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Kenya
Country Facts
Population: 39,002,772 (2009)
Median Age: 18.7 years
GDP per capita: $1,600 (2008 est.)
Major Religion: Christianity (Protestant 45%, Catholic 33%)
People Groups: 114 Unreached: 35
Largest Unreached People Group: Somali (545,000)
Government Type: Republic
Official Language: English, Kiswahili
Geography
Located in Eastern Africa, Kenya borders the Indian Ocean, situated between Somalia and Tanzania. Kenya is also bordered by Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Kenya rises from a low coastal plain on the Indian Ocean in a series of mountain ridges and plateaus which stand above 3,000 meters (9,000 ft.) in the center of the country.
People
Kenya has a very diverse population that includes three of Africa's major sociolinguistic groups: Bantu (67%), Nilotic (30%), and Cushitic (3%). Most city residents retain links with their rural, extended families and leave the city periodically to help work on the family farm. About 75% of the work force is engaged in agriculture, mainly as subsistence farmers. Kenyan culture reflects a mixture of African, Indian, and British influences, along with traditions and superstitions of Uganda and Tanzania.
Kenya History
Around 2000 AD, Cushitic-speaking people from what is now Sudan and Ethiopia moved into the area that is now Kenya. Arab traders arrived in Kenya in the first century, and with its proximity to the Arabian Peninsula, invited settlement by Arabs and Persians. In the first 1000 years, Nilotic and Bantu peoples moved into the region, with the Bantu comprising two thirds of Kenya's population.
 Following Arab dominance, the Portuguese came in the 1400's and later the British in the mid-1800's, dispossessing the Kikuyu and others of their land. Kenya was made a British colony in 1920. For the first time, in 1940's, Kenyans were allowed seats in government. From 1952-58, the Kikuyus led an insurgency, which eventually led to the first election of Africans to the Legislative Council in 1957. In December 1963, Kenya became independent by joining the Commonwealth.
Most recently, in December 2007, violence erupted in Kenya following a flawed presidential election, killing 1500 Kenyans and displacing 500,000 people. Constitutional, electoral, land and institutional reforms are ongoing to decrease politically motivated violence and corruption.
Kenyan Maasai
The best-known of the Kenyan nomads are the Masai (or Maasai).Due to their distinctive customs and dress and residence near the many game parks of East Africa, they are among the most well known of African ethnic groups. The Maasai people are tall and slender and are popular for their skill in the use of weapons and their strongly independent ways. Maasai are best known for their beautiful beadwork which plays an essential element in the ornamentation of the body. Young Maasai men often cover their bodies in ochre to enhance their appearance and may spend hours and days working on ornate hairstyle for various rituals and rites of passage.
Maasai History and Culture
According to their own oral history, the Maasai originated from the lower Nile valley north of Lake Turkana (North-West Kenya) and began migrating south around the fifteenth century, arriving in a long trunk of land stretching from northern Kenya to central Tanzania between the seventeenth and late eighteenth century.In the late 1890s, it is estimated that 2/3 of the Maasai population died to disease and starvation from drought.The British evicted the Maasai from their lands in 1911, confining them to two regions, one being Narok, where AfricaHope ministers to the Maasai today. With the Maasai living alongside most wild animals with an aversion to eating game and birds, Maasai land now has East Africa's finest game areas. Although the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments have instituted programs to encourage the Maasai to abandon their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle, the people have continued their age-old customs.
Maasai society is strongly patriarchal in nature with elder men, sometimes joined by retired elders, deciding most major matters for each Maasai group. The measure of a man's wealth is in terms of cattle and children.
Singing and dancing is significant in Maasai culture, marking coming-of-age ceremonies for the men and daily life of the women.
Spiritual Climate
Kenyans are deeply religious. About 80% of Kenyans are Christian in name, 10% Muslim, and 10% follow traditional African religions or other faiths. Islam is increasing in the country. The Maasai believe in one supreme God, Enkai. They worship him through animal sacrifices, prayer and revere him as all-powerful. They also believe some people to be holy; these people can perform religious rituals and may possess spiritual powers. When there are special needs in the community women will often gather and ask God for their need (for example children or rain) and sacrifice a ram to pay honor to God and ask for his favor. Women are the worshipers in their society. There are many similarities to the traditional beliefs of the Maasai and Christianity, so many Maasai have received the message of the Gospel, though some mix the traditional beliefs and that of Christianity.
NMSI Involvement
NMSI officially began to work in Kenya in 1998 with the affiliation of Kenyan national Tim Mantai. Tim is now the director of AfricaHope, founded in 2003, which ministers within the Maasai community in Narok. Nasha is another ministry in Narok, to address the physical and spiritual needs of needy and orphaned street children and families. NMSI is also involved in church planting in western Kenya. NMSI has had yearly internships to the Maasai since 2002.
NMSI is currently involved in the following ministries:
• AfricaHope ministers in church leadership and development, orphans and vulnerable children, medical and education development, and food and water projects.
• Nasha is involved in church leadership and community development projects, feeding and sheltering children, school sponsorship and a crafts business for women to care for their families.
Prayer Points
• Pray for the ministry of AfricaHope that is working among the Maasai tribe in church leadership, orphans and vulnerable children, water projects and community development
• For leadership development of Kenyan pastors and community leaders
• For the various Maasai villages that are in need of water and food projects
• For a continued strong partnership with NMSI and leaders of AfricaHope
Ministry Opportunities
Short-term: Join a 2010 summer internship to Kenya.
Long-term: If you feel called to work or are currently working in a country in this region, please contact our People and Organizational Development Team to explore how NMSI might partner with you.
Kenya Photo Gallery
Sources: Joshua Project, CIA World Factbook, US Department of State, Fun Trivia.com, Campus Crusade for Christ, Wikipedia
NMSI missionaries serving in Kenya:
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