Camping at the Nawi.
The Nawi, when translated, simply means cattle camp or
corral. I had heard that a few men from
a recent volunteer team were going to go share stories and “camp” at the cattle
camp. I had visited these camps several
times, but I have never had the opportunity to stay the night. I was thrilled when they asked me to come with
them, but as soon as I accepted the invitation I began thinking to myself “what
have I done?”
The cattle camp is where all the “warrior” age men take the
cows during dry season to find grass.
Sometimes it is days away, while other times it may simply be over a
mountain range or somewhere a little closer.
Thankfully this time it wasn’t too far away, but it was far enough away
that we knew we were nowhere near the comforts of home.
Each person brought with them a bottle of
water, a cloth wrap to use as a blanket, and a small stool, called an
ekicholong.
There were no tents, there
was no food, we wanted to be as close to the Karamjong men who were staying
there as possible.
We actually had a four-course meal.
The next paragraph is not for the faint of
heart, nor for my mother who will kill me when she finds out what we ingested.
Anyway, The first coarse was a very large,
hollow gourd full of fresh cows milk passed around until we finished it.
The second course was a different, bigger
gourd of homemade “yogurt” at least that is what we told ourselves mentally, It
was quite chunky and it was about as horrible as it sounds. It took a lot to
get it down, but we each did our part as the gourd was passed around.
We took as much as we could and smiled as a
group of nationals watched in anticipation for us to try this delicacy. The
third course was cow’s blood cooked over a fire. It had the consistency and
taste of liver and was actually my favorite of the four.
A little salt however, would have gone a long
way. The last course was all three courses mixed together in a container and
passed around.
I then chewed about 4
pieces of gum and passed the rest around for everyone to try.
My American friends greatly appreciated the
fresh taste of mint.
The moon was full, the night was cold, the fire
was warm, and our bellies had about a ½ gallon of warm milk inside them. If I weren’t laying on a rock and a root I
would have fallen asleep by 9:00.
However we stayed up another hour or so listening to the team tell 4
different Bible stories. They did a great job and presented a very clear
Gospel. I feel like after all we had to
eat and drink a church should have sprung up right then and there, however
contact has been made and Christ has been preached and shown. We slept about fifty feet away from a few
hundred cows. I kept thinking I hope my
friends, the Turkana people, don’t decide to go cattle raiding tonight as they
often do. In the back of my mind I knew
where several nearby rocks were in case I needed to find cover in the middle of
a gun battle. That was the last thought I remember before the cowswoke me up about 4 hours later. The men had a very long journey the next day
to find enough pasture to feed their cows.
As they left at 4 am so did we.
It was a great cultural experience and helped to show a glimpse of what
this ministry may look like in the future.
* Please check back in one week to hear an update on this story. Also, continue to check back as we have several stories scheduled to be released over the next few months.
