Adventures in Dar es Salaam and Maasai Land Part III

We’re on the way back to Pamoja from Lerumo (Maasai land) in the diesel Safari. It’s about a five hour drive back and I’m exhausted because I had just gone straight from Dar es Salaam (where I spent a week) to Lerumo to help survey for water. Jacob is driving and I’m in the passenger seat, while Paul and Emmanuel (the water hydrologist) are in the back. I’m noticing Jacob keeping one eye on the temperature gage, and that there is a white smoke coming from the back of the car, and the next thing I know, we’re stranded on the side of the road outside of a little town called Hedaru. Awesome…

On the way back from Dar es Salaam, I got off the bus about halfway between Arusha and Dar in a place called Hedaru. I was meeting Jacob, Paul and Emmanuel to head up to Lerumo to visit a group of Maasai that are very close to the people at Pamoja. In fact, most of them are in the En-kata Choir that Pamoja takes on tour throughout North America. Although we were going to visit with them, the main reason for us going was to survey for a location to dig a water well. After eating a quick bite in Hedaru, we headed into the bush in the Safari vehicle. When I say the bush, I mean the bush. I’m talking the middle of nowhere. It was like something out of the Lion King. I feel like it’s the image that people from America see when they try to picture what Africa is like. Anyway, Lerumo is basically on a step, and you pretty much have to gradually drive up a mountain to get there. The roads are rough and the terrain is pretty dry, and there are thorns in just about everything that you can find. Once we arrived, we were immediately welcomed and greeted by Yona’s wife and family and the other villagers in his boma (basically a small community of houses). Yona’s wife made us some Maasai chai, so we relaxed and drank it before we got to work. The chai was very bitter because she put some Maasai medicine (which I’m told will put hair on your chest) in it, but it was still good. After chai, we unpacked our bags and got the tent set up. Once Yona arrived, we set off to look for water.

After walking around and looking for a place to measure for water, Emmanuel found a spot that he said he was sure there would be water. Once we got the equipment unpacked, we started measuring. Just to let you know, there had been several surveyors and hydrologists that had surveyed for water in this area in the past and were unsuccessful, so we weren’t going to be shocked if we didn’t find any. It took a little over an hour to do the measuring, but with help from some of the Maasai, we got it done. Did we find water? Wait for it….. Yes we did! I was so impressed with Emmanuel. He knew exactly where a good spot to survey for water was, and he found water! It was so awesome, especially after so many people in the past couldn’t find any. Now we are expecting to send a drilling crew within the next week or two to go drill for the water. God really does some awesome things!

After we surveyed, we went back up to Yona’s boma to rest and have dinner. We brought our own dinner for them to cook for us just to be safe because you never know what kind of food the Maasai will serve you. It was really cool to hang out with Yona, his family, and children from the surrounding bomas, though. The kids were so interested in my camera and wanted to see all of my pictures. They were kind of shy when I tried to take pictures with them at first, but by the end of the night they were pretty much posing for them. It was such an awesome experience just to see how welcoming they were. They all know Jacob very well and are good friends with him, but it was cool to see how welcoming they were to Paul and I. The experience is something I’ll never forget. Maasai land is some of the most beautiful country you will ever see and I really want to go back. It is so peaceful up there and the Maasai are the most humble and happy people you will meet. They don’t have anything, but they feel that they have enough and that they are blessed for what they do have. Just spending time with them was a life-changing experience.

I only got like two hours of sleep in the tent because of all the donkeys and cows making noise, and on top of that some loud snoring from someone I won’t mention. In the morning, we ate some breakfast and surveyed for water in another location. We found water there as well, but the first site was much better. After saying our goodbyes to Yona and his family, we headed out of Lerumo and back to Arusha. The drive out of Lerumo was pretty awesome. It was like a mini safari! While driving, we saw baboons, spider monkeys, impala, warthogs and even a snake. It was pretty awesome to see all of that because I really wasn’t expecting it. Once we got to Hedaru, we stopped and got some lunch and then started to head back to Arusha, which brings me to the beginning of the story.

It turns out that the radiator in the Safari had a hole in it and that’s why the car was overheating. We were about four hours away from home and it didn’t seem like there was any way of getting it fixed. Jacob called Jeremy, who was back at Pamoja, to tell him the bad news and that he would probably have to come tow us. They talked it over and Jeremy decided to call a mechanic in Hedaru to try to fix the radiator. After about 45 minutes, the mechanic and his partner arrived. They took the radiator out and looked it over, and then one of the guys started picking cigarette butts off the ground. I had no idea what he was doing. Then, he started stuffing the cigarette butts into the hole in the radiator! After that, he took some super glue and some kind of white powder and put it over the hole to seal it. To be honest, I didn’t think it was going to work. I mean who would think that fixing a hole in a radiator with cigarette butts would be a good idea? Despite my doubts, though, it somehow worked and we drove home safely. God brought us a handyman that knew exactly what he was doing and we were able to get home. It was pretty awesome to say the least.

The whole trip to Dar and Maasai land was full of awesome experiences that I will never forget and I’m so glad that I’m able to share them with you guys. Thank you so much for reading and I will try to have another post up in less than a week.