Samburu Ministry

Ethan and I (Miriam) flew low over the amazing land of Kenya earlier this month, up to a city in the north known as Maralal. The Samburu people live here, proud pastoralist people who value their animals and their freedom, but many are coming to know The Great Shepherd! We have a family who lives among them, and they invited me to come do some health teachings. For 2 days, we taught in small rural villages up on top of the mountains--looking for all the world like Oregon. Except for the wood-and-mud church and the women with their beaded necklaces and colorful wraps and the naked children! We waited for over an hour for more women to arrive before we were informed that an angry herd of elephant had moved into the forest around us and the other midwives were unable to get through. Such is life in rural Kenya! The second day we waited for almost 2 1/2 hours as people trickled in--they had to get their chores done first, and since the rains haven't arrived yet, that meant fetching water 2 hours away, each way, straight down and back up the mountain.

I focused on prenatal care, labor, delivery, and early childhood health. Imagine how hard it is to talk about simple remedies for illnesses when talking to people who own little but livestock and have no access to water, refrigeration, or an easy source of fire! Hot packs? Cool compresses? Drink more fluids? But despite the challenges, we had a wonderful time of teaching and sharing, sprinkled with some local praise songs with dancing and learning the story of Nicodemus. Omara graciously donated her baby-doll to be the model, which was quite horrifying to people at first. They had never seen a doll before!

No matter the place or the culture or the people, the message is the same...we must be born again.