Masaai Medical Camp

On Tuesday we drove the two and a half hours to Bissil, a Masaai village in rural Kenya. We saw for ourselves just how traditional the Masaai people were when we walked through the center of town to make some home visits as well as raise awareness about the medical camp we would hold the next day. We brought bags full of food to three manyattas (the traditional Masaai home made of mud, straw and sticks that comes up to a person's shoulders). Two or three of us would enter the home to invite the inhabitants to the medical camp on Wed and pray with them while trying to adjust to the heat, smoke, and darkness inside the manyattas. The only openings to let out the smoke was the door we entered through. It was also quite interesting for us to see their traditional red and purple robes, colorful beaded necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, as well as the large holes in their ears with weights on the ends. After our three home visits, we returned to the church where we were staying, finished getting ready for the medical camp, and then had a worship service. The Masaai got all of us up in the front dancing and singing with them for almost forty-five minutes. It was incredible to see their passion and the difference between the way we worship. Some of us think that we should bring their style back to America. We got up with the roosters the next morning and started the medical camp. We ended up treating over 500 patients and over 50 people were tested for HIV. The doctors and our team working in the pharmacy worked without breaks. One lady sick with Malaria was carried in a wheelbarrow and several kids walked over 12 miles to be treated. I worked at registration and was amazed to meet fellow nineteen year old girls bringing their children to the camp. We filled over a thousand prescriptions and we hope that we touched many lives that day.

Sarah Wier