Well I’m back from Mount Paka after spending 2 days with the
very remote and very primitive Pokot Tribe. I had a blast and love those people
tremendously.
Upon arriving were greeted by the elders of the Pokot tribe and had tea with them. Men and women do not eat or drink together, but over the past couple years Teresa has earned the honor of having tea with the elders, and they even let me sit with them! Teresa told them about the progress with the well and that we are just waiting for the drilling company to finish their projects in Tanzania so they could go to Mount Paka, and give us a quote to drill deeper.
(Tea is a big deal in Kenya, if you’re having guests over
it’s a requirement to make tea. Tea is the number one drink here, they have it
for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.)
After having tea with the gentlemen Teresa
and I went over to visit with the ladies. (Men and women eat, drink, and gather
separately from the men.) We stayed at Amuru’s, one of the elders, homestead.
The Pokot tribe community are scatter throughout the mountain, they each have
homesteads with land, unlike other tribes that are all bunched together. Amuru
has 3 wives and one of the wives let us go into her hut and look around.
While visiting with the women they kept looking at my hair,
I told them they could touch it and then every woman and child had their hands
in my hair. They thought it was fake until they felt around and saw it was real
haha. The women there twirl little bits of hair and then dip it in oil to make
it stay, so of course while having their hands all in my hair I came out with a
couple twirled pieces too.
These are some of the young girls that need sponsors and want to go to
school. These
are the girls I rescue from Early Forced Marriage and Female Genital
Mutilation. If you would like to save a life and make a difference in this
world to one of these precious ones, please go to DesertRoseMinistries.com and click the donate button.
One of Amuru’s sons who was a little over a year old had his
hand burnt severely and there was infection. Thank goodness I brought my
Neosporin and band-aides with me! We cleaned the baby’s hand off and applied
Neosporin and clean dressings, and the next day it looked so much better! We
put a clean dressing on it for 3 days. This child probably would have a least lost some fingers if not the
whole hand or died of infection.
(Before and After 1 day of Neosporin)
Later that evening there was a very old woman, who looked
like a skeleton because she was so skinny, drenched in sweat from her 6-8 hour journey to fill up her jug
of water and carry it back up the mountain to her homestead...and she walked a little extra ways because she heard we were there and wanted to come greet us. This is one of the
projects of Desert Rose Ministries. They’ve started drilling a well but need to
go deeper, the money has been raised, they are just waiting for the drillers to
finish their projects in Tanzania so they can come up to Paka. Women have been
known to lose their babies carry water up the mountain. Water is a HUGE need on
Mount Paka!!!!!
That night a goat was given to us for supper by one of the
old women of the tribe. One of the Pokot warriors killed and cooked the goat
for us. The process of killing a goat consists of stabbing a goat in the heart,
draining the blood in a bowl, drinking the goat blood, then skinning it and
cooking it. The reason for drinking the goat blood is for hydration since there’s
a lack of water there.
The next day Teresa and I spent some time with the Pokot women.
They showed us their scarring on their backs and stomachs, and Teresa and I
showed them our tattoos. The Pokot tribe scar themselves as a form of beauty.
It was a really cool bonding experience with the women, sharing and laughing
about how different our cultures are. I asked the women how they scared
themselves, they showed me on one of the women, and then they showed me ON MY
ARM! It was so fascinating! They get a thorn form a tree, pick up the skin and
while the skin is lifted make a small cut with a razor blade. I was scared at
first, but it was totally safe and I was shocked when she did it because I
didn’t even feel it. Even though it won’t even leave a scar on my skin because
the cut was so tiny, I’m officially part Pokot woman now.
The last night we were there Teresa and I taught the women
and children, and even one of the warriors, the handclap game we were taught
growing up. We laughed and played for hours. It was a great way to spend our
last night.
All in all it was an amazing trip and I miss them so much
already!
**There was another HUGE, LIFE CHANGING development for the
Pokot community that happened while we were there. It’s something Teresa has
been working almost 4 years gaining their trust and respect for. I’ll be
posting another blog post about how history was made on Mount Paka while we
were there! Video and explanation coming soon!
