In March 2014, the Samburu TIMO team began their two years living amongst the unreached Samburu people. F* gives an update on what it’s been like so far.
Our new home
Bags packed, orientation complete, goodbyes said and we were on our way! Months of planning and preparation had finally come to fruition. As we drove through rural Kenya we were thrown around in the car as it bumped over big rocks into deep holes. I could feel my eyebrows rising higher and higher in astonishment – do people really live out here? After another hour or so, we reached Lchakwai, where some of our TIMO team would be based.
“…I am covered in cuts, bruises and insect bites and I am frustrated with language learning.”
Our house is up in the hills, another forty minutes’ drive from Lchakwai. As we arrived, swarms of children came to see these white people who were to become part of their community for the next two years. Flocks of goats and sheep grazed nonchalantly as we tried to take in our surroundings. That we were in a remote place was clear; that we could see this beauty, which so few ever get to see, felt like an enormous privilege. Yet we felt overwhelmed by these people all wanting to talk to us in a language we could barely speak.
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Homestay
We were immediately thrown into our homestay, in which we followed two moran (young men) around. This was tiring and dirty but a real eye-opener. During our homestay, we saw some men take blood from a cow (to drink), ate in secret hideaways in the bush (as moran don’t eat food prepared by women), and helped in a vaccination drive for their goats by grabbing the goats out of the pens. We experienced true welcome and hospitality, and learnt a lot.
They need Jesus
Just over a month in now, we are getting used to routines: drinking plenty of chai, fetching water and cutting down thorn trees for our fence. I have been lost so many times on paths I thought I knew, I am covered in cuts, bruises and insect bites and I am frustrated with language learning. And yet… I never get bored of looking at the stars. These people have befriended us so warmly, and, above all, I am convinced that they need Jesus, as I do, in order to have true and living hope. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
* F’s name in this article has had to be removed for security purposes. Following the conclusion of this two-year TIMO team, F has gone to work in a creative access location with AIM, and continues to be passionate about sharing the gospel with those yet to hear.