15 Mar 2025

A restful day, starting with a great social visit with my friend Mr. Jerum for fresh chapati and tea (like mother makes it: tea leaves cooked in milk, with a dab of honey added).  The tea is made and kept hot in a thermos.

Lunch, a nap, and a walk before supper.  I was invited to join the high school for their challenge night at 7 PM.  I did and it was so much fun it is jhard to describe.  The room (pictured on the right in the top photo) was packed with about 100 students (like last evening).  Groups took turns amidst the cacophony of Swahili and English voices laughing , chortling, and otherwise expressing as only young people can.   It sounds much like a pub in Ottawa filled with [people all competing to be heard   At the front we were watching groups of dancers, different small groups offering songs.  At one point the group quieted for prayer and then burst immediately into loud zest after the Hallelujah Amen.

It is hard to capture the mood and the faces of these so animated young people enjoying their first weekend at MCF Yatta.  They seemed to not miss a beat, bringing the MCF spirit with them.  They persuaded Rev George to do a presentation, which he did by way of a terrible version of the Hokey-Pokey, even with back up dancers.

From a personal perspective, there was no where else in the world I would have wanted to be other than in that crowded pulsating and somewhat hot space built out of corrugated iron.   This evening gave me one of the many sacred memories of my involvement in this the largest family in the world.  

In the common hall everyone is crowded/pushed close together as the space is tight.  Somehow it creates a oneness difficult to describe.  Canadians are crowded together in different places, and it can be unsettling.  In this highly packed space, I had only a sense of security and affection.  We were like one, I am deeply humbled to be invited as a welcome family member into this inner sanctuary.  As a senior Naval Officer, I have joined many high functioning social and professional inner circles of military, dignitaries, and senior public people.   I have overseen the most senior chaplains of NATO conference, dressed in the finest naval Mess Kit, and hobnobbed with many high functioning contributors to their country and in their field.

Nothing in that career, as wonderful as it was, came close to the experience of this inner circle. of zest, hope and love.  Dressed in a tee shirt and shorts, I had for a time become one with about 100 young people, all of whom have been rescued from conditions that kill people.  Tonight for a time I became one of those dancing and singing (even the Holey-pokey) in this outback region of  sub-Sahara Africa.  Unbelievable!  

So in the dark of the night in a tin shack using a plastic container as a drum we tapped our feet to the beat, we sang together, we danced together, and we laughed at each other.  There were even very young mothers with their very young children present wandering freely and safely amongst the whole community or snuggled sound asleep in a student's arms.  It was cocolastic!  I was asked to send us all off the bed with prayer:  I offered a "lala salama" prayer.  Amen