After soaking in all the beauty of the Narok outskirts, Jane introduced me to my first interviewee, Mary, The treasurer. Mary and Jane were colleagues at a local primary school where the Chama was born. I gathered then that the members of the Chama had been sent to a struggling school and were tasked with the job of turning it around to becoming one of the best schools in Narok.

They were 6 new female teachers, under the leadership of one man. They were sarcastically referred to as the Dream Team. Nevertheless, they resolved to work hard for the children and the School made numerous gains in the next three years. Over tea one break time, Sophia, one of the the dream team members, implored them to consider how they would remain together after they had been transferred to other schools. They all thought it was a good idea and that was the birth of the Chama.

The Chama began to establish itself by making regular monetary contributions as a Merry-go-round. The dream team of 6 recruited other members who they vetted as committed and well meaning of staff and which led to a Chama of 14 members. Soon enough, just as Sophia feared, three quarters of them were transferred to various schools in Narok to spread their Midas touch on school reforms. They however resolved to keep meeting and making making contributions.

They eventually formerly registered with the Registrar of Societies as an 11 strong member Chama. Having lost two members to long distance transfers, and one to personal reasons the Chama could not discuss with me. The Chama Kupelia, the  maasai name for Eagle, had come come of age.

They got inspiration from the Bible – Isaiah 40:31 “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Kupelia was determined to know no bounds – spiritually, financially, physically, socially, …They were, and still are determined to fly, driven by a fiercely big vision and unmatched resoluteness.

When Jane talked about this Chama, She would talk about her “sisters” or her fellow mamas in the Chama.

I was shocked to discover there was one man in the Chama, and ever so pleasantly surprised to learn that he was the very cooperative headmaster, who was part of the dream team, sent to rescue a school. I had a chat with him later and the long and short of it is he loves the Chama, he has other ‘male’ chamas, but this one is the best: the order, the values, the honesty, the accountability.

As I sat at the corner, like a fly on the wall, completely unnoticed, I watched the Chama carry on with its business and I was persuaded even more that a Chama is rightfully an organisation.

What was before me was organisation: language, order, purpose, vision, laughter, business discussions, chief whipping, a sense of oneness, reminders on activities, reminders on their identity, demands for accountability and verbal reports of outcomes and of assigned duties etc. There were minutes read and minutes, there were future and immediate future plans outlined, there was leadership.

Early in the meeting, I noticed the undeniable place of religion God for them as a Chama. There was a certain Fabric that I was beginning to wonder, whether the Four Flows, my chosen theoretical framework, could explain.