Amazing Outreach

Greetings.

Today I am extraordinarily busy, but I would like very much to quickly relate one experience before I get to work.

Yesterday we went on an outreach with two of the three French journalists, and it was extraordinary. Because the site was a good way out of the city, we took a matatu to get there. Me, two frenchmen, and 11 REPACTED members crammed into one big van. It was a blast. Two of the members speak french, one of the journalists speaks spanish, and almost all of the other members know at least one local tribal language. At one point we had a game of telephone going around in a circle, from french to kikuyu to kiluo to english to swahili and back again in spanish. It was incredible. I also taught the group the "There are ducks in this house" warm-up from Intime and the CTC, which I couldn't possibly explain to you in this forum. Suffice it to say, I made a fool of myself, and everybody loved it.

We arrived at the site and set up a small PA system for "bumping" hip-hop music and drawing large crowds. Large crowds gathered, and after about ten minutes of dancing and having fun, our group took to the center of the circle as the PA system was shut off. We immediately launched into a singing/dancing/clapping session known as "kupiga kilele," which translates literally as "to hit the noise," but basically means make a loud sloppy ruckus. And we did. By this point I have learned most of the call and response songs and can easily play along with the dance improvs, so I got to participate fully. Clemont and Martin (the journalists) were very impressed. As were a large number of the local young ladies and children, who took turns coming up and dancing with the mzungu (me.) That was a little strange, but it was good I knew it was for the best because it meant that I was doing my part to draw people's attention and to keep them interested. Nevertheless, it was a little strange. I also drew plenty of cheers when I was called into the middle of the circle to do a brief dance solo. I think the lack of inhibitions while dancing at CTC dance parties is serving me well here. I also think people like to see an mzungu make an ass of himself. Oh well.

So after about twenty minutes, we needed to end the kilele, and Dorcas (the girl who happened to be next to me) told me to do the ducks warmup one more time. So we did, and it was the most outrageous thing I have ever done. Standing in the middle of this huge crowd of Nakuru slum dwellers, I shouted at the top of my lungs (far louder than I knew I could be) "There are DUCKS in this house!" The performers around me immitated me in perfect form, albiet with heavy Kenyan accents. They also kept the pace when I bellowed "AND THEY ARE GOING TO STAYYYYYYYYYYYYY IN THIS HOUSE!" feigning a fit of rage. The next moment found me looking straight up the sky, arms outstretched, crying "WHY!?!" and as the group called back with their voices perfectly matching my despair, I had a quick moment to marvel at the blueness of a small patch of sky against the perfectly rolling clouds, and to fully experience the silent wonder of the crowd, broken only by a single ripple of laughter from some small child. It was fantastic. I finished the warmup with unusual vigor, and as the group broke, I felt an incredible surge of energy.

Which was good, because I was suddenly called upon to participate in the skit that was to follow.

To make what is already a very long story a tiny bit shorter, I will recount the skit very briefly. It was about a young man who was going to be evicted from his apartment by a very irate landlord (me) and the hired henchman. He had two girlfriends (a very common occurance here), one of whom he loved, and one of whom had a lot of money and could pay the rent for him. We improvised about 5 minutes of the scene (in Swahili: oh my god - I almost died), when it was broken by the facilitator, a member of the group who then involved the audience in identifying the problems that led to the situation (having two partners, not paying the rent, lack of communication all around, things like that), as well as potential problems that could have come up (STIs, domestic violence, pregancies). Then a few members of the audience got to come up and tryreplace the young man or one of his girlfriends, trying to resolve the conflict. It was amazing to watch (I didn't have to participate in this part.) The community members were completely enraptured by the story, contributed numerous valuable solutions, and even engaged each other in debates. At the end, the actors returned character made a decision to break up with the girl he loved in favor of the rich one, and was booed off the stage.

We followed all of this up with one-on-one and small group discussions with the audience members, handed out condoms and packets of information, and packed up and left. I recieved numerous offers from potential girlfriends, praise from drunk old men, and shook the hands of dozens of children.

A VERY good day.

Chris