Watch it Weekends - The regulars

Welllll... it's a long weekend. Does that mean I'm allowed two "Watch It Weekend" posts? Oh wait, my blog, so YES!

I LOVE these kiddos. Khoboso is about three and a half or four, Kulmise (the older girl) is in class two (maybe six? seven?) and Liyoogo, the kookiest, craziest little boy, is about the same age as Kulmi. Good gracious, I love these children.

All three of them live nearby. Khoboso lives just "across the street" and her mom Nabiro works at our house sometimes. Khoboso is the one who was so named because she had finally cooled the burning in her mother's heart for a child of her own. And OH, this little girl is feisty! Every day when I walked to school, I'd be greeted by Khoboso, sca-REAMING at the top of her lungs from 100 meters or more to get my attention - "Hee-la-ree Haf-a-rey-ya! HEE-LA-REE HAF-A-REY-YA!" She's use both my given and and my Rendille name just to make SURE I heard. I'm pretty sure all of KORR could hear! She's sit on my lap sometimes at church, run up to me arms wide when she'd see me coming, and we'd play together often when she was over at our house, which was often. It was for her that I learned the phrases, "goob iro" (go home) and "Madono... Mele... Chirri torro ati igu'da, malinka makilegirdamo." (I don't like that... No.... If you hit me again, I won't play with you anymore today.) Yep, she had a bit of attitude, too! If I played with another kid for too long and didn't give her attention, she'd pout and look at me with betrayal on her face and sometimes give me a smack or two. Ah, but I LOVED to play with her. Colouring, reading stories, and all kinds of wild play! What a cutie! This is her telling me NOT to take away the speaker! See? SASS!



Kulmise was like Khoboso's big sister. She was often at Nabiro's helping to take care of Khobo. Girls are taught to be shy in that culture (Khobo is definitely not within that norm! hehehe!), so she would often cover her face with her arm and peek a grin at me. She knew a tiny bit of English, and helped me learn a bit of Rendille, too! She'd like to poke her head around the corner of my room,too, to say hello and to play a while. Oh, and of course, to get a sweet! Kulmise was often the one to drag Khobo back home after she had dug her heels in and refused to go! (I loved playing with her, don't get me wrong, but if Khobo had her way we'd be playing 24/7!) Here Kulmi is trying on my GIANT rimirimo. See what I mean about the shy? :)



And then there's Liyoogo. He's the kiddo who wasn't breathing when he was born and his parents tried everything, to no avail. Then finally they prayed to this God these missionaries were speaking of, and he started to breathe. His name means "Hands lifted up to God." Liyoogo. Is. Crazy. I love him! He's such a little clown and entertainer. He's the son of Boya, one of our night guards, so he was often around, too. He's in class two as well, like Kulmi. This kid cracks. me. up. I'd often show Boya, his dad, the pictures and videos of his son hamming it up and he'd watch with a big grin on his face and just say, "MADAAKKINO!" (which translates into "wow" or "oh my goodness" or, most likely in this case, something like, "good grief!") *GRIN* I could have posted the pic of him with his eyelids turned inside out - one of his favourite tricks - but I figured I'd spare you! Click here if you're dying to see!



So ANYWAY, the videos. These three loved to come visit me (and I loved to have them!). I didn't have much, but they loved to colour. One afternoon they were hanging out in my room and I decided to crank some tunes and have a party. It started with some groovin' on the bed...


... and then turned to a full-on dance party! What more do you need than music, some sunglasses, and three kooky kids? :) Oops, four! Somo, a traditional boy and a friend of Kulmi and Liyoogo, heard the music and came in to see what it was all about. He was pretty camera shy but still managed to bust a move!



Yep, just another day in Korr! :) (um, except that makes it sound like I'm still IN Korr! Confused with all the back and forth? Vancouver! Kenya! Vancouver! Kenya! Yep, welcome to my brain!)

Watch it Weekends - Singing! All! The! Time!

Ok, so one really big thing I regret is not taking longer video clips. Ten seconds is NOT. ENOUGH. Thirty seconds is better. Guess I'll just have to go back to do it again.

Every Sunday after lunch, the trucks go out to the goobs, filled to the brim and more with people from the church, for evangelism. Everybody climbs off the truck and walks through the village, inviting people to come and hear the Word of God. They sing, give a lesson, and talk together for anywhere from one to two hours or so. If there are sick people in the village, they'll visit them, pray for them, and take word back to Nick and Lynne or hte dispensary if any "dawa" (medicine) is needed. I joined the group one Sunday afternoon. I've already written about it, but here are a few videos.

I love them, because it pretty much shows that the Rendille sing constantly. I don't think there was ever a time when I was in the truck with a Rendille and somebody wasn't singing. Here are just snippets of that Sunday afternoon.

Traditional Rendille mamas sing in as they hop a ride back to their goob.



Judy often runs the kids program. They're singing the song they've been learning for the rest of us.



On the way home in the clattery green land cruiser. We're still singing! :)



A view from the top. Oh, how I miss driving trough the desert on the back of a land cruiser!

Watch it Weekends - Around Home

Here are a few videos I took of home in Korr... first a tour of my house (don't mind the nerdy Ikea excitement). Ah, home sweet home!



Nick and Lynne love their pets - by the time I left we had two cats and essentially four dogs (two didn't technically belong to us, but were always around and ate at our house), plus one who decided our house was a good place to hang out. This video was taken shortly after I arrived... Tigger, the big pup and Stompy (meaning Stumpy, note he has not tail) were HIALRIOUS to watch. Stompy is such a little bruiser and all Tigger wanted to do was play. There were times Tigger got Stompy's entire head in his mouth, and Stompy would grown and bark and throw a fit, and you'd think he was really ticked off with it all, but he'd run right back in and provoke Tigger for more. Who needs TV when you've got these two to watch and laugh at all day long??? (oh, and 'member the puppy who puked on my lap on the drive up to Korr? That was Tigger!)



And yes, I talked about all kinds of crazy bugs in my house. One in particular was really cool... I'd hear this CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! really loud and always wodnered what it was. Then one day I saw it - it's this crazy beetle that, when flipped over onto it's back, does some kinda crazy flick with it's super-hard body and flips himself back over again. I was poking at this guy for a good half hour, making him do all kinds of tricks. Nick told me later that week as we were talking about these crazy bugs that this dude's got a pretty potent stinger. Huh. Guess I should have thought about that when I went poking at strange African bugs, hey? Thankfully no stings for me!

Watch It Weekends - Hillary Learns Stones

Stones is a game that a lot of the kids in Korr play. Just take five small rocks and throw them up in the air, catch them, put some down, throw the others, pick them up... sounds easy, right? Wrong! Ann, a girl in my class six class, was playing one day at lunch. I stopped to watch her and was amazed! My particular favourite move was hen she held five stones in her fingers, threw them up, and caught them ALL on the back of her hand. Go ahead... try it! I filmed her, then had one of the students filming me trying it for the first time. It's pretty entertaining. And also? Wow, I squawk a lot, apparently! Ah, good fun hanging out with my kids! :)





There's more Stones fun on my Youtube channel.

Watch it Weekends - Turning Thirty

Two days after arriving in Korr, it was my birthday! There was a team of about 18 Canadian ladies who were in Korr visiting, too, so we wended up driving out to visit a literacy class and see a goob. I couldn't help but laugh at the contrast between my 29th and 30th birthdays!



There are ALWAYS tons of kids around, and we spent probably a good half hour or fourty-five minutes playing with them. I SO wish I had longer clips, and maybe less of them, but here's what I've got. They're no more than 10 seconds each, most are shorter. but it'll give you a good idea! :)







In the following video at the end, you can see that things were starting to get a little crazy... there were SO many kids YARDING on my arm. Hehehe... I'm trying to escape! :)



This one's my favourite! :)



In the evening, Lynne planned a surprise party for me! We had cake, they sang me happy birthday, and - SO sweet! - they even had gifts for me! It was wonderful! :)



Definitely a birthday to remember!!!

Watch it Weekends - Animal Central!

While I was aiting to go to Korr in January, I did a lot of different things, sone if it a little bit of sightseeing around Nairobi. One day I went to the Sheldrick's Wildlife Trust - essentially an orphanage for baby elephants. SO cute. Seriously.



Then I went to the giraffe center. You walk up onto this platform and the rangers give you pellets to feed the giraffes with. The love to eat the pellets out of your hands or....

Watch it Weekends - More Mitumba Kids

Three videos this weekend... why not?

The first is of Jaqueline - the amazing nursery school (pre-school) teacher - giving a lesson. That lady has SO much love for those kids, it's phenominal! In early January, which is the beginning of the school year for them, the kids are learning their letter sounds. This video is brought to you by the letter "N"



I went on a Saturday morning to help with the Bible Club. Turns out I RAN the Bible club that day. Good thing I know lots of camp songs that kept me going! We sang for a long time, then I pulled a lesson out of my hat and we did that, too!

King of Kings


Pharaoh Pharaoh

Watch it Weekends - Mitumba kids

Two posts today! Look at me go!

Loading video in Kenya wasn't possible. But oh hooray, I'm back to the land of high speed, and hoo-boy do I have some fun stuff to show you! So welcome to the first installment of "Watch It Weekends!" I'll post a video (or two?) each weekend so you can get a better taste of the sights and sounds of my trip. Here's the first one!



This is class four in Mitumba, the slum I spent a few days in in January. It was my first introduction to the fabulous world of African kids singing. I love it! I also love the kids dancing around for hte camera in the back row! Silly monkeys! :)

Hakuna Mungu kama wewe = There's no God but you