It's a Party!

We were invited to the party of a neighbor celebrating his father's 88th birthday. It was a fun day. We are always so glad to be able to experience some new Kuria culture.

It started in the morning. We were told to arrive about 10am, but in good African style (we have lived here 14 years) we showed up about 11-11:30. And, in good African style, we were still pretty early. When we arrived we were taken around to all the different places where activities were happening. We greeted people at the gate. We went inside a house to greet the old ladies (the father lives in this house and the son and his family live in the other). We went around behind to see where the meat was being cooked and were treated to a piece of very tasty and completely un-chewable beef. Then we went to where the chairs were set up in the yard for the actual party. We greeted the old man and several other people before being shown to our seats.

One truly neat thing that we experienced was the "music man". He is like the traveling minstrels of centuries ago. He has a traditional instrument that is like a violin that echoes into a wooden drum. It is not played with any sort of tone or melody. It is used just to accent the lyrics. And the lyrics range from the hilarious to the mundane. As the party went along, the minstrel narrated. He told who was arriving. He told that this person had gone to Dar es Salaam. He sang of the Wazungu (us). It didn't really matter what he said. He said it all. And as he moved around the group, if you liked what he said you put a little money in his drum

One thing you have to know how to do in Africa is sit. Sit and wait. David likes to say that waiting in Africa is not a passive action, and I think that is true. So we did a lot of sitting that day, moving our chairs every few hours to keep in the shade. And we met new people and visited. As honored guests we had our own little coffee table that always had at least three drinks per person. And, as outsiders, we observed.

Off and on there would be dancing. That was not accompanied by the minstrel but by a modern sound system. The music was Swahili, but not traditional, and not the modern rock you hear today. Someone told us it was from the seventies. Anyway, when the music began it was the old people who got up to dance. They did not gyrate and run around, but it was like dancing in a group, moving your feet to the rhythm, just enjoying yourself. Even I got up and danced, too!

But there's a story that goes with my dancing. I asked why the younger people weren't dancing. It was only the truly older ones with gray hair. I was told that it would be disrespectful for the younger people to dance when the older ones were dancing. But I could go and dance if I wanted to. I was one of their "age-mates"! Just to be very clear: I am 38. We are rationalizing this away as I was an honored guest and therefore had the respectful place that an elder would hold. Trying.

We ate a huge feast, which is always wonderful. We love traditional food. We do not, however, like intestines. Even David, who likes everything, doesn't like them much. David's friend said, "You have just not had them cooked properly." He used this as an opportunity to make sure we tried intestines again. Did you know there are different kinds of intestines and that they look very different? One looks like spiny fruit. One looks like a book with pages when cut open - and is called "book" by the local people. Yeah. None of them are good. Even cooked properly.

After the feast was the gift giving. The old man and his two wives, his third one wasn't there for some reason, sat in front of the group. Several people gave them blankets and vitenge (cloth). The fun part was that the giver would drape the blankets and cloth over their laps and heads!

The party was ended with another dance, but this time in true Kuria style. Again, it was mostly the older people, but the middle aged ones joined, too. The dance is very similar to the Masaai with a kicking back of the heel and jerking forward of the chin to the beat. We felt that we were seeing a little bit of true Kuria culture that hailed back to the traditions of the past.

We arrived home in the late afternoon, tired, a little sunburned, but so glad that we were invited. It was a day of people and fellowship. Watching little two year old girls jerk their hips in perfect rhythm when the kids had a dancing contest and laughing at the older boys who were doing their best to imitate music videos. And watching the old people display the true Kuria traditions. It was a blessing.

Blessings to you, too.

14 Baptized!

We were so glad to be present when 14 people were baptized at Remagwe a couple of weeks ago. We hiked from the church to a stream about a mile away. The church members had made a little dam so that there would be a deep enough spot to baptize. It was a clear, hot, sunny day. We rejoiced in God's harvest the whole day - which included Sunday School, the baptism, worship, a meal at the church, and then another meal at the house of one of the ladies who was baptized!

This was a direct result of our volunteer group's hard work. After they left, 30 of those who accepted Christ began attending new believer's classes. This is a huge number. Only 14 were baptized because Pastor Mwita required attendance at a certain number of classes. This is wise and we support him. We are confident that the others will be baptized soon.

Two of the ladies who were attending the class have been stopped by their husbands. One was beaten and threatened by her husband so badly that she ran away to family in Kenya. The other is still in Remagwe but not attending church or classes. Please pray that they will have more opportunities to act on the faith that God has planted in their hearts.

To update on our circumcision plans, we have met with our Baptist pastors. I praise the Lord that they are excited about this idea and fully supportive. We have decided that we will first create a committee that is only Baptists. This will be 12 people and David and I. We will research the traditional ceremonies, meet with people who have introduced Christian circumcision ceremonies in their churches successfully, and begin putting together our own plan. After that, we will begin the process of figuring out how to take this to other denominations and churches besides just our own.

Thank you for your prayers. We cover them with all our hearts. It is what enables us to stay here.

Blessings.

Growing Up in Africa

Growing up, the official change from a child to an adult, in many cultures requires a ceremony. In many cultures this ceremony includes circumcision. That is not earth shattering news. It is very common.

In Africa, these ceremonies have traditionally included witchcraft. This is also not surprising news to anyone. There are always certain old people whose role is to lead the children through the ceremony, which usually takes several days. These old people are not witchdoctors, but their roles include witchcraft. Witchcraft is used to ask for health, wealth, fertility, strength, a good education - any number of different blessings. In direct relation to this, it is believed that if these ceremonies are ignored then these children will suffer and even be cursed.

Many tribes do this, but the Kuria tribe does it in a much more ominous way. From what we have learned, it is not just simple witchcraft. It is truly demonic. That may sound odd to many ears, but the whole process from the highest to the lowest levels involves ceremonies that truly frighten us. I want to write about this as I learn more, but just trust me. This is not like circumcision in any other tribe I know.

Both churches and the government have taught against total female circumcision and against the unsanitary practices used in male circumcision. Sometimes the parents are convinced but the children literally run away to be part of the ceremony. Sometimes the children are convinced but the parents are adamant that culture be preserved. Sometimes no one is convinced.

But there is great pressure to continue in the old ways. Unless the circumcision ceremony is pursued, these youth will always remain children in the eyes of the community. They will not be given the respect of an adult. Girls may not want to marry the uncircumcised boys, and vice-versa (because the Kuria also practice female circumcision).  They may have to live with the curse of not pleasing the ancestors and spirits by keeping culture. There are a myriad of obstacles to overcome in a life without circumcision.

We have come up with a different idea, though it is not new. It is already done in many places successfully. We want to create a Christian circumcision ceremony that will replace the traditional one. We will take the elements of Kuria tradition that are important but change them to glorify God and add a lot of teaching about becoming an adult who loves the Lord.

The idea is not to tell them to stop having this important rite of passage, but to do it in a Christlike manner.

We are talking with our 3 local Baptist pastors. This is a new idea for them. They are used to attending training and educational meetings, but not planning a whole procedure and then trying to put it into action. This is our action plan:

Step 1

Our pastors decide who to invite onto a committee which will begin looking at the traditional ceremonies and deciding how a Christian ceremony should look. This committee will be made up of other evangelical pastors.

We will also need to make sure that we have good, Christian men and women from various Kuria clans. There are 16 clans. We aren't aiming to have a representative from each, but if only one clan is on the committee then the other clans will be less likely to accept this plan.

We would also like to find a person who once led these ceremonies but is now a strong Christian. This is a strong matter of prayer. Such a person would give us great insight and would help us in introducing the new ceremony into communities.

We will need to have a subcommittee that deals with female circumcision. This is a much more difficult situation because we would want a ceremony, but not the actual physical circumcision. I think that this one will be even harder to accept than a new male circumcision ceremony.

Please pray for Step 1. It is a lot, in and of itself. We so need God's guidance in choosing the right people to invite onto this committee. If the committee does not work then the plan will not succeed.

Blessings.