Masai Market

We are still at language school this week. It has been a good, challenging, difficult and at times frustrating experience. The time though has laid a good foundation for us to continue to learn Kiswahili when we return to Kenya next week. We are far from becoming fluent but I learned an African Proverb this week that says “You don’t become an expert in five days.” When explained to me, the proverb means that there are 3 ingredients needed to become an expert at anything which are practice, patience, and persistence. This includes becoming an expert or fluent in another language which definitely takes longer than 5 days or the 8 weeks we have been here at language school.

One of the great things about being here in Africa over the past 2 years is that we have been in 6 different African nations and have been able to meet people from many different people groups. Each group is different in their language, culture, customs, dress, housing, way of living, etc. We have been with groups of people that are agriculturist, hunter and gatherers, and now pastoralist.

This past Saturday there was a Language School field trip to the Masai Market. The Masai keep herds of cows, goats, and sheep. So we went to the meat market. There were 100’s of Masai men buying and selling their animals.

Our guide for the day told us a little about their culture like there are 3 classes of men: elders, warriors, and children and that their favorite color is red. While at the market, animals are bought and sold along with some of them being slandered and cooked. There were 100’s of people sitting around enjoying a good meal and fellowshipping. The Masai Market happens every Saturday. This was a great cultural experience for us.

It amazes me how diverse the people are on the African continent. We are all created by God in His image. We serve an Awesome God.