I wanted to share with you more about who the Samburu people are. More than 300,000 people, and less than 10%, know Jesus. Most are oral learners who cannot read God's Word, and need it in a way they can see, hear, and understand.
On our last trip we were able to spend the better part of two weeks with two villages, so I wanted to share more about people's day-to-day lives.
In the rural parts of the Samburu area, almost everyone lives a hand-to-mouth existence. Meaning that if the family does not work today, they may not eat today. It also means that if the entire family does not work, the impact will be felt on the entire family.
As a result, we met a number of young boys, 9 or 10-years old, who were tending to the family livestock, usually goats and cows and an occasional camel. For many of these children, food might be a small bit of milk and cereal in the morning and nothing else the rest of the day. We were told in most cases it means those boys did not go to school, and by extension, they were not learning to read.
The first village where we began recording the video Bible stories had a number of young men who were part of the church. It was encouraging to see because often times the small churches were made up of mostly older women and young girls. Having these young men be a part of the video production was a BIG plus because it meant that they could fill the many roles for men in our Bible storying.
Most of these young men were stepping away from their work for that day to record stories with us. A number of the guys drive motor bikes for a living. They are an important part of the transportation system in rural Samburu. For someone to own a car is a rarity, and the roads out in the country are not kind to car travel anyway. So most people travel by motor bike for hire, and that's how these young men make a living.
As a quick aside, what people are able to transport on small motor bikes is a testament to ingenuity. First of all, you will routinely see up to 4 people on a motorcycle. In addition to human passengers, lots of livestock will get a ride as well. You certainly would see chickens and goats, even a small calf.
Water is a daily struggle. The women or girls of the family must walk for miles to get water each day. They carry 10-20 gallon jugs on their backs for cooking or cleaning. The quality of the water often is not clean, and is the source of disease.
In one village, the government built a reservoir to catch water when it rained. It gave families a shorter journey to retrieve water each day. They asked people to only use the reservoir for their personal water, but over the few days we were there, we would regularly see herds of goats wade into it.
The families we met face obstacles to their life at almost every turn. They should not have to face similar barriers to knowing that God loves them. That's why your part in the OneMessage.tv mission is so important.
On this last trip to Kenya, we were able to finish recording all 20 of the videos that will make up the library of video Bible stories for the Samburu people. Our supporters generously gave $32,453 in 2021 to the Samburu video project!
Thank you very much for helping us meet that goal!
You are making it possible for the Samburu tribe to understand the scripture and its stories regardless of how they learn, or if they can read.
Thank you for the part you play in making it possible to reach every unreached people group in our lifetime.. Thank you for the part you play in reaching the Samburu.