Mission Maasai Concert Wrap Up

In some way or another, there are hundreds of us in the city of Atlanta that call Georgia Tech’s CCF home. For all of us this year, the single greatest question on our minds this year was “how can we take what we have here to the people that are outside these walls?”

In February, the students from the Christian Campus Fellowship became concerned about the Maasai tribe of southern Kenya. We learned that these people live chiefly off of livestock and that they are suffering from their worst drought in over 40 years. We decided that we wanted to be involved in their situation, so we started educating ourselves. We learned that their cattle was dying off quickly, that they live in a culture where they feed the adults before they feed the children, that families could no longer afford to spend the very little amount to send their children to school. We learned that a quarter could feed a Maasai child for a day and 20 dollars could buy a family a very useful goat. We learned to care about people outside ourselves and we are hearing amazing stories, such as when the Maasai donated 14 cattle to the United States after 9/11. This was their service to us, and the love behind it moved us to tears. We began an initiative called "Spend Differently", where we made conscious decision to save money by not eating out, going to Starbucks, or going to the movies, and giving the money that we saved to the Maasai. Through this effort, we've raised over six thousand dollars. But even in the very beginnings of this, there were some of us who were dreaming of the next step.

Through the initiative of a few dedicated students, the massive undertaking of producing a three band concert was underway immediately. We devised committees and promptly set to work. Whether someone believes in fate, providence, or luck, it was obvious that something was at work in our favor. Thanks to the generosity of one of our senior leaders, we were able to secure enough money to guarantee the concert’s production. Over the month we saw people come together to make t-shirts, create posters, hand out flyers, and even create a miniature Maasai village to be advertised on Georgia Tech’s Skiles Walkway. Our brightest minds in video editing created moving portraits of the emergency that was facing the Maasai.

Finally, it came down April 10^th. The day of the big show. We were up at dawn, and immediately setting things in motion to have every detail ready by curtain time. Over a hundred volunteers gave their day to making the show a success, and many of them spent significant junks of time running to the store to buy pens, or making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for everyone’s lunch.

I will never forget the feeling I had when I walked outside of the Ferst Center to see all of those people getting in line to eat the free dinner. The plaza outside of the Ferst Center was bustling with students and family members who were interested in what this was all about.

Christina Sedor and Jason Tatum were the event’s emcees. They kept the pace of the evening fun and also set the tone and atmosphere for why we all had gathered for the event. The first band, Suburban Desperados, were amazing. This group of talented musicians is most commonly found playing for the CCF worship band. Playing cover songs, they entertained the group with many crowd favorites as well as some lesser known work. Following this, there was a short video spot that explained in further detail what Mission Maasai was all about. After this, the emcees spent longer than expected stalling the crowd while the stage crew ran through some technical problems. But finally, the next band, The Californias, were introduced. The California’s brought a unique, original style of punk rock that was a perfect fit for the middle of the event. After this, we introduced our keynote speaker, Greg Johnson presented the audience with a clear understanding of what the reality of the situation in Kenya was like. Following this, we had our own Stevie Hale come out and present the need and gave the audience an opportunity to give and to call friends and family to make pledges. After all of this, and watching another stellar video of the Maasai people, up and coming Nashville act Sean McConnell rocked the stage for the next hour. After several hours, the energy of the crowd was higher than ever before.

We finished out the night by announcing our grand total: roughly 15,000 dollars. The totals that we had there were not the end and money has continued to come in. We were absolutely amazed at how the Maasai benefit concert was such a success. We raised more money that many could have imagined, and we are excited that money is going directly to help the Maasai people in southern Kenya. We know that their lives are going to be affected, and our lives will never be the same. Finally, we can say that we met our goal of taking what CCF is about outside of it’s walls.