The Annual General Meetings for MCC Alberta are this weekend. Kim and I have been singing a couple of the songs we want to put on the CD. It's been good to have positive feedback on "Take your place", the bluegrass version. One music critic who works in the MCC AB office has remarked that the song has been stuck in his head... and that hasn't been negative. So we may have a "title track" that actually moves this idea of "Take your place" forward. Sweet.
Kim, Kari and Anne have been sharing about our trip, and that has been received well.
Kim comes to Winnipeg this next week and we'll try and finish off her vocal recording. Which means we really need to know what songs we want on the CD. That's always a bit concerning... second guessing some decisions, etc. Then it's time to get busy with the other musicians building the arrangements.
We're still looking at a spring release. Heaven help us.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
POMC/MCC GAR program
In this video, Joseph describes the work of Generations at Risk in his community.
One way I felt I was able to give a bit to the community before we left was by creating a VCT promo video with Joseph. It is all in Maa (the Maasai language) and it describes for people why they should be tested and what the testing process looks like. They will show it on the laptops they have and they're hoping to raise money for a video projector. The video includes a whole segment of one of the young men in the community actually being tested.
You'll see a bit of this testing in the video here. Joseph felt awful about doing this without gloves, but one of the realities of being in Najile is not having access to all the things you need. What would you do if you had to choose between testing or not based on the fact you didn't have gloves?
One way I felt I was able to give a bit to the community before we left was by creating a VCT promo video with Joseph. It is all in Maa (the Maasai language) and it describes for people why they should be tested and what the testing process looks like. They will show it on the laptops they have and they're hoping to raise money for a video projector. The video includes a whole segment of one of the young men in the community actually being tested.
You'll see a bit of this testing in the video here. Joseph felt awful about doing this without gloves, but one of the realities of being in Najile is not having access to all the things you need. What would you do if you had to choose between testing or not based on the fact you didn't have gloves?
POMC/MCC GAR program from darryl on Vimeo.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Eunice is a young woman that we met at the Ewasuo Primary School, which is about 8 kilometres away from Najile. Eunice was 12 years old when her dad told her that he was going to sell her to a 60 year old man as his 3rd or 4th wife, for the equivalent of about $200. Eunice had seen this happen to her two older sisters and knew that she did not want this kind of life. The night before she was to be married she ran away. She ran for two days and nights, and ended up outside the gates of a primary school. In the morning, a teacher found her, listened to her story, and took her into his family, and raised her as his daughter. Eunice's story is not unique. It is common. It is her courage that is strikingly unique and amazing. She is now 17 years old, and is the leader of the Peer Educator group at the Ewasuo Primary School, and is finishing grade 7. She went through four grades in one year. Her teacher, Timothy Tanin, has become a true father figure to her, and his encouragement and support has allowed her to grow in confidence and to share her story with other students. We were so touched by her courage to tell her story. We videotaped her two times, trying to get all of the details of her story. When she was done, she was exhausted and wept in our arms. The video does not do justice to the trauma that she has faced. But it clearly shows her courage and strength. I will never forget her.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Survival Tips from Clare and Jesse
Enta Sopa oleng!!!!
This is once again Nashipae (Clare) and Namunyak (Jesse) back in Canada. We thought it was about time to write up another blog and possibly give you some pointers if you ever choose to go to Najile, Kenya.
1. You should first understand that there is no such thing as personal space. We discovered this while camping on Mount Suswa with the VCT staff over many events while staying there. During the night, in our 2 person tent with 4 people staying in it (and all the food for the week), we found that sleeping on top of one another was considered normal? ( Elizabeth had no problem sleeping flat on top of Clare). We also soon learned that it is ok to whip down your pants and take a little 'sit' (squat), even if you are surrounded by crowds of people. This took a while to adjust to, but eventually we didnt really care.
2. Be prepared to feel like massive giraffes in a zoo. Well...maybe we only felt this because we are two massively tall white girls in a foregin country. But seriously...waking in the morning to crowds of children peeking through your window or tent was how we started our day. We had many occations where we attempted to shoo them away...but it seemed that everything we said was absolutely hilarious to them. This became a little frustrating.
3. Goat is considered a very special food to eat. Not only the meat of the goat..but eveything..including the hooves, heart, lungs and tongue.This was not so special for us. It took us a while to figure out exactly what it tasted like..but after spending some time surrounded by herds of goats, we soon realized that it tastes exactly how they smell..which is not too pleasant. We also discovered that if you have the choice to eat inside our outside...outside is definetly the place to eat. This gives you a chance to sneakily chuck the goat pieces over your shoulder with a small flick of the wrist. You must undestand that this food was not going to waste. The hungry dogs enjoyed it very much which made us feel much less guilty. However, sometimes we ate inside. This is when a napkin comes in handy to 'wipe your mouth'.
4. Bathing with a small tin of water is much harder than you think. Not only is the water for yourself..but for the following person using it. It was even more difficult for both Jesse and I to bath in the maasai huts. These huts are not made for people over 5 feet.. it was a little tight but we managed to squeeze our long limbs inside and somehow divide the small cup of water between us evenly.
5. You may be forced to drink a traditional maasai drink or 'herb' on special occasions. This herb is made up of all the rare roots of trees on Mount Suswa mixed with goat fat and water that and then fermented over a long period of time. On Clares birthday, a large cup of this was given to drink. We had a pretty good sleep after that.
Toads between your toes, mosquito nets wrapped around you like a cocoon, special herb drinks, leopards and hyenas lurking behind every acacia tree...well, not really...milking goats and making cjapaties and chai...it really could not get any better than that! An amazing two extra weeks. We wish we could go back! Olesari! Nashipae and Namunyak
Three weeks ago today we arrived home from Najile. The memories are still fresh, but every day seems to make the distance between Calgary and Najile grow. Almost daily text messages with Joseph help, but all of us miss Kenya and want to go back! Today was Elizabeth's pre-wedding. We were fortunate to be in Najile for Joseph's pre-wedding, and celebrate with his family and friends.
MCC Alberta held a World AIDS Day event at Foothills Mennonite Church on Tuesday evening. Anne, Henry, Kari, Byron and I each took a theme and shared stories, images and what we learned on our trip. Henry and Byron spoke about food and water security/insecurity. Kari shared about the Lari Peace Memorial Museum, the peace clubs and computer initiative. Anne spoke about the peer educators and PLHA's (People Living with HIV/AIDS) that we met in Najile and area. And I tried to pull all of the themes together and hopefully explain how critical each of those themes are to the other...oh, and then talk about the music and recording and cd #4. It was a great evening! A highlight for me was the candle lighting that took place after the sharing. Kari invited people to come to the front to light a candle as a sign of their commitment to take their place in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In the background the recording that we did in Najile of "Glory Bound" was playing. Very moving time.
Jesse and Clare are home! They arrived on Sunday afternoon, and have more hilarious adventures to share! And also some really touching and profound experiences. The Kiranto family hosted them for two weeks, and taught them to milk goats, make chipatis (sp?), chai, and more!
From 30 above in Najile to minus 12 and falling...and a 4 foot snow drift outside our back door! Home...
MCC Alberta held a World AIDS Day event at Foothills Mennonite Church on Tuesday evening. Anne, Henry, Kari, Byron and I each took a theme and shared stories, images and what we learned on our trip. Henry and Byron spoke about food and water security/insecurity. Kari shared about the Lari Peace Memorial Museum, the peace clubs and computer initiative. Anne spoke about the peer educators and PLHA's (People Living with HIV/AIDS) that we met in Najile and area. And I tried to pull all of the themes together and hopefully explain how critical each of those themes are to the other...oh, and then talk about the music and recording and cd #4. It was a great evening! A highlight for me was the candle lighting that took place after the sharing. Kari invited people to come to the front to light a candle as a sign of their commitment to take their place in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In the background the recording that we did in Najile of "Glory Bound" was playing. Very moving time.
Jesse and Clare are home! They arrived on Sunday afternoon, and have more hilarious adventures to share! And also some really touching and profound experiences. The Kiranto family hosted them for two weeks, and taught them to milk goats, make chipatis (sp?), chai, and more!
From 30 above in Najile to minus 12 and falling...and a 4 foot snow drift outside our back door! Home...
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
World AIDS Day and Food Security
The event at Westgate last night was good. Lots of good info, good food, etc. MCC shared the evening with a local group called Focus Africa. They support a number of projects in Kenya, and MCC (through Ten Thousand Villages) has teamed up with them.
I think we kept our presentation close to the required time... it included a number of videos. Joshua shared about the food security work and how it is tied to Generations at Risk. The Food Security work helps people learn to produce their own food and it is a source of food for people who need it in this time of drought. Both angles are shown in this video... the second half is particularly conflicting for me... as people receive food and you see all the Canadian flags... and I know that it's good that we send food but, of course, our lifestyle has impact on so many people around the world.
Anyway, I was proud of Joshua who spent an hour lugging 50kg bags of beans off a big truck in the darkness. He came back exhausted and completely blackened by dust.
I think we kept our presentation close to the required time... it included a number of videos. Joshua shared about the food security work and how it is tied to Generations at Risk. The Food Security work helps people learn to produce their own food and it is a source of food for people who need it in this time of drought. Both angles are shown in this video... the second half is particularly conflicting for me... as people receive food and you see all the Canadian flags... and I know that it's good that we send food but, of course, our lifestyle has impact on so many people around the world.
Anyway, I was proud of Joshua who spent an hour lugging 50kg bags of beans off a big truck in the darkness. He came back exhausted and completely blackened by dust.
Maasai Food Security Program from darryl on Vimeo.
Monday, November 30, 2009
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.
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
Take your place demo by dnbarg
Sunday, November 29, 2009
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
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.
More videos will be coming.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, November 23, 2009
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.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
lots of pictures
Byron took a load of pictures and you can view some of them here:
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad181/kimthiessen
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.
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.
Monday, November 16, 2009
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)
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)
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