Baylor church music students transform African village

WACO—A team of Baylor University church music students in 2007 sought to change the lives of a handful of girls in East Africa, but their return this year found a village transformed.

A side trip to a Pokot village not on the original itinerary began the journey. On arriving in the village after an eight-hour drive from Nairobi, Kenya, the team noticed the children meeting in the school—a roofed structure without walls and a dirt floor.

What Randall Bradley, professor of music and director of Baylor’s church music program, and his team didn’t notice, the Kenyan national with him did—the school had no older girls.

The oldest girls were in the fifth grade. After talking with some of the women, Zippy Sindiyo, the mission team’s Kenyan guide, discovered in the poor out-of-the-way village it was customary for girls to undergo female genital mutilation and marry soon after reaching puberty. The families married them off as soon as possible for the dowry that accompanied the marriage.

The team asked Sindiyo what could be done to help.

“That was part of my goal with that team—that there are so many needs we can’t do very much, but if we could do something then when we came back (to the United States), it would create an awareness among the students for the long haul. That we are still thinking about Africa, that we are doing something, we’re making a difference, and we’re using the resources we have to offer something back,” Bradley said.

The team decided to support four girls to continue their education. They were taken to a residential school so that they not only could be educated, but also protected from the normal course of events in the village.

Not long after that, two other girls showed up on Sindiyo’s doorstep looking for help. She contacted Bradley, and the Baylor team now had six girls to support at a cost of about $425 a girl for each year. That cost has now risen to upwards of $500 per girl.

That cost is significant for college students, Bradley pointed out.

Pokot girls in East Africa receive Bibles provided by students in the church music program at Baylor University.

“You’re talking about students here, and raising this $3,000 for these six girls is not easy for students, and even when they graduate, they have only entry-level jobs.”

On this year’s trip, the team went to the school the girls attend. When the team asked what they might be able to provide, they were told the girls needed underwear. So, the 18-member Baylor team—along with the choir at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco and Westbury Baptist Church in Houston—collected the bulk of the 2,300 pairs of underwear delivered to the AIC Maasai School for Girls.

Each of the 710 girls there received two pairs of underwear, a Baylor T-shirt and some bubble gum. The girls the Baylor team sponsors received some additional items.

Sindiyo received the remaining underwear to distribute to the poor children she deals with daily. In addition, the team from this year’s trip pledged $2,000 to Sindiyo to meet the immediate needs of poor children.

The team also returned to girls’ village of Komolian. While the team arrived last time unannounced and was eyed suspiciously, this time the reception was much different. The local school had adjourned early so the children could interact with the visitors. Poor villagers had bought a goat and prepared a feast for the mission team.

“This time, we were honored guests,” Bradley said.

The team performed a concert, showed a film about the crucifixion of Christ and made a short evangelistic appeal.

The next morning, the parents of the sponsored girls wanted to meet with the six team members who also had made the trip in 2007.

“The mothers, and fathers where applicable, invited us to their homes, so we went around to four of their homes, and their homes would be a little over twice the size of my desk,” Bradley recalled.

“The time before we had gone into a couple of homes, but we were invading their privacy. This time we were welcome. One of the mothers had made each of us gifts.”

The local school also had four girls now in the eighth grade, whereas before none had been older than a single fifth grader.

“The mothers of these girls have banded together and they have teamed up with an organization in Kenya that does educational seminars on female genital mutilation to create education within their community,” Bradley said.

“As a result of that and the fact that they have girls away studying who come home and have shared their stories with their friends and encouraged their friends, ‘Don’t let them do this to you,’ now their parents are beginning to support them in that, and now these girls are not marrying off at this young age.

“Our little help has not only impacted the girls who we were able to remove from the situation, but as a result of that, it’s created an awareness. And there seems to be a pride in the community that says, ‘We’re not doing that to our girls.’”