Kenya: Tryouts, Rehearsals, Relationships

There is something invigorating in doing something you have diligently prepared for over a 6 month period.  Many know about the girls' shoe fundraiser but preparing the 14 skits / dances we are doing with the junior high kids this week has taken a lot of time and effort as well.

THE PLAN

The plan is as follows:

1.  Work with Junior High kids Week 1.  This would allow us to build relationships with kids who are similar ages to our girls.  All these kids are going to benefit from the girls' shoe fundraising effort (though they don't know that yet).  It is just neat that the girls are getting to form relationships with some of these kids.  

2.  These Junior High kids are normally at a boarding school called Joska outside Nairobi (about 25 miles away from the center of town).   The kids are on school holiday this week and next week.  Missions of Hope International (MOHI) felt it would be very positive...and we agree....for them to be doing something productive during this time versus just staying at home in the slum.  

3.  The Joska kids will be learning skits and dances this week.  We have 14 skits/dances and will be teaching 5 of them in the morning and 9 of them in the afternoon (V is teaching multiple dances in the afternoon).  All kids who arrive will be cast in something.  Many will be in 2 skits - one in the morning, one in the afternoon.  

4.  On Saturday the kids will perform all 14 skits and dances at Pangani for their friends and families.  

5.  On Sunday a select group of kids will perform at the Kosovo church (where we attended services last Sunday.

6.  NEXT WEEK each skit will be performed at least 1 time (sometimes many times a day) at the Vacation Bible School we will be leading at the Area 2 elementary school in the slums of the Mathare Valley.  That is the 'real' purpose of these skits as they all tie into the things we are teaching the elementary school kids next week.  

Implementing the Plan

Monday (Apr 22) started with a bit of chaos as we thought we were going to be auditioning 150 kids for 14 different skits / dances....but we arrived 15 minutes late to see only about 19 kids there.  Hmmmm...

Then we remembered that we are on 'Africa Time'...meaning that people tend to arrive late to things.  We ultimately ended up with 72 kids.  Recall from a previous post we had thought we could only handle 50 kids only to be told three days before we arrived that we would have 150.  So, it was a bit of a blessing that only 72 showed up as it was a challenge 'auditioning' 72 kids in less than 2 hours to somehow find the kids who spoke well, acted well, danced well etc.  

Kids before the auditions began...

We broke into various groups...some learning dance, others acting / speaking parts and then came back together to do the 'try outs'....

We each had a piece of paper numbered 1 to 72 where we would quickly write comments...those little comments we then talked about at lunch and if 2 of the 5 family members wrote something similar then we made decisions based on that.  It actually worked better than I had anticipated.

Below is S doing her judging....

Speaking of S....what a TROOPER she was on Monday.  She was throwing up before we even left the guest house.  She threw up out the window during the van ride to the Pangani Center.  And then when we started the audition process we were on the second floor of a building when she said "Dad, I have to throw up again!"  I hurriedly looked around....bathrooms were too far away, throwing up over the railing could hit someone down below, so I pointed to a 'landing' area that was in the stairwell (hard to explain but it was an area where no one would walk but was surrounded by the stairwell) and my 'awesome aiming' daughter perfectly threw up there.  Didn't even touch the steps (insert proud papa picture here....)   Glad I was able to document that for eternity here.  LOL...we got many laughs later that day as she rallied like a champ and was all smiles by the end of the day.

Anyway, we spent our entire lunch assigning people to different parts.  It is certainly the fastest 'casting' process any of us has ever gone through.  We announced the results of who was in each skit in the lower hallway of the Pangani classroom area.  You can see some groups at the back meeting with who their 'leader' was going to be.....

Rehearsals

Tuesday we started rehearsing.

Rachel with the airplane skit...

 V with the chain skit...

 S with the hand clapping skit...

 H with a skit called 'The Story of Rachel'

S watching her charges....look at the intensity in those eyes!  

V debriefing some of the MOHI teachers....

 V teaching one of the dances in the afternoon...

H getting to know some of the Joska kids near end of day....

Monday we kept AJ at the guest house, but he really let us know that he didn't want to do that again.  So, we took him to Pangani on Tuesday....as usual he was a great icebreaker and the kids LOVED HIM (and begged us to bring him back again)

 The staff at MOHI is just really wonderful.  This is our new friend Mercy with S...

 Lillian, a teacher...

And all the girls with Justine.  We love Justine.... (check out the baby bump on Rachel!!!)

We headed to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner with many people who have been serving MOHI both long term and short term.  REALLY great group of people....and AJ loved that there was a playground there..

This is what Ethiopian food looks like.  It is served on a 'spongy' bread.  You can see some of the spongy bread in the basket to the right.  You tear off a piece of the bread, grab a bunch of food, and proceed to eat.  Notice in the pictures below, the photobomber struck....

People and Relationships...

We had great company at this dinner.  Ryan and Justine Hayes who met while working at MOHI and were married a year ago.  Arty VanGeloof is a Missions Pastor from Eastside Christian Church in Anaheim, CA.  He is good friends with Phil and Keith (see below), has a fun loving personality, and definitely has a heart for Jesus....

Tim and Alecia Stewart...just completed their first year at MOHI and have a 5 year commitment here.  They are responsible for the child sponsorship program here & making sure all aspects of that program is running efficiently including kids writing their sponsors.  This week they have been updating pictures of high school kids etc.  I sat next to Tim at dinner and heard the wonderful story how God called them into ministry...

Megan (see below) and Glen Pieters.  We met Glen on our trip 2 years ago as he was leading a trip with his church from Colorado.  We were pleasantly surprised when he walked into the Guest House the other day.  He is here for a year doing quite a bit of project management type work and helping teach others in the organization to pick up those kinds of skills.

Keith Ham (goofball of the year! and long term Missionary in Kenya) and H.  We hosted his wife Kathy last year at our home when she was traveling with Mary to various churches who support MOHI.  And now Kathy is back in the States on furlough while Keith is with his buddies Arty and Phil fixing an agricultural project out at Joska.  Someday we may see Keith and Kathy together!  Keith is SOOOO funny and he is the primary one who riled up AJ so much our first night here that AJ ended up stripping down and running around naked....

Interns Ryan Barnett and Zach (see below) + V

Phil Meckley...successful businessman on his first trip to the slums of Kenya.  Really enjoyed getting to know Phil.  Ironically, he went through as a student the program I helped build years ago and still uses the platform as well.  Small world!  I hope Phil has as big a change of heart toward serving the poor as I did after coming to Kenya my first time.

Zach Krumsick and Megan Romines who picked us up from the airport.  Zach came to Christ just two years ago and yet here he is serving in Kenya.  Megan was wearing a shirt that said 'The future Mrs White' when we met her.  I think Mr White is going to be a lucky man as this young woman just radiates the love of Christ.

And finally, AJ's friend David who is turning 7 on Thursday this week and is just about AJ's favorite person in the world these days.  

We are tired but happy.  Please pray for continued health and for success in our mission here.  

Til next time, God Bless!