After a great day with the Pendo Amani youth organization,
we got to sleep in a bit this morning. We took some extra time to get
everything packed, and then we had a time of worship at 9 AM. Matt, Tori, and
Eric A. led us in great songs reminding us of God’s control over this trip and
the call to share His love with those at home too. We then ate a wonderful brunch
at 10 AM comprising of eggs, chapati, sausage, goat, and PIZZA. The staff at
Hartfield Gardens has been amazing in waking up early to prepare all our food
each day. We got one more chance to say goodbye to Zippy and Daniel at this
time. I have constantly been in awe of their ministry and philanthropy in Kenya,
and I know many of us feel as though we have a second pair of grandparents in
them now.
After this, we made our way to the Nairobi airport. We
boarded our flight a bit late and had to push through some rainy weather, but
we made the 5-hour journey from Nairobi to Dubai. I am currently writing this
from Dubai as we wait to board our long 16-hour flight back to Dallas. We have
been enjoying eating fried food (McDonald’s and Shake Shack) for the first time
in 2 weeks at the airport. We are all very tired, but I know I cannot wait to
get off the plane and see my family.
Leaving Kenya was bittersweet. It was such an amazing trip! The people we encountered live drastically different lives than we do, but we found so much joy in singing and dancing together as a community. The phrase “unity in difference” has stuck with me throughout these last 2 weeks. God holds every continent in His hands, and He is present in all of our lives. Although it is important to recognize each individual’s unique identity and struggles, we also believe that we are united together in the Body of Christ, and everyone has a place. Trips like these help us get a broader perspective on God’s creation and how much love He has for all of His children. Personally, I know that I am taking away sense of calling to explore this idea more.
Our morning began much like others this week, with an early
breakfast and preparation of packed sandwich lunches. Today, however, we headed for a destination
not previously visited by a Baylor team: Pendo Amani. Pendo Amani (translated “Love and Peace”) is
a weekend music program for several dozen children in a community near Nairobi,
run Mike Wichira’s band of drummers and dancers who performed for us last
night. This was to be a day full of
teaching and service.
Up to this point, we had encountered very little “western”
or “classical” music, but today we worked with students of violin, flute, guitar,
trumpet, voice, and more. The Pendo
Amani music program owned a number of instruments for the students to use, on
which the leaders provided both private and group instruction. Our task today was to work with as many
students as possible on each of their instruments. The education we have each received in the Baylor
School of Music served us well as we divided into teams to teach our own
instrument or voice part. While many
students were beginners, others showed impressive skill on their instrument and
were able to read music and learn new pieces.
Some team members helped entertain younger children with fun songs and
games. Others worked on instrument
repair, fixing and servicing Pendo Amani’s equipment and donating instruments, spare
parts and method books.
We concluded the day at Pendo Amani with a group celebration
concert. Gathered in the courtyard, we
listened to various presentations, including the students’ violin and cello
rendition of “Blessed Assurance.” To
wish us well on our journey, the leaders invited us into a traditional dance
and chant. Although we wished we had
more time, our day at Pendo Amani was fruitful.
A first for Baylor Music and Missions in Kenya, the large-scale teaching
operation was not without confusion or difficulty, but we were able to connect
with numerous students and lay groundwork for potential future visits. As musicians, we must learn to teach others our
craft, and our visit to Pendo Amani was a wonderful opportunity for us to grow
as musicians and teachers.
To conclude and celebrate our time in Kenya, we enjoyed a
quiet family gathering at the home of our hosts, Zippy and Daniel Sindiyo. We were joined by many members of their
family and several of the safari guides from our visit to the Masaai Mara. The Sindiyo family treated us to a
traditional Kenyan meal of chapati, simosas, watermelon, and more in the front
yard of their beautiful residence.
Although an introspective evening, it was not without many introductions,
gifts (we each received a Masaai blanket), and most importantly, music. Zippy and Daniel shared their gratitude for our
work and told us of exciting things in future of Kenya, particularly the village
of Komolion that we visited last week. As
we boarded the buses there were many goodbyes, some tearful.
Our lodgings at Hartfield Gardens are now a buzz of activity as we prepare to board our plane tomorrow. We must carefully pack paintings and other souvenirs, donate extra items and local currency, and double-check our to-do lists for the return home. Although we are excited to be reunited with friends and family (and perhaps enjoy an enchilada), we are sad to leave Kenya and the friends we have made here. For now, we close our suitcases and get one more night’s rest here in Kenya before a long day of travel tomorrow…
We kicked off our beautiful Friday
morning with a two-hour bus ride to Kajado. Our first stop took us to Priscilla’s
school. This school was founded specifically for girls seeking to escape female
genital mutilation (FGM) and arranged child marriages. As we arrived, the
students were singing “Injili,” one of the songs our team has sung throughout Kenya
during our trip, to welcome us. It was beautiful. We performed a concert for
them and handed out school supplies to each student, each one smiling as they
walked away with their hands and hearts full. The team had tea and mndazi (a Kenyan
pastry) with the teachers, and we loaded up the busses once again.
A short drive later, we arrived at
the AIC (African Inland Church) Disabled school. We took a tour of the
facilities with a man named Moses; he took us through the rooms where they put
together wheel chairs and prosthetics for students who need them. He also
explained how they help educate and rehabilitate each child that comes into
their care. He obvious passion and concern for them was truly inspiring. As we finished
the tour, the kids gathered outside with their teachers and a few of the
parents for our concert. While singing, I was overcome by the immense joy that
flowed from each of their faces; it reminded me that music has so much more power
than we tend to give it credit for. Their unbridled joy encourages me to keep
going, to keep chasing after God, to keep making music, if only to make a
single person feel the way each of those little kids did today. After the music
finished, we blew bubbles and played with them for a short while. It was honestly
the most fun I’ve had all trip. So much joy, y’all!
Time catching up on us, we walked
down the street to the final stop of the day, the AIC Girls School. The matrons
prepared an amazing lunch for the team before we met up with the students outside
for out third performance of the day. We sang songs for them both in English
and Swahili before presenting the school with a plaque from the Center for Christian
Music Studies at Baylor. A group of AIC students then came up and performed
music for us, to share the gift of music back with us. They were a super
talented group of young women. The group of performers is actually the official
AIC girls music group that competes on a national level; we wish them the best
luck as they compete at national contest this upcoming Tuesday! After they
performed, we handed out school supplies to all 720 girls. Shout-out to the amazing
student leaders on our team that kept that process super organized!
We loaded the busses once again to
drive back to Karen once we said our goodbyes. I wish I could give you a story
or funny anecdote from the drive, but I slept the entire time and have zero
regrets. I ended up thanking Tori-in-the-past for sleeping on the way home, because
we immediately joined a drum circle led by Mike Wachira upon returning to our accommodations.
The drum circle wasn’t us sitting around watching them perform or simply doing
some interactive rhythmic exercises. Nope, it was more like “Jazzercise: Kenya
Edition.” We were jumping and singing and dancing and trying not to have an asthma
attack in the corner as these beautiful people led us in song and dance
centered around the djembe. I’m pretty sure most of us did more cardio in the
few hours we spent with them than most of us do in an entire year. It was ridiculously
fun! 10/10, would dance again, even though it was way out of my comfort zone.
That seems to be a theme on this trip though. Many of the things we’ve done while in Kenya, whether waking up at an ungodly hour, eating food that we can’t pronounce, singing in a choir when we’re in school to play in an orchestra, building a relationship with a stranger in a village when you’re the mascot for team introvert, or dancing like a fool in front of a group when the good Lord blessed you with two left feet and no rhythm… all of these things are so far from comfort in so many different ways. Yet I have seen God display His glory through every single one of them. Twelve days ago, I couldn’t tell you why I was boarding a plane to go to Africa. All I knew was God said go, so I went. But now as we edge closer to the end of this journey, I see Jesus in my discomfort. God meets me in my places of greatest vulnerability, and frankly, greatest weakness, and shows up in a mighty way. Yep, I looked like a complete idiot dancing tonight, but I can’t remember the last time I laughed like that. I am far from a morning person, but the sunrises I’ve seen in this breathtaking country have left me in awe once again of my amazing creator. I cherish every second we’ve spent here in Kenya, and I’m grateful to God for the uncomfortable.
After a good night’s rest at the
Hartfield Gardens, we ate a full breakfast including samosas and sausages and
various hot beverages. We loaded the buses and headed to our first shopping experience
of the day: Amani Ya Juu. Amani Ya Juu is a non-profit organization that employs
primarily refugee women – they provide them with fabric skills and techniques
to empower themselves. As a result, these women learn how to make items such as
placemats, various apparel, accessories, bedding, and even paper bound
journals.
When we arrived at Amani Ya Juu, we
were greeted with a big smile by one of the head workers, Maggie. Maggie
informed us that Amani Ya Juu allows women to, “touch and spread (empowerment)
because they don’t want to keep it for themselves.” As our team followed Maggie
and ascended three flights of stairs to the fabric workroom, we were greeted by
the sound of beautiful voices. There were about 30 women in the workshop who
greeted our team through swaying, clapping, and singing a song that resounded celebration
and hope. There wasn’t a single person on the team who couldn’t help but smile
and clap along to their joyous melodies.
Amani Ya Juu translates to “Peace from
Above.” That phrase resonated into every aspect from its facilities to its
people. We learned about where some ladies were from and their names: Beatrice (Kenya),
Betty (Kenya), Janet (Rwanda), Alice (Kenya), and so many more. What brings all
these women together is the strength within their differences.
Amani Ya Juu impressed me with the
impact that their imagery and words can have on their community. At the back of
the fabric workroom there was a mural that was captioned, “pamoja tunabadilishwa.”
This translates to “together we are transformed.” It included four colors that each
corresponded to different meanings: red (blood of jesus), yellow (materials),
blue (socialize) and green (environment). The blood of Jesus is evident in the each
of the women at Amani Ya Juu. Their faith is the top priority before all other
things. It is through the blood of Jesus that they put their heart and soul
into the materials use so that we can partake in their community. In engaging
with their community, we are cultivating an environment that not only is
sustainable but is also impactful to rest of the world.
Throughout the remainder of the
Amani Ya Juu tour and shopping, our team was so moved by all the women who make
the organization what it is today. Each
product takes so much more time than you would think. Most of the items our
team purchased from the store took anywhere from a couple of days to a couple
of weeks to create. Each item is created by one woman, whom then tags the item
with both her name and country she comes from. Our time at Amani Ya Juu was
filled with music making and sharing to both the women from the shop and visitors
from all over the world. It’s amazing what a song can do to bring people
together. The women encouraged us to continue singing our songs up until it was
time for us to leave for Kazuri Beads.
Kazuri Beads was our last, but not
least, shopping experience for our mission team. When we arrived there, we were
given time to shop before heading on the tour of their facilities. One production
room lead to another as we saw the raw materials to the final product:
beautifully handcrafted glass-finished beads. Like Amani Ya Juu, we shared our
music to the women of Kazuri Beads. The women danced and sang along to our
songs like, “Injili,” “Baraka Za Mungu” and “Hakuna Mungu.” Almost every stop
along the tour we sang and shared music with the women at Kazuri Beads.
Throughout most of today I wondered what we could possibly give these women in exchange to their tangible items they’ve spent innumerable hours creating. The answer is what happened at the end of the Kazuri Beads tour. Our team was finishing up singing, “Baraka Za Mungu” on the last stop of the tour. The ladies in the room next door happened to hear us and we could hear an uproar of cheering and praising. Before we knew it we ended up next door singing more songs with the women in the next room. In no time, our whole team ended up dancing and experiencing music that the women chose to share with us. I may never know how to sow a quilt or create a beautiful work of handcrafted clay jewelry. However, I know that God works in mysterious ways and today he was revealed in the music we shared with women we met at Amani Ya Juu and Kazuri Beads. Today I learned that it is not about what you can give but what you can take away. I took away a glimpse of the everlasting joy and peace that prayerfully one day all of us will experience together in heaven with our heavenly father.
Today we finished up our days on safari in the Maasai Mara
and headed back to Hartfield Gardens in Karen. The day began with a lot of
excitement as we embarked on our final game drive.
Throughout our safari, I was struck by how quickly the tables
can turn when it comes to nature. We started out without too much excitement or
too much going on, but toward the end of the drive we came upon some giraffes
who were being watched by several other safari vans. Little did we know that the
main spectacle was actually a group of about 8 lions that were moving about the
area. First, we saw a few juvenile male lions playfully interacting and then we
spotted more and more lions patrolling the area. Once the giraffes started
running away, we realized that the lions were on the hunt.
Not long before our van had arrived in this area, we had had
a scary moment with a very steep trench on one of our turns. It wasn’t until we
were surrounded by a pride of hungry lions that we realized that we had a flat
tire! We were shocked as our driver exited the vehicle to investigate the
situation in spite of the many animals around. The other drivers nearby also came
to help out in changing the tire.
One thing we had been taught on the safari was that when we
are in the vans, the animals don’t see us as humans but rather as a part of the
vans. Because of this we are only in danger if we exit the vehicle, at which
point the animals see us as intruders and will attack. We watched in the vans as
our drivers fearlessly walked around the vans in the midst of the pride of
hunting lions. Many of us grew worried as we saw that the lions had lined up
and were clearly looking in our direction while several of them had even begun
to walk down the path toward us. One van shouted to their driver, alerting him of
what was happening. The drivers collectively laughed and finished fixing the
van. Finally, all the drivers returned to their vans and we zoomed off. While
we were not able to see the lions carry out the hunt, we were glad that we didn’t
become the hunted…
After this eventful final game drive, we headed back on a
lengthy bus ride to Nairobi. While this wasn’t the most eventful experience, it
did give us a lot of time to further deepen our relationships within our teams
as well as to reflect on what we experienced during our safari. Later in the
evening we shared more time as a community, dinner, and our nightly reflection
time. One member of our team, Austin Rabon, talked about what he had learned about
fear from our drivers today. He spoke about how often we live in fear: fear of
the future, of if we will get a job, of how things will turn out, etc. but that
“if the drivers can change a tire in the middle of a pride of lions, I think we
are going to be okay.”
As we wrapped up our safari and are nearing the end of our
time in Kenya, I am filled with gratitude about the experience we have had
here. We have developed deep friendships and a community within our team. We
have experienced a multitude of facets of Kenyan culture. We have grown in
patience, in teamwork, in flexibility, and most importantly in empathy for people
of all walks of life. In our safari, we were able to see God’s creation in all
its grandness and all its detail. We saw how animals, like humans, live in diverse
community and connection with each other and with God, the creator and
sustainer of life.
I am thankful for today and for the new things it revealed to us about ourselves, creation, and God and I look forward to the ways we will continue growing toward God together in our final days in Kenya.
We awoke at 5:45am for a very early morning game drive. On
this game drive we saw a beautiful sunrise as we drove through the Maasai Mara
and quite a few animals including: a large pack of hyena, eight or nine
elephants, gazelles, zebras, topi, and a cheetah near the end of the drive. The
cheetah was sitting perfectly still for a few minutes while it was stalking a
heard of gazelles about a hundred yards away in the brush. Then the cheetah
started moving slowly towards the herd and started running full speed into the
brush where we lost sight of it and we do not know if it successfully caught a
gazelle. After that eventful drive we returned to Fig Tree Camp for a delicious
breakfast. The menu had Spanish potatoes, French toast, pancakes, sausage, and omelets.
We were very thankful for the wonderful meal after our early drive and we were
excited for the next part of our day.
Shortly
after breakfast we went to visit a Maasai village that is on the edge of the Maasai
Mara. We met the village chief and a few young men, whom would be our guides to
the village and answer all our questions. We then walked roughly one kilometer
to the village. Our guides were about twenty years old and they spoke English well,
which I learned that they had studied at a university in Kenya to learn about
more cultures and languages. Along the way we learned how the Maasai use different
trees and plants, such as a tree that they use to clean their teeth. When we
arrived at village the men and women came out and sang a song to welcome us.
The song included a call and response and the men sang in low grunts that is
special to the Maasai people. We then entered the village and the women sang two
songs to us: one of welcoming to their village and the other was well-wishing
for us and wishing for the women in our group to “bear many children”. The
Maasai believe that having many children is a sign of wealth that will benefit
the village in the future.
The shape
of the village was a circle with all of the homes on the edges and space for
the livestock in the middle of the village. The Maasai livestock mostly
includes cattle, goats, and chickens. After the welcoming song from the women
the men sang another song and then showed us how high they could jump. Jumping
is very important for the men in the Maasai tribe because it is a sign of peak
physical fitness. The man who jumps the highest is respected and may choose his
girlfriend(s) and/or wives (this community practices polygamy) and he pays a
discounted bridal price. Then we were shown how they make fire in the village
using dry elephant dung as kindling and using a stick made from a sandpaper
tree and a block of red cedar to catch the dung on fire using friction. Next,
we were given a tour of a home in the village. The home was rectangular and
made of wood and dry cow dung. It was very spacious compared to the homes in
Komolion, with a main room for cooking and bed, a guestroom, a room for the
children and a space for small animals during the night. After touring the home,
we looked at their market that is connected to the village and they had some
interesting souvenirs.
We finished by singing Injli and
Baraka za Mungu for the Maasai people. Once we started singing in Swahili the
people were surprised, which caused them to smile and join in dancing and
singing with us. We then walked back to Fig Tree to enjoy some downtime. It was
a blessing to join in with these people in song and dance and praise the Lord
in a different language and with a different culture.
We later left for another game drive and although very tired at this point, we really enjoyed seeing some giraffes within arm’s reach of the safari vans and another pride of lions. We have been incredibly thankful to see such a beautiful part of God’s creation that is this wonderful game park.
This morning we woke up early for one more wonderful
breakfast at the Tocco’s compound. We are so grateful to them for opening their
home to us. At 6:30 AM we started the journey to the Maasai Mara. We packed
ourselves into small vans in order to go on the rocky journey there. It was a
long ride, but we were constantly amazed by the beautiful Kenyan scenery. We
drove by mountains as well as green grass and trees that we would never see in
Texas.
When we got
to the gate leading us into the Maasai Mara, we were overwhelmed with women
determined to sell us things through the windows of our vans. The journey was a challenge, but after a
while the long, hard ride began became worth it when we began to see the
animals: giraffes, zebras, elephants, gazelles, buffalo, and even more. There
were so many of them, each uniquely magnificent. Upon arrival at the lodge, we
were hospitably greeted by a staff ready to feed us a late lunch, as we were
very hungry. We were then shown to our rooms, which are more like tents that
sit alongside a water bank. My favorite part is looking out at the hippos
visible from our tents. We believe that they will be our alarm clocks tomorrow
morning.
God has definitely made Himself known through the hospitality of the people we have met on this trip. In addition to this, however, God has made His power known through creation, being ever present in nature. Throughout the busyness of everyday life as students, we often neglect opportunities to go outside and see the beauty of nature. Each plant and animal here has its own place and unique way of being. I am reminded of Psalm 8, when the author ponders why God would care so much for humankind when He has created such marvelous things. I also think of Romans 1:20, where Paul states that God’s power is shown so clearly in creation that we are without excuse not to believe in Him. It is biblical that we can experience God through observing what He has made. Personally, I have been pondering how this applies to my own ministry. Since God is the Creator and we are made in His Image, we are also blessed with the ability to be creative. As musicians, we believe that creating great music communally is a way of glorifying God with this ability. Going abroad, we can see how music breaks down barriers and brings people together in worship. We look forward to making more music and observing the wonders of creation more tomorrow!
