Introducing Kidogo Osegari

When we visit Ngong, we are usually met at the foot of the hills by several Masaai children. Some of them we know by name. (Joseph is the boy sitting down leisurely in front of the group.) They are there to take care of their goats or sell some of the crafts their mothers make, but since we usually go on Sabbath afternoons we never buy any thing from them. They seem to understand, and still really like being with us. On this particular Sabbath, we made the mistake of offering them a ride on our car (roof rack), and all of a sudden, rather than two or three, this huge crowd came running over. I'd never seen so many of them! When we reached the top, I took out some stickers I'd brought for them and gave everyone their own sheet. They loved them! As you can see, they plastered their faces with the colorful smiley face stickers. I asked if I could pose with them for a picture (sometimes the Masaai charge you for pictures), and they agreed.

One girl offered to let PJ wear the Masaai necklace she had. He's not so good a poser.

Then she put one on me, too. It was hard to get a good picture, because it was extremely windy that day--much windier than any other day I've been there!

The kids really like PJ, though. I asked them to give him a Masaai name. Joseph named him Osegari, the Masaai word for police. I told them his Kenyan name is Kidogo, which means small, so now PJ is Kidogo Osegari, or small police.

Because of the wind, Kidogo Osegari spent most of his time in my jacket. But, don't be fooled...you all know what a good police he is!