As Water to the Thirsty

This Sabbath was really exciting. Students had the opportunity to choose between four Sabbath afternoon activities, one of which was delivering water to a Maasai village in the valley. We SMs jumped on the chance to go and loaded up in a vehicle with Chris Smoot, Program Director of World Vision Somalia. He was able to answer virtually any question on culture, tradition, or history that we threw at him, and share stories from Mauritius, Somalia, Malaysia, and many more.

1.5 hours later, we arrived at Magadi with a dozen students, a handful of staff, and 22,500 L of clean water. People started coming from tin shacks, over the stony hills, and across the road, toting plastic water containers and huge metal drums. By the time we finally organized them into a line, many of us had nothing to do. Because many Maasai are offended or charge money when their picture is taken, we began to pose strategically so that the water distribution efforts were behind us and the camera wasn't as intrusive.

I felt useless until Cassie suggested we start playing clapping games and see if the children wanted to join in. I wasn't very good at clapping games in grade school, and aging hasn't helped much. I guess laughing at ourselves fail helped the kids think it looked fun, so one brave girl finally decided to try it with me. We slowly - she doesn't speak English, I don't speak Swahili - worked out the clap/left hand/right hand sequence and repeated and repeated and repeated as other children began to crowd around to watch. I asked if someone else wanted to try, holding up my hands: only giggles and bashful smiles. More grins and laughter surfaced as we got more comfortable with one another, and we finally moved on to new games like Ring Around the Rosie (without falling down; not sure how we would have explained that one) and Simon Says and Red Light, Green Light.
Then the kids figured out how the cameras worked and swarmed Cassie and Tyson, smudging the screens with tiny fingerprints over each of their faces. As our water was running low and time was running out, the kids surrounded me and showed me that they could jump as high as my hand. It felt like a friendly version of Whack-a-Mole, with much giggling and need for more than two hands. As we loaded up in the vehicles, waving as we drove off, I couldn't believe what had just happened. This kind of thing only happens on Mission Spotlight...

My smiling muscles are sore and my heart is full, for today I saw Jesus in 26 sparkling eyes and 13 toothy grins.