Mzungu Maasai

Hello and Karibuni sana to my little blog detailing my adventures in Tanzania. 🇹🇿 So who am I and why would you want to follow me? Good question! My name is Lisa, and I’m a 50-something woman who decided to quit my teaching job and follow my heart (and God’s plan, I believe) to live halfway around the world in Tanzania.

Why Tanzania? Well, ten years ago I took my first mission’s trip to Tanzania and fell in love with the culture and people of the Maasai tribe. The people are so friendly, warm, and welcoming. They truly value family and their children. They live joyously with very little “creature comforts” as we are used to in America. Every boma (home) I visited always served me chai and listened politely as I spoke to them about Jesus. These are the kind of people who would give you the shirt off their back. When it was time to leave, I vowed that I would return.

Three years later, I was able to return and visit new people and others that I had met before. I loved it even more. One of my friends who was also a teacher contacted me about helping him start a school. 🏫 Obviously, I had no idea how to do this, so I flippantly told him to send me a proposal. Well, he did send that proposal, and I began researching how I could possibly do this. Fast forward through months of Covid (2020!!), months of incorporating as an entity, starting a bank account, applying for nonprofit status, starting a website and social media, and then accepting donations…and Namayana Nursery School opened on January 7, 2021. I was miraculously able to attend the opening even though the world was partially shut down.

Here I am almost five years later, and I’ve quit my job back home and uprooted my life to live halfway around the world from the US. I believe this is just for a season of my life, but I am always open. God has blessed me with this opportunity to spend more time with my students, staff, and friends who are family here. So, come follow me while I navigate being a “Mzungu Maasai”…white person who is Maasai!