Lokori mission
By Josephine Wambui
19 October, 2006

Two missionaries, Jane Wambui Mbaluka and Simon Wachira returned from their mission in Kakuma and Lokori. The mission at Lokori, they say, was wonderful, “we had very good fellowship with TISOM students,” reports Jane who was amazed at the good reception and respect she was given considering her gender, since the Turkana do not have women in positions of authority.

Lokori, unlike Thika where these two missionaries come from, is a much hotter place, and less developed. While leaving for the mission, the two had been prepared for what to find in the mission fields, “But it wasn’t so bad. I thought it would have been harder than it was,” says Wachira.

The two noted with gladness that the students at TISOM were ready and eager to learn, “I felt good to be able to share what I had in my heart and I was happy that they accepted what we taught them,” Wachira lets known.

But the Turkana culture is different from what the missionaries are used to. Jane was amazed at the alcohol drinking among the women and a sense of dependency, “I would feel guilty whenever we didn’t have something to give,” she owns. But she noted that the women are hardworking stating, “If empowered, they could do great things.”

The two received good news of how TISOM students were changed within those three months that they were training them. While stating some of the challenges they faced, Wachira stated of communication problems whereby theology was taught in Swahili since some trainees have not been to school. For Jane, the sight of Turkana men living without clothes was what greatly challenged her, “it was weird to see men naked,” she confessed.

Simon says that what scared him most was when the neighboring Pokot raided the pastoralist community of Lokori. The Pokot are known for their aggressiveness in cattle raiding. When they come, they shake even the strongest Turkana warrior. One of the raids happened while they were in the mission field. “Gun shots were heard and reports brought in back to the village of the merciless killings by the Pokot raiders,” expresses Simon. “Women ran to see whether their sons and husbands were alive and this brought so much grief to the village as they mourned the loss. Large numbers of cattle were driven away by the Pokot during that period.”

“One of my greatest grips of fear,” Simon continues, “came when one young man was brought into the hospital where we had gone to minister. This man was so shocked to even tell what he saw. You could see open stares in his look. He had maintained a gun shot when the raiders came.”

“What the community would need at this time is to have people give out their lives to serve them. I feel it in my heart that the ground is ready for harvesting but it lacks workers. It’s time people stepped out from their sitting rooms and comfort zones to the mission field. One thing is sure, that the mission field will not leave you the same. It will change your whole life. It changed mine and my view towards people. I can now look at them not as people beyond God’s grace and pardon, but as people who need a shepherd.”