Stories of Grace

O’Brien School for the Maasai • Tanzania
Kellie's Story of Grace

Kellie O’Brien lives in Hinsdale and is the founder of the O’Brien School for the Maasai in Tanzania. The school presently has 270 students and is planning to build a dormitory adjacent to the school facility later this year. Kellie is a new mission partner with Christ Church of Oak Brook for 2010.

In 2006 my daughter, Heather, asked me to join her on a “mission trip.” She wanted to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and do some volunteer work.

Through Heidi and Peter Huizenga, I had heard about Dr. Marilyn Scudder (a longtime missionary partner of Christ Church) and the work she had done in connection with the Swiss-based Franciscan Capuchin Order of nuns in Sanya Juu, Tanzania.

Dr. Scudder had just passed away, but Heidi put me in touch with Dr. Scudder’s sister Pam, who in turn connected us with the Franciscan Sisters who welcomed my daughter and I to their convent during our trip.

We arrived with no agenda but to serve and be open to God’s will in our lives. The convent was on a 100-acre farm managed by 14. We were privileged to stay in the home in which Dr. Scudder had lived. Her clinic was just 100 feet away and she is buried just outside the dining room window. Her memories fill this place and the hearts of all the sisters who worked so closely with her for so many years.

After working for two weeks around the convent, we asked Sister Dona what we could do to really make a difference in someone’s life. After a moment of silence, she told us about a Maasai named Gabriel.

Gabriel had been coming to the convent for five years asking for help with a school for his poor, rural village 50 miles away. The Maasai are no longer allowed to be nomadic and so their future depends on educating their children. Sister Dona always told Gabriel to “pray and someone would show up.” Little did we know that we were about to become the answer to Gabriel’s prayers.

Together with Sister Dona and Dr. Paul (trained by Dr. Scudder), Heather and I traveled over an hour to reach this remote and desolate village. The huts are made of dung with straw roofs and no furniture. They sleep on the floor and since they do all their cooking in the huts, the air they breathe is filled with smoke. They have few possessions beyond a container for water and the stones they use for cooking, yet, they never hesitate to praise God and thank Him for their blessings.

After a few hours of meeting with the village elders and seeing hundreds of children, I turned to my daughter and said, “I think the reason God sent us here was to build a school for this village …” We knew that our lives were about to change.

And so began the story of the O’Brien School for the Maasai. For more info, visit http://www.obrienschool.com/.

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