Preparing for a historic day

One of the highlights of our visit took place about a month ago, when some 350 people gathered in the Maasai village of Mpalapande to celebrate the marriage of Rev. Peter Harrits and Jenny Buckley. Guests included our Minnesota contingent, a couple carloads of people from the Iringa Diocese head office and the BKB office, and people from many preaching points in both Tungamalenga and Makifu Parishes.

It took a lot to prepare for the day.

Women from several villages -- both Hehe and Maasai -- spent the morning cooking over open fires.

Maasai men prepared a variety of meats for cooking -- goat, sheep and beef were on the menu.

Chairs were brought in from neighboring village congregations. 

A large tent shelter was constructed too provide shade for the worship service.

Absolum Kilipamwambu spent the better part of a week constructing this modern choo [restroom].  There's a men's side and a women's side.  Two days before the big event, Pastor John and I went to the site to check on preparations and ended up being sent for three more bags of cement to complete the project.

The porcelain toilet is connected by pipes to a pit behind the building, with a concrete cover. Very sanitary and no odor! The walls and floor were painted.  A white stone path leads to the doors on each side.

This small tractor and trailer made many trips to and from Mapogoro with supplies.  At one point, the whole trailer was filled with cases of soda -- Pepsi, Sprite, Tangoizi, Sparletta, Fanta -- all the favorites.

Father back in the bushes, the Maasai elders were preparing the beef.  The small fire burned surprisingly hot.

Farther behind the fire, the elders were butchering, cutting meat into pieces.  The young men had the responsibility of skewering the beef onto Y shaped sticks.  They used their spears to pierce the ground where the sticks perched over the fire.

We were told that particular cuts of beef are reserved for the married couple, others for the women guests, and others for the men.  We were also told that the elders were very serious about how each task was to be done -- and if a young man messed up his job, he was assigned a penalty and had to forfeit one of his own goats.

Our drivers were kept busy ferrying people from various villages to Mpalapande.  They brought in choirs from Mahove, Ikwavila, Makifu Parish, Kibaoni, and Tungamalenga Parish. Pastor John Mhekwa supervised all the comings and goings.

Our group got into the spirit of the celebration by wearing the Hehe and Maasai clothing we had been given so far on our journey.

Melissa, Jeff and Jeremy wore the Hehe outfits we had been given by Makifu Parish.

Rachel, Charlotte and I wore Maasai dresses and the cross necklaces we were given in Mahove.

Look for the rest of the story of this historic celebration in our next post.