982866, 36.585601.  Head west along the Narok road, one of the nicest roads in all of Kenya.  A you travel the villages of Eluai, Olgumi and Kisharu will be south of the road and Olongonot (near Mt. Longonot) is to the north.  Continue along the road until -1.030377, 36.438436.  This is about the Western-most extent of the north edge of our area.

Steph at the Suswa crater, looking North

The view from Mt. Suswa looking east towards Najile

Now we plunge south toward Mt. Suswa.  The crater of Mt. Suswa is at -1.162948, 36.354967 with the villages of Ewuaso, Enajooli, Najile, and Olodungoro to the east of the mountain.  Go SSE to -1.232673, 36.391146.  You'll see a small hill called Soitamurt (Neck rock in Maa) and a road going east/west (the Najile road).  Soitamurt is one of the MFSP target areas and the other areas generally follow along that road.   Continue West along the Najile road to -1.271200, 36.324731 where you'll see the road cross a north/south line of green.   I believe this is a seasonal river and its an area known for its elephants.

A FFW truck that got stuck in the seasonal river beyond Soitamurt.

Now we get to a lower-resolution part of the map and its hard to tell what's what.  The western extent of our area is a community called Mosiro.  Follow the Najile road south at  -1.294436, 36.263250 (the brown area shows the contrast between the rainy/dry seasons).  The road goes south through the brown area and then veers west at -1.438493, 36.251911.  After a few more twists and turns you'll get to Oldorko Center (also known as Mosiro) at -1.478585, 36.143871.  To the southeast of the center is a girls school and further southeast is the Mariani water pan, built by MFSP through MCC.  Go to -1.523630, 36.178341.

The Mariani Water Pan

Now we return home, heading this time via the Olempirrish Dam, another MCC-supported water project.  I think it is at -1.370788, 36.28864 though I have not confirmed that yet (and the second pan nearby doesn't make sense).  Other villages in this area include Ilparako and Oldepe.  Now, move ENE towards -1.275832, 36.487185.  This ridge of mountains frames the eastern portion of MFSP's implementation area, so follow this ridge north all the way back to Mai Mahiu.

So that's MFSP's area of coverage.  Nobody is sure how many people live here, probably around 50,000 and almost entirely Maasai.  Its a land that has little to offer and yet for many including us, its home. 

Blessing

For a few months now, we have been hoping to get our girls blessed at Najile POMC church.  While we pray over our girls each night, there is a special power in praising God for and asking  protection over our daughters in a public setting.  Last Saturday, I was in a meeting with our pastor and asked him when the blessing could happen.  He said, "is tomorrow too soon?" to which I replied, "we're always ready to be blessed!"  So on Sunday, our girls were dedicated to God at Najile POMC church.  It was a short ceremony, involving our pastor praying over each girl and a rendition of "Jesus Loves the Little Children" in Maa.  It was powerful however to think of this as a first public step of acknowledging their life in Christ and we pray that as they continue to grow, God blesses them with every fruit His spirit brings. 

Labor Day

Happy Belated Labor Day everybody! In Kenya, labor day is celebrated on May 1 (very communist of them) so this year's labor day was actually quite laborious.  Due to the slow pace of life here, the nature of our partners, and a variety of other reasons, I have spent only a few full work days at a partner office during our time in Kenya.  However last monday, Labor Day, was the first day of work for me in my new position of interim project manager of the POMC Generations.  Overall, it was a great day and I'm happy to be working with Generations again, however I think its ironic that my busiest work day was labor day...

The Schools of Najile

Najile is one of the most blessed Maasai communities in terms of education.  Within a kilometer or two of our house are a primary school and two secondary schools, one for boys and one for girls.  Many communities have no schools at all, and certainly no secondary schools.  Go to -1.210153, 36.474058 and you'll see the Najile Primary School. The Najile primary school is home to about 350 students, ranging from baby class to standard 8.  Najile primary does face a variety of challenges, however.  Class sizes are much too large with only 8 teachers serving the 350 students.  The school has no electricity and only has access to computers thanks to a project paid by outsiders providing computers and solar panels. Teacher absenteeism also regularly leaves multiple classes without supervision, minimizing the amount of time students have to prepare for their exams.

In Kenya, after standard 8, a nationalized exam is administered to place students in secondary school.  Like university in the US, 8th grade students need to apply to secondary schools and get in based almost solely on their test scores.  Since schools like Najile primary have limited access to government funding, many students are left severely under-prepared for the exam, administered in their third language, English. 

Those Najile students lucky enough to make it into secondary school often choose Najile boys school or Ewuaso girls school.  Go to -1.207935, 36.475273 to see the boys school just to the northeast of the primary school.  Continue on to your north, northwest to -1.198819, 36.473672 to find the newly opened Ewuaso girls school.  Both secondary schools are boarding schools and require students to pay significant school fees.  While primary school is technically free, (though in practice many charges still creep up), secondary school fees are one of the major financial stressors on local families, requiring the equivalent of a cow to be sold for each term (3 per year).  Considering families of 30 or more children, this is a major problem. 

A final note about Ewuaso girls school:  this school was recently completed by Compassion International, a Christian NGO that connects international sponsors to needy students.  Compassion has a large center next to the Najile Church and decided to build a girls secondary school for the community.  This year was the first to serve all 4 years of secondary school and provides hope for many girls who previously had only limited educational opportunities. 

While many books could be written about the problems surrounding education from a Maasai perspective, I hope this short overview has helped you picture what school looks like for our neighbors.  

Najile Center

Welcome back to your guided tour of Maasailand.  Today we will visit the bustling metropolis that is Najile Center.  Basically comprised of three rows of iron-sheet buildings sub-divided into single room, Najile has all the charm of small-town Kenya.  If you go to -1.214443, 36.460424 you'll be right in the midst of Najile.  Most of the buildings are single-roomed "apartments" that can be rented for Ksh 500 (~$4) a month.  The rest are small "hotels" (restaurants), dukas (stores) and one or two bars.  The other main attractions in Najile proper are the broken down bus and water truck, and a petrol station that is now out of business (on the east end of town)

Across the street is the real reason for Najile's importance, the water tanks.  The three tanks and trough are fed by a pipeline that originates near Maai Mahiu (-.982489, 36.586163).  Najile is basically the last stop for the waterline so people from dozens of kms away travel to Najile to water their animals during the drought.  Do you see the animals walking in the google earth image?

One final attraction around Najile is the house of Solomon Matura, our close friend.  Solomon's house was basically the model for our own house (though his is a bit larger) and his farm is a wonderful demonstration of what can be done with a little water.  Move northeast along the road  until you see a bright-blue roof on the north side of the road.  At -1.212485, 36.466419 you'll see Solomon's house and farm. 

Well, hope you enjoyed your virtual tour of Najile.  Our next stop: the Najile Educational Area.

Ewuaso Kedong/Osero-Onyokie

The first stop on our guided tour of our community is Ewuaso Kedong, known to the Maasai as Osero-Onyokie.  Go to -1.148929, 36.497355 in google earth and you'll be smack dab in the heart of Ewuaso.  You'll see the "main road" (dirt path) that curls from the north end of town, around the west of town.  This is the road to Najile (and our home, about 10 kms away).

Ewuaso is a main trading center for the Maasai community.  Every monday, hundreds of people come to trade fruits, vegetables, cattle, sheep, goats, and shop at the general stores.  There is a second market-day on thursday, though no animals are sold on thursdays so its considered a "small" market day.  In the middle of town, you'll see a clump of trees: that's the main vegetable market area where you can buy onions, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, sukuma-wiki (kales), and other seasonal vegetables.  The buildings on all sides of the vegetable market are basically general stores, selling the staple items of Maasai existence: bread, cooking fat, soap, salt, corn meal, tea, sugar, and milk. 

If you scroll a little to the east, you'll see a large rectangular area to the southeast of town.  That is the animal market, where mostly goats and sheep are sold each week.  Clearly, the image on google earth wasn't taken on a monday since the area is deserted!  People come from all around to buy and sell animals, including many traders who "flip" animals for a profit.

The other main highlights of Ewuaso town include the Division Office (still under construction to the south of town) as Ewuaso was declared the "capital" of Ewuaso division years ago (but never got any of the offices to serve as a capital). Ewuaso is also home to a small dispensary (though no regularly posted doctor), a primary school (the secondary school is near Najile), electricity, and numerous bars.  The most famous hotels are also present in Ewuaso including the "Intercontinental High Class Hotel" and the local branch of the "Hilton".   Lastly, if you move your cursor to -1.149358, 36.496822, you'll be over the building that houses the new "Generations" (formerly GAR) program of the POMC church.  This is Steph's current workplace, about a 25 minute drive from our home.

Hope you've enjoyed your tour of our market town.  Please forward any questions you may have and we'll be happy to share more about Ewuaso.

Google Earth

We've been found! While in Nairobi last weekend, I installed google earth.  I hadn't done this before because I assumed our internet couldn't handle the graphics.  So, I started poking around and lo, and behold, I found our house.  If you go to -1.214330, 36.475648 (long/lat) you'll see a house with a blue roof.  That's us!  The red-roofed building next to us it the POMC Najile Church.  I'm thinking about starting some running commentary about the places around us, so stay tuned for more updates in Maasai-land and follow along using google earth!