Blessing You Will Be Blessed

My Small Skinny Maasai Elder Car Lift.

I was leaving the small village of Engaresero, when a Maasai elder began flagging me down for a ride to his boma.  Although I had several people in my vehicle, we made room for him and continued on our journey.  During our conversation, he began to relate to us how he was a rich elder with many cows, wives, and children.  As we arrived at our turn to go to our camp, I joking told him that since he was a rich man, he should give me some car fare for giving him a ride.  He clicked his tongue as the Maasai do when surprised or expressing emotion, laughed, and got out of the vehicle. He then came to my side of the vehicle to thank me for his ride.

The next few moments were truly a new experience for me.

He asked me for both of my hands.  He took my hands in his and then spit on each of my hands.  He then placed both of my hands on my chest, covering my heart.  He spoke some words which I did not understand.  Then taking my hands again in his,  he spit on my hands again and placed them on my head, again speaking words that I did not understand.  Then, he took my hands a third time in his, spit on them, placed my hands on the dashboard of my vehicle, and spoke those same unknown (to me) words.  He then let go of my hands, took his walking stick, and proceeded to walk in the direction of his boma, all the while thanking me for a ride.

The rest of the passengers were quiet as we headed toward our camp.  I was also quiet as I drove, wondering where my Purel or other hand wash was in the vehicle or at camp.  One of my Maasai passengers finally spoke up and related that what the Maasai elder did was give me a great blessing and that was the process by which it was done.  He said he had not seen that done in a very long time to anyone and that it was not only a great blessing but a great honor to be blessed in that way.

Then they were quiet again until we reached our destination.



You never know what will happen when you give a small skinny Maasai elder a lift in your vehicle.