August 12:  African time of course, we leave at the time church was supposed to start but when we get there we don’t even go straight to church.  We take a walk up the side of a huge hill and saw Emmanuel’s land for his new school and clinic to be built.  It all will cost a total of $180,000 U.S. dollars…only.  For an entire school and clinic, less than $200,000.  To me this is amazing, I know people who have spent over a million dollars on their house alone and with not even a fourth of that money could provide education and healthcare to hundreds of people.  So in perspective it’s really not that much money, and yet he is struggling to find enough donors.  He hopes to implement fundraisers once he is elected Member of Parliament.  Crazy to think how hard he and others will have to work so incredibly hard to raise this money and to others this is pocket money.  One of the other volunteers has started a fundraiser called Trees for Transmara, I will put the link on my site.  You can buy a tree to be planted on the site and dedicated to you with a plaque; the money will go to the construction.  I know mine and many other volunteer’s journeys will not end when we leave this country…I can’t imagine going home and then not doing anything with all the resources I have available to me.

Church was great minus the fact that it was in Kiswahili and Maasai.  Stanley translated some of it, when people laughed or if anything seemed interesting.  At the beginning we had to stand and introduce ourselves because we were with Emmanuel (everywhere we go everyone knows and respects him; like a local celebrity.)  There was a youth group that sang, I haven’t heard any music here that I haven’t fallen in love with.  The preachers were extremely enthusiastic which made it interesting even if I couldn’t understand it.  A young boy about 3 or 4 took quite an interest in us Muzungus and Emmanuel.  I got some amazing photos of him wearing one of the volunteers Burberry sunglasses.  I think I also fell in love with every child who smiled at me. 

Imagine not being able to smile at your own wedding.  The woman is not supposed to look happy to leave her home, kind of like showing that you were fine before you met him and that you don’t really need him but you are getting married anyways.  That might not be exactly right but that’s what I got from it when I asked why she wasn’t smiling.  Let me back up though…we arrive at a wedding of a friend of a friend of Emmanuel’s, it’s already been going on for some time when we get there.  We are ushered to sit in the front row right next to the family of the bride and groom (talk about slightly awkward seeing as how we have no idea who these people are).  But it was a truly beautiful wedding.  Modern western mixed with traditional Maasai, the bead work on the clothing was gorgeous.  They had 7 small cakes, very colorful and handmade.  The traditional cutting of the cake was done, bride and groom feed eachother.  But then this is the easiest way to serve cake: take the knife, quickly cut/smash up the cake into tiny little pieces, dump it on a plate and pass it around to all the guests.  I think that probably saved at least an hour of cake serving and eating time; brilliant.