Jambo!  Habari gani? Asante sana, asante sana!

My name is Blessing Grace Mukabe.  I live in Eldoret, in Kenya, in the country of Africa.  I am 10 years old.  I am Maasai.  I speak Maa (the language of my people), Kiswahili, and English.  I am very smart.

I live in a home Ma built by herself; Father is usually gone, taking care of the cattle.  That is our livlihood: raising cattle.  We go where there is plenty of food for them, meaning our cattle.  We move around a lot.  

Besides Ma, I have my older sisters Charity and Faith.  I had a brother, Joseph, but he died of malaria last year.  I miss him so much.  I still have a pain in my heart that will never go away.  He was only two when he died of the sickness.  There was nothing anybody could do to help him.  By the time we got him to hospital, it was far too late.  

To think of him now causes my eyes to grow wet.   Please forgive me while I wipe them, so I can see ...

I like to do many things, including drawing, painting, writing stories (or telling them), helping Ma with the housework, being with my sisters, and singing, but my favourite thing in the whole wide world is to go to church.  I love singing and praising my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!  Jesus is the only one who can help me when I am sad or hurting and I cannot imagine my life without Him!

I asked Jesus into my heart when I was six years old.  When I grow up I want to be a pastor, but I don't know if ladies can be pastors.  All the pastors I have ever seen or known have been men.  

I would also like to become a teacher and teach children about the big, wide world.

I hate it when people make fun of the way I talk (I have a speech problem and it makes my words sound funny), are mean to another, hurt each other, guns, lions (they terrify me; am always so scared I'm going to get eaten up by one), and cars.  Cars and trucks go very fast and I'm always afraid I'm going to get run over by one of them.

The weather here is sunny and warm.  Very nice day for walking or getting the water we need.  The water we get is from a river about a mile from here; it's not very far.   I usually have my sister Grace go with me; that way, I don't have to go alone, lest I should happen to meet up with a scary lion or a bad person.

Well, I hate to go, but it is time for me to get water.  If we want to eat or have clean clothes, then I must go fetch the water.  Pray I don't meet up with a lion or a bad person!  I will write in here again soon; take care and may God bless you!

~Blessing.

P.S.: I want to see a cheetah on my trip.  I love cheetahs.  Maybe I can find a baby one and adopt it and make it a pet.  I will call it Spots.  :)