God Provides: Food Distribution Among Maasai of Kenya
An elderly Maasai woman ties strips of leather around a 70 pound bale of corn meal. She will carry this, along with a five pound tub of lard-type fat, ten miles or more to her home -- a round-shaped hut made of sticks and mud, plastered with cow dung.
This woman, along with thousands of others, is grateful and it shows as the lines in her leathery face shift into a smile. This food will help feed her children, and her grandchildren for up to a month.
"Maasai normally don’t show much emotion," says IMB worker Bob Calvert, "but I have seen grown men and women with tears in their eyes as they come to the distribution point and pick up their food."
Calvert, in partnership with Baptist Global Response, is assisting with a three month food distribution project among the Maasai.
"At the end of the project we will have given out enough food to feed 180,000 people for one month," Calvert says. "The project area runs from the Kenya border near Mt. Kilimanjaro to Maasai Mara, several hundred kilometers."
Calvert credits generous gifts from Southern Baptists to the World Hunger Fund and the cooperation of Baptist Global Response which have made this project possible.
"We are targeting the poorest of the poor;" Calvert says. "Women, children, old men, and those who have lost all their cattle to the drought are on the list to receive the food."
Dr. Clyde Meador, Executive Vice President of the International Mission Board, recently had opportunity to travel to an area among the Maasai where food was being distributed.
"I am impressed by the great need," Meador says.
As several area pastors surround around him to express their thanks, Dr. Meador immediately directs their appreciation to God.
"Praise the Lord, we are so grateful that God has provided the resources which enable us to help," Meador says. "It has nothing to do with me. God is our source and our provider, we are happy to share the blessing with you."
Although Kenya’s government declared a state of emergency earlier in the year the appeal for funds has not been effective due to allegations of corruption. With soaring food prices and drought conditions persisting across much of Kenya’s rural areas, the future appears bleak for the Maasai who depend on cattle herding.
"We haven’t recovered from the economic distress resulting from the election violence we experienced in 2008," a local resident said. "With drought this year many will suffer."
Pray God would extend the season of rain across the Kenyan countryside and for strength for Bob Calvert as he continues distributing food. Also pray the Maasai who receive food will recognize God’s love for them and come to know Him as Savior and Lord as He meets their needs.
