Recording

Really, without Stephanie's help, I'm not sure we would have done much collaborating. She was great helping people who knew no English and had never heard bluegrass, begin to get a handle on things.

We initially sent a recording with seven fairly diverse, potential songs. They chose the two that got done... and we recorded the hymn "Come thou fount" (a fave with the POMC Maasai) and then I was able to record quite a number of choirs.

Here's a little footage of the collaborative efforts.

Recording for "Take Your Place" from darryl on Vimeo.

Music

Here's a 2:oo minute mix of a bunch of music we recorded... it's all still pretty rough, but it gives you an idea of some of the sounds. This may go up on the main MCC site tomorrow for World AIDS day. The picture is from my video footage of us recording the song "Take Your Place".

Take your place demo by dnbarg

World AIDS Day - Dec 1

December 1 is world AIDS day. Our family is sharing at an event that evening. 7:00pm Westgate Mennonite Collegiate, Winnipeg. We'll talk a bit and share some video clips. A group of Kenyan women who are part of a group called Focus Africa will also be there singing and whatnot.

The "program" goes until about 8:30 and then there are booths and stations where you can interact with stuff. Like, a group of students have learned about VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing) and will walk you through what it's like to be tested for HIV/AIDS.

I know the Calgary gang have something up too... here's a link to their info:
http://alberta.mcc.org/content/world-aids-day

The MCC site has some great stuff too: aids.mcc.org

Comments

Hi all... if you're still reading this... I was just informed that you had to log in to create comments. Sorry. That was not intentional. If you still have something you wanted to say and were thwarted by the login stuff... umm, try again? Choose Anonymous in the profile drop down... it would be great if you shared your identity at least with a first name...

More videos will be coming.

Priscilla

As a parent, meeting a 13 yr old with AIDS is pretty rough. Having your 12 yr old spend half a day laughing and playing with that 13 yr doesn't make it easier for the one with AIDS, but it sure makes you feel grateful for the kind of life experience and hope that exists in a hard world.

Priscilla from darryl on Vimeo.

Greetings from the Kenyan Mennonite Church

Maurice works for the Kenyan Mennonite Church and MCC Generations at Risk. I promised I would bring his greetings back.

Greetings from Kenyan Mennonite Church from darryl on Vimeo.

A Visit to Enajooli Church

The visit to Enajooli Church, Joseph's Church, was very special. In particular for those from Foothills Mennonite where Joseph worked last year. They presented a quilt and Byron preached. Enjoy.

Visit to Enajooli Church from darryl on Vimeo.

lots of pictures

Byron took a load of pictures and you can view some of them here:
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad181/kimthiessen

early reflections

Now that we've been home for a few days, it's been interesting to reflect a bit. I'm not really given to online, or even outloud reflection, but here's a couple things that have rattled about a bit.

I've mentioned to many who've asked the regular "how was it?" question (and really don't want the long version) that it was more and less than expected. The overall experience was incredible... visiting Joseph and his community, learning about MCC's HIV/AIDS work, hanging out with Matt and Stephanie, visiting the Mennos in Kisumu, safari, visiting the coast, hearing/seeing the various choirs, and doing all this with my family and numerous new friends...

I've also mentioned that I was hoping we'd have gotten more done in the musical collaboration department... That sentiment still stands because my hopes weren't entirely realized, but as I've pondered this, I have developed a pretty substantial list of things that made it amazing we got much done at all... like in no particular order: wacky electricity; no lights in the church so no work after 6:00pm; and it's not like these (mostly) mothers would want to walk the back and forth hours in the dark; most of the singers don't speak or read English; time and attendence are somewhat more, well, relaxed than we're used to; the wind starts blowing through the spaces between the walls and roof of the church by noon causing the mics to overload and the roof panels to bang; a regular gallery of onlookers in the church that don't really get why they should be quiet during recording; rain on a tin roof; cows sticking their heads in the door and more.... not a bad list, eh?

Anyway, the pluses wildly outweigh the minuses. I'd go back tomorrow if I could. Stay tuned to this space. I'm going to post a few video clips soon.

Jesse and Clares time to share!

Why hello everyone. We have no idea if anyone is still reading this little blogeroo but we thought we’d give it a try since we won’t have internet for a while. This is Nashipae (Clare) and Namunyak (Jesse)-those are our masai names..hehe. We thought we would lighten this blog up with a couple stories.

One of our first memories that stuck with us was with at our first night with our host family. It started with an extremely awkward cup of tea while we all sat and stared at the lantern. Once it was time for bed, Solomon took us to our room. When we opened the door, we saw the smallest single bed you could ever imagine. Now Clare and I are both pretty massive giants. We thought we would give it a chance but almost every one of our lanky limbs were dangling off the bed and our sweaty bodies were sticking together. We also had our bug net wrapped around us like a caccoon because we couldn’t attach it to the ceiling. At first it was pretty funny. But as we got a little tired, we were a little snippy towards eachother. Clare ended up on the cement floor that night with all the massive millipedes and dung bugs.

For the past 3 days we flew to the coast to see some other parts of Kenya. While we relaxed by the ocean in our room and outside on the hammock we were attacked by a pack of rampaging monkeys (some in the room with Jesse and some on the hammock swinging with Clare). I don’t think we have ever ran or screamed so fast and loud in our lives. It was terrifying.

We also have many stories from our scary walks home to our host family. On our last night in Najile before we left for Nairobi, we heard that Sam spotted a leopard . But we decided we were super tough and we could manage fighting off that leopard with one little punch from our massive pipes. So we thought we could walk back home alone. You should know...there is no road to Solomons or path and that night there was no moon so it was pretty darn dark. While we were walking across a field, with Clare leading the way with her trusty head lamp..our only light source…she suddenly takes off without warning and starts screaming and bounding back across the field plugging her ears leaving us hudling in a circle stranded. The rest of us stood unknowing what was happening almost ready to crap our pants. When Clare finally slowed to a stop, we asked what on earth she was doing. She replied with much confidence that she saw the leopards bulging eyes. Fortunately, it was only a tiny rabbit. So we carried on. Once we finally were able to see Solomons fence, Clare suddenly screamed and kicked off her shoe, plugging her ears once again. While we tried to calm her down with tears in her eyes, Solomon rushed outside because he thought we had seen the leopard. It turns out it was a toad stuck between Clares toes. It was at that point when we realized that Solomon thought we were a little strange.

These are just a few pretty hilarious memories we have had. Tomorrow we head back to Najile with the PLHA’s (people living with HIV aids) for two more weeks to help the GAR staff to set up tents and sign people in to get tested on Mount Susua. We will be camping in tents on this mountain so I’m sure we will have many more stories. Today we stocked up on peanut butter and chocolate to help keep us alive in the wilderness. We are planning to help slaughter a goat in the near future….hopefully we won’t have to drink blood on Clares birthday but I guess we’ll see. We hope you are all well and enjoying winter as we bask in above 30 degree weather. Olesari!

Namunyak (Jesse) and Nashipae (Clare)

More guitar lessons! With a very generous donation we were able to buy four guitars in Nairobi to leave with the Najile community, along with a fifth guitar that was donated that we brought with us from Canada. People were very excited!

Guitar lessons!

Recording in Najile!

Elizabeth (Joseph's mom), Joseph, Elizabeth (Joseph's fiance), and Samuel (Joseph's brother), in front of his mom's home.

Presenting the Foothills Mennonite Church wall hanging to the Enajooli Presbyterian Church (Joseph's home church).

The Kenya travelers and Joseph's family...well, most of them. Early morning November 11th, just before saying goodbye.

Home...well, our Calgary home

Hi all. Well, the great Kenya adventure has ended for us, at least in terms of our physical presence there. We know that the adventure and connection to all of our new and old friends in Najile will continue for a long time, and we are so very grateful for that.

We left Najile on Wednesday, November 11. It was a very tearful goodbye with Joseph's family. Joseph is a remarkable person, who lives and works with a profound sense of humility, grace, integrity and joy. We (Byron, me, Anne and Henry) lived with his family during our time in Najile, and we now know why Joseph is who he is. His biological mom, Elizabeth, his dad, Jeremiah, and his step mom's, Esther and Marissa, are all amazing people, who live in the same way that Joseph does, and with a deep Christian faith and commitment to the church and the community. His siblings are all mini-Joseph's, who in their own ways will impact their community and beyond. Each morning and evening that we were there, we enjoyed visits late into the evening...often, as Joseph's mom would say...feeling like we were talking to the walls, because we could not understand each other, but the laughter and sense of acceptance was more than enough to help us through those moments of confusion. Each morning we were served the best chai I have ever tasted! Made with fresh goat milk! And chipati's. So good! And then we would set off for the 5 km walk to Najile town.

It all feels a bit like a dream now that we are home. Electricity, running water, toilets...what luxuries! But the things that we missed while we were gone, now seem small and of little consequence when we compare them to our very rich experience and to the relationships we formed. There are many differences between Calgary and Najile...but also some similarities...in both places it's not a great idea to go walking on your own when it's dark, though in Najile it's because of the leopards and hyenas. The church community at Foothills and in Najile are both strong, and celebrating together is important...in Najile it's done with four hour church services, and then five hours of choir singing. Though food in Najile is scarce for so many, the goats and rice and cabbage and beans become plentiful when there is a celebration happening.

I could go on and on, but I'll stop. It's so hard to describe our time and our experiences and to do it justice. We are all so grateful for the opportunity to have gone, and for the incredible support we have been given. Thank you to everyone for your interest in this trip. We hope that we can share more stories and pictures in the coming weeks.

As Joseph says, "God is good. All the time."

Kim

Our Maasai Visit Comes to an End

What an amazing opportunity. We have been blessed with so much. The people were so welcoming and hospitable. Our immediate hosts: Joseph, Matt and Steph were so well organized and wise in how they planned for us and helped us by bridging the cultural gaps. I really feel like we truly got a flavour of life in this little 'village' of Nagile.

Yesterday we reflected on the beauty of the simple life -- we were for the most part completely off the grid. Not found on a map, no real road leading in or out, no consistent electricity, no running water, no real internet connection but yet such LIFE and JOY.

I do confess a bit more keenly aware and very grateful for many of the modern conveniences we enjoy. Take for instance the washing machine. I spent several hours doing laundry by hand two days ago. Sitting under the Acacia tree on a little stool....working with "elbow grease" to pound out the red dust of Najile with not much success. A admit the surroundings were gorgeous and the sound of bells on the goats and singing birds was great company. In contrast last night I put in some not so white shirts and socks into a shiny powered machine. It took 3 minutes of my time and WOW did they ever come out brighter than my last effort. Life is strange.

It was difficult to say good bye to all our new friends in Najile and from Calgary. This seems a bit surreal but was so amazing.

Our family is looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation at the ocean. The place and plans our friend Kirsten has arranged look amazing. Again such gracious hospitality. It is amazing to have friends in so many places. The world is so small.

back in Nairobi

We got back to Nairobi today. Since our safari and Kisumu it's sort of been working time... back to the schools for some, guitar teaching for some, repair work around the community for some. Kim and I were supposed to be doing some more recording but the electricity went all wonky... wild, unusable fluctuations in voltage. Same problem with the generator. After a few days of that, a call was finally placed to the Kenya Power Company. Yesterday, late afternoon, the power went off for 15 minutes, and then came back all good. So we raced into the church with all the gear and tried one more song until the sun went down. We'll see if it's usable. In the last week, the wind came up badly every afternoon and evening making the church building howl and pieces of sheet metal flap up and down. No exception for yesterday.

A couple highlights of the last few days for me were visiting with the PLHA's (People Living with HIV/AIDS) in this area. Many stories of thankfulness to God and MCC's support... I also had the chance to video Joseph testing a young man from the community. We're creating a small video to be used locally telling people why they need to be tested and sharing what the process looks like. It seems like it could be a very useful tool.

Anyway, after some tough good-byes, a trip to Mount Suswa to see the crater and climb around in some caves this morning, into Nairobi in the afternoon, and debriefing this evening. We part company tomorrow morning. The Thiessens, Boehligs and Kari back to Canada in the eve, the NB's, Jesse and Clare to join friends of the NB's on the coast for a few days. Sitting on the beach is the agenda... somewhere south of Mombassa. Then Jesse and Clare are back in Najile for another week.

OK, so that was the update. Hopefully someone will post something a bit more reflective tomorrow morning. Take care all.

Oh, Michael, "Pumba" refers to the warthogs we saw. I think that's the name of the warthog in the Lion King.

Saaaaaaafari!

Well hello there! Two days ago it was safari time; what a surreal experience. After living in the bush with no electricity or running water, we suddenly (well 6 bumpy hours later) found ourselves in a million star resort. There were dead cows all along the road, but the fair-skinned resort users inside got to enjoy the luxury of buffet meals, hot showers, and big swimming pool. Weird.

The best way to understand our safari is to see pictures, which I can't load. So I will just list some of the animals we saw, use your imagination.

Rhino
Giraffes
Zebras
Elephants
Gazelles
Baboons
Ostrich
Pumba
Hippos
many strange birds
and the big one... SIMBA!! (complete with mating... what a sh0w)

We're in Kisumu today, visiting the Kisumu Mennonite Church and GAR program here. Tomorrow it's back to Najile; 4 days there, 2 in Nairobi, and the Calgary folk are heading back home.

hope you're all well!

Market Day and Work Day

It was a day of work for most today... Darryl was recording choirs; Anne, Henry and Byron were fixing things at the GAR testing office; Clare and Jesse were teaching guitar; Krista, Stephanie, Natasha, Kari and Meghan were teaching at the Girl's Secondary School. Kim was hanging out at the recording site and worked with a few choirs on a song that will be collaborative.... all good, but certainly not as unique and new as yesterday...

We went to the Ewuaso Market... in the back of a small Toyota pick-up... in fact, on the way back, we had 18 people in the truck all together. The goal at the market was to meet the Peer Educators doing some AIDS awareness stuff and the GAR staff did HIV tests in the back of the truck. Quite an experience hanging out in the area where they were selling goats, or vegetables, or shoes or veggies. You'll have to see the pictures.

Anyway, we're off to Maasai Mara for a safari tomorrow, and then to Kisumu to meet the Kenyan Mennonite Church and learn about their Generations at Risk work. It has been very difficult to get the internet going, so communication has been/will be sparse... maybe we'll get some contact in Kisumu.

We're all well so far.

Market Day in Ewaso by Natasha NB

Today was a traditional Maa Market day. The whole entire group went first to the Najile Secondary girls school. We got to go on a tour of the school and the dormitories. After the tour we got in to a small pickup truck. We traveled in that to the Owasso market. There we wandered around and saw the G.A.R. program in action. Joshua and my Mom bought a couple of things and the rest of the group bought food. The next thing we did is we went home, But the process was a little longer then expected. First we all got into one of the small pickup trucks and jammed our stuff and bodies into it. Then we had to wait for Joseph and then we had to wait even longer because joseph’s future wife Elizabeth got lost in the crowd. We finally got into the vehicle with about 22 people in the back, three people in the front. That’s is how we travelled from the Owasso market to matt and stephs. But first we had to stop at joseph’s house and drop the food off. but i’m rushing .on the way there I had a couple laughs. Some people we were traveling with were so scared for example Jessie. Her face was so serious and she was saying the most hilarious things ever. It was like that the all the way ‘home’. When we got home we had peanut butter and lentils, rice, green beans,and tomatos and cabbage. For desert we had crackers and lots and lots of popcorn with tons of salt. Yummie yummie.

Supa! (then you would say apah)

Greetings from Najile! We have been here almost one week. It’s been quite the adventure; a whole new culture, language, style of dress, and food. People here are very gracious and warm. They laugh at us all the time- Matt and Steph say it’s because they delight in our attempts to speak Maa or dance like them, but I’m pretty sure it’s because we look and sound ridiculous. We’ve been decorated in their traditional clothing and jewelry (which are just beautiful).

Yesterday we saw a goat being slaughtered. The knife wasn’t very sharp. That was an experience. Kim and Anne would like you to know that they squeezed poo out of the goat intestine before it was cooked. We eat goat, lentils and rice/lentils/cabbage most days. And drink tons of chai! Digestion has been a fickle friend for some of us.

Byron preached at the church service yesterday (150 people smushed in a corrugated tin building for 3 hours). He did such a good job! The congregation was so excited to receive the quilted wall hanging from Foothills. It was quite moving. Last Friday we handed out the friendship bracelets and letters from Menno Simons CS to the Nagile Primary School. They were SO excited, it was such a honour to a part of that.

There are a million other experiences every day, but those stories will have to wait to be shared. We welcome your prayers and hold you in ours. Oleseri!

Kari