Everything Happens For A Reason …

Two Maasai women, Tanei and Liloe, lived on a farm near Kilimanjaro , inseparable friends from the cradle.

They were the only ones in their village who had not married, so in their maturity they decided to share a cabin where they led a quiet life, taking care of a herd of goats and doing textile work.

The imposing mountain rose on the horizon, with its perpetual snows, and was the protagonist of Tanei’s dream of one day venturing to the top. Liloe, on the other hand, was terrified of the mere idea of ​​approaching that mass of lava and snow.

“My grandfather always told me that it’s terribly cold there.”

” We’ll keep warm, ” Tanei replied.

“Still,” Liloe argued, “they say when you get close to the top there isn’t enough oxygen and you drown with every step you take.”

– We’ll walk more slowly, then.

The conversation always came to a standstill, until one day Tanei convinced her friend to accompany her there for her fiftieth birthday.

For two days they walked to the foot of Kilimanjaro, where some guides warned them that bad weather was coming and it was convenient to wait a few days to see what would happen.

“We can’t leave our flock unattended any longer,” Tanei said. A neighboring pastor has promised to provide them with food and water for the next seven days, but not one more.

“Let’s go back then,” Liloe suggested.

– You promised to come up with me. Now you can’t back down!

In order not to put up with her friend’s bad mood, Liloe agreed to go upstairs after entrusting herself to Ngai, the Maasai god who brings rain and makes grass grow.

As if it wanted to show its power, the two friends had not yet reached the first camp when a terrible storm broke over their heads. As lightning and thunder shook the sacred mountain, they ran for shelter in a cave. From there they saw avalanches of stones and mud come down. Also to some injured mountaineer who was rescued by the guides in a kind of wheelbarrow.

-Dammit! Liloe roared with tears in her eyes. I already told you it was a bad idea to come. Didn’t you have enough to see him from the village?

“Calm down, friend,” Tanei consoled her, putting his arm around her back. If Ngai has wanted us to find this storm in the middle of the mountain, it will be for something.

-Of course yes! It’s her punishment for being so reckless. With how well we would be doing work in the cabin right now …

“Everything happens for a reason,” Tanei said simply, reluctant to allow himself to be overcome by dejection.

It rained heavily throughout the day and much of the night. After many discussions and reproaches, the two friends wrapped themselves in their red blankets and fell asleep. At dawn, a timid sun appeared between the trees and the forest came out of its slumber in the midst of a concert of whistles and screeches of the animals that, from their hiding place, celebrated the end of the storm. As soon as they came out of the cave, they saw two other carts with accident victims come down.

Liloe shot Tanei a disapproving look, as if to say, “See? I already told you ”.

“Get down as soon as possible,” one of the guides ordered them. The road has been in very bad condition and there are landslides.

Saddened by this failure, Tanei went down the slope so confused that she put her foot in a sinkhole and fell into a bad posture.

“I think I’ve broken my ankle!”

Liloe asked for help from one of the guides who were carrying wounded up and down, but waited until they had descended from the mountain to say:

—Don’t repeat that “Everything happens for a reason.” Who told us to come here to celebrate your birthday at home? I hope you have learned your lesson.

A base camp doctor splinted Tanei’s ankle and, after inquiring among porters and cooks, one of them offered to drive them to the farm in his cart.

Neighbors from nearby farms came to greet them with dances and songs of joy.

“There is nothing to celebrate,” Tanei said sadly. We have not managed to step on the top.

“What difference does that make!” The old shepherd who had been in charge of his goats snapped. Much better than climbing a mountain is the miracle that you are here, when we thought you were dead.

-As you say? Liloe asked surprised. Why should we be dead?

– Come see and do not panic.

Without understanding anything, the two women followed the shepherd to his farm. The first thing that surprised them was to see the herd outside the enclosure, which had largely fallen.

“Fortunately, the animals managed to knock down the fence,” explained the shepherd. The storm passed through here this morning.

Horrified, the friends discovered their cabin reduced to a pile of ashes.

“Together we will help you build another one,” said a neighbor. Give thanks to Ngai that when the lightning struck you were in an accident on the mountain and not sleeping in here, because now you too would be ashes.

-You see it? Tanei said happily to her friend. Everything happens for a reason.