blessing ceremony

A few weeks ago I went to a blessing ceremony for the Maasai. My friend Jacob was one of the coordinators of the event and he really wanted Josh and I to participate since we both work with the Lutheran church in Morogoro. Thankfully the event was held in Morogoro region. It was about a 2 hour drive from Morogoro town, where we live. The first hour was on paved roads and passed quickly. The second hour was more of an adventure as we traveled on dirt roads that at times resembled a footpath running through the brush! The event was sort of like a reunion and took place over a number of days. We went on the last day for the ceremony. It was really neat. Hundreds of people were there. They all waited for a chance to sit in rows of chairs and have pastors and Bishop Mameo pass over them saying a blessing. Everyone was invited to be involved. Josh and I went along with Allison, a student at the language school, and Patrick, one of our teachers. After the ceremony there was singing, dancing and a large number of people got baptized.