Who needs a can opener?

This is how to open a can. Take one very big knife.

Pound the knife into the top edge of the can.

Wiggle the knife forward and back making your way around the can.  Works every time.

The Rock Ceremony - Part One

Before we went to Kenya, Della received a request from a First Nations friend to bring back a stone from the land of the Maasai. As a member of the First Nations community in North America, he feels a special connection, a brotherhood, with the Maasai, a nation that roams the continent of Africa and owns much of the land in Kenya. 

So when Lydiah told us about her friend, the Maasai pastor whose father owns a large tract of land several hours from Ongata Rongai, we were eager to visit. Following Lydiah's instructions we brought along a few groceries including oil and flour for the widows in the Maasai community. 

While visiting this village, Della offered to buy the pastor's blanket, the one he had drying on the tree. 

After wrapping himself in the blanket one last time...

the stone ceremony begins. Pastor and Della pray over the rocks which have been gathered from the creek bed which runs through the Maasai land.

As the stones change hands, the blanket moves across shoulders. 

The rocks are blessed and will be a symbol of unity between the peoples.

Time to head back to Rongai.

Soup at the Maasai Pastor's Home

Della and Pastor with his son.

Looking at pictures.

Naomi with her grandson.

Very tasty soup. Pictured left to right: Naomi, the pastor's wife with son (sorry I don't know names) Harron and Lydiah.

More Than A Simple Industrial

Naomi. 

A wonderful Christian.

Around the Maasai Village

Mud and sticks with a tin roof...a Maasai home.

Maasai shephert with his transistor radio.

Naomi in her home.

Brush wall around the compound.

Walking out to the new church building.

Inside the church building...a work in progress.

Children warming up to Della.

Heading back to the village.

Harron checks out the goats.

Friends.

Meeting the Chief

Maasai Village

Maasai chief (seated) posing with his fourth wife and his son, the pastor (in the "got faith" t-shirt. Young fellow in yellow shirt is also one of the chief's  many descendants.

A Long and Winding Dirt Road in Kenya

Harron expertly negotiated the road's twists and turns, bumps and rocks and gouges.

Herd of goats.

Maasai school children.

Blanket drying..

Car Trouble on the Road to a Maasai Village

Bumpy roads tend to produce car trouble.

Fear not.

Harron and Lydiah know what to do. 

A Windmill Field in Kenya

Goats and cattle grazing on the hillside.

Relaxing place to spend a few hours.

Harron takes a nap.

Della and Lydia in a heart-to-heart.

Along the Road in Kenya

Selling Charcoal.

Countryside.

Hillside community.

Selling sugar cane from a wheelbarrow. 

This young man peels the cane with a sharp knife. Then he chops the cane into cubes. We bought a small bag of cubes to suck on. Good stuff.

Cattle at the roadside.