Some time ago I wrote of Musa, the little boy whom we literally stumbled on a year and a half ago in a nearby Maasai village. It was the deep dry season and his mother had died six or sevenIMG_0337 weeks before leaving the year-old Musa to be cared for by others in the family. Due to the food shortage and the fact that his mother’s co-wives had numerous children of their own, he wasn’t being taken care of and was at the point of starving to death. People were feeling bad about the situation but no one was doing anything about it. As you may remember, we approached Musa’s father and he gladly agreed that we care for Musa.

That was a year ago February and Musa has been thriving, putting on a lot of weight, whereas he was skin and bones on his arrival. Since our place here is also the point where Maasai from all the villages around come to draw water, Musa has truly become the child of the “village” cared for by everyone and whose progress has been closely watched by all. Till recently, the subject of endless speculation has been when he will take his first steps. In fact, people were beginning to wonder if he would walk at all given his early deprivation and the sorry state he was in when he came to us.

To the delight of all, he took his few tentative steps a month ago. Musa is now two and a half years old and the Maasai say that kids his age were walking many months ago. Well, as the accompanying pictures indicate Musa is making up for lost time. Just a month after his first steps, he is walking everywhere and getting into everything. With Maasai donkeys milling around the water point waiting to be loaded with water containers, Musa’s newfound mobility is putting him in danger of being trampled or kicked. We are having to watch him very closely. During the last few weeks he needed to be rescued from dangerous situations any number of times.

Naponu, who lives here with her children and watches the place during my daily jaunts for meetings in the villages, takes care of Musa. These days she has her hands full. Her own son, Moses, was born just six months ago. Caring for both Musa and Moses has been a real challenge for her. Now that Musa is on the move, her days are very busy.