Behind the Name
Every month, StOM prints the Anglican Calendar of Prayer, but have you
ever thought about what or who lies behind the name and place specified
every Sunday?
In each issue, we will feature some information about some of the
people/places for whom your prayers are being asked.
Jackson Ole Sapit was born into a Maasai
family, a polygamous culture, comprising
one father and 11 mothers. He’s not sure
how many siblings he has but guesses
more than 50. His father died when he was
young, and his mother — his father’s 7 th
wife — and her three children were chased
away from the family home by older
brothers.
In 1973, Jackson and the other Maasai boys
in his village were forced to attend school
where he began to hear about Jesus. “One
of the songs,” he says, “was ‘More About Jesus.’” But he thought they were
singing “moo” instead of “more.” He says, “I wondered, ‘Are they singing
about cows?’” This was something he could relate to as a herder; his
curiosity was piqued.
The next year, Jackson became sponsored through World Vision. He
received all the benefits of sponsorship, including medical check-ups. And
then, World Vision saved his family’s life when a severe drought devastated
food production..
Jackson did well in his studies but gave up on school and became a cattle
trader, walking 10 days to Nairobi to sell cows.
It was during this period that he had an epiphany while resting in a forest
with the cows, watching a spider rebuild its web. He realized how much he
had been given, starting with World Vision sponsorship. He knew he needed
to rebuild. “I went home singing,” he says, telling his mother: “I have seen
God in an amazing way. He’s going to change my life.”
With the encouragement of an English missionary and a local pastor,
Jackson became a priest. “The pastor said he wanted me to interview to
start training to become the first Maasai pastor in the area,” he says. But
there were two obstacles. “How would I speak in front of so many people?”
he wondered. And a bigger fear: How would he officiate at funerals? “Maasai
fear death,” . Overcoming these difficulties, he was ordained and moved to
England to continue his education at St. Paul’s Theological College before
earning a master’s degree in development from the University of Reading.
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