This past Thursday we headed to Kapsabet with the children
for the second round of the Music Festival. This particular day we were very lucky because we took a
matatu (van) and a small car—meaning no children got sick J. This was a completely different ride
than the previous Music Festival.
Upon arrival to Kapsabet our students started practicing. There were many schools at this event
and many of the students had never seen a mzungu before (and guess what…Mariann
School has three J). The
staring was immediate, and it didn’t take long for our personal bubbles to be
invaded. No questions asked they
just began to touch our skin and play with our hair J.
Eventually we were saved for a bit because our students were
called to perform ‘Paponyo’. They
did an excellent job. It sounded
and looked great! We unfortunately missed Beryl recite ‘Cry of an Outcast’
because it was at the same time as ‘Paponyo’. Susan, however, told us that she did a great job—she recited
the poem perfectly.
We then had awhile before the students performed again, so
we tried to rest. We sat down on
some rocks and were soon surrounded by many pupils from other schools. We talked to them for a little while,
but what they really wanted was our picture haha. One of the students had a digital camera so we took some
photos with them. Finally another
girl asked for a picture, but she didn’t have a camera. I decided to be nice and take a picture
with her…the thing was we had to go to a picture station (like at Sears or
Walmart). They actually had a few
men with picture stations set up at the Music Festival (you could get a picture
for 40 shillings…not a bad deal).
Anyways that was a mistake because once I stepped onto that set every
child wanted a picture with me.
I’m probably in at least 25 random children’s photos. Honestly we’re thinking of starting a
business here. “Come on Over, Get
Your Snap with a Mzungu Today! Only 40 bob!” Oh well, at least I will always be remembered by people I
don’t know in Kenya J.
Finally Katy and Abbie rescued me!
Our excuse for no more photos was we were hungry and needed to eat. We truly did go get food—samosas, dough
balls, mandazi!
After our snack we went to hang out with our pupils. Problem is they don’t really want to
hang out with us at these events because so many other people crowd us L. We were able to get some of them to
stay with us though—I promise it wasn’t bribery. Finally our students from class 6 performed ‘Mdudu’. They are naturally born performers—it
was so good!
Our last performance of the day was ‘Tekis’ a Nandi poem. Once again the pupils did a great job!
(I know in my last post I said only ‘Paponyo’ and ‘Mdudu’ made it to this
second round and this is true, but our teachers were some how able to get ‘Cry
of an Outcast’ and ‘Tekis’ in as well haha)
Finally we got our results! Unfortunately none of the
performances placed high enough to move on, but the children had a wonderful
time which is what really matters.
‘Cry of an Outcast’ and ‘Mdudu’ both placed 5th in their
categories, and ‘Tekis’ placed 6th in its category. There was a little mix up with
‘Paponyo’—it was disqualified because it was in the wrong category L. Regardless of the results our children
poured their hearts into these performances and enjoyed themselves! We are so proud of what they
accomplished, and we of course thought they should have moved onto
Nationals!
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