Life in the Wild

Since our arrival we’ve seen animals anyone would associate with Africa. Today we saw some 40 species of animals, birds and reptiles, including The “Big Five”—the water buffalo, lion, rhino, elephant and leopard. We closed the loop when, at the end of the day,we spotted the leopard. We have to hand it to our driver John—he made sure we saw the best animals of the Masai Mara.

Of course we’re experiencing these things from the inside of a very rugged van; we’re not allowed out except at designated spots and we have to be inside the gates of the park before dark. Our experience in the wild is pretty protected.

The women in Hellen’s village and all Masai live outside and daily interact with wild animals. Hellen told us how elephants have trampled her property—how recently one of her favorite warriors was killed by an elephant. Sabore and Ntutu shared that the Masai listen to nature in order to protect their cows and people. For instance, the ox pecker is a bird that has a symbiotic relationship with many wild animals, relieving them of insects that pester them. Sabore told us it’s a bird that can help or kill; a person living on the Masai Mara must know the difference in the “voice” of the ox pecker—there’s a difference in the bird’s sounds when he is moving towards safe animals (giraffe, gazelle, wildebeest) and when he’s going towards dangerous animals (lion, elephant, water buffalo). That’s only one example of how the Masai learns to live in nature—not, like us, from a van.

As we’ve talked with Hellen, we’ve gotten to know Helen’s adopted son Wuama. Because there are no birth certificates among the Masai, none of the people know exactly how old anyone is (so they say). So we have to guess, and our guess is that Wuama is around 11 years of age. Wuama’s mother passed away a few years ago, and Hellen heard about his circumstances. When someone from the village dies, no matter how close the relationship, the person is never spoken of in the community again. But you’d think a community would care for a young child who has lost his mother. Hellen, however, began to hear of how this little boy was treated after his mother’s passing—that he was required to take care of the herds and was paid a very, very small amount to do so. Wuama told us that once when he was out with the herds he was chased by a poisonous snake; another time by an elephant. This kid is smart: he escaped from the snake by leaving his shoes behind and from the elephant by taking off his shuka—his outside wrap. But because he ran from the snake—and therefore from the herd—Wuama was beaten.

So Wuama has found a new Mama—our hero Hellen. And like Hellen, Wuama is a very bright, fun, compassionate child. Hopefully he and his generation will follow Hellen's example and help foster a community where both women and men, girls and boys will have opportunity to lead full, meaningful lives—where such severe demarcation between the experiences of boys and girls, men and women will no longer exist.

Because Hellen follows Jesus, she has a more excellent understanding of the life he came to give--life to the full. We have bright hopes that Wuama will follow Jesus, too.

(John 10:10)