Greetings from Nairobi, Kenya.
It was a long time coming here, but I am feeling good and extremely optimistic about this trip!
I flew Turkish Air. Washington Dulles - Istanbul (9.5 hours) and Istanbul to Nairobi (6 hours). I slept very little on the flights. I arrived at Shalom House, my home base for the next month, around 4 am this morning. I slept a couple hours, and then had breakfast with some American students from Concordia University in Irvine, California. Today I will head to the local shopping center to buy water and other essentials for the trip. Tonight I will have dinner with Ken Okoth, founder and executive director of Children of Kibera Foundation as well as some parents from the DC area. Then Ken and I will head to the airport to meet the fifteen high school students and two other chaperones I will be with the next two weeks.
My American upbringing has really colored my expectations. I feel a little strange about having such deluxe accommodation when my charge is to serve children in Kibera who have no permanent structure to live in. I have a large bed and a TV in my room-- and my own washroom as well. Then this morning when my shower was luke-warm I found myself annoyed. For me, this is one of the main reasons I'm here-- to learn to live more simply. I don't need so much stuff. I've begun to realize that since moving into my *tiny* room at my new house in D.C.
It's no coincidence that one of the songs the highs school students and I are prepared to sing when called upon here is "Simple Gifts." The lyrics will be my mantra.
'Tis the gift to be simple 'tis the gift to be free
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained to bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed.
To turn, turn 'twill be our delight,
'till be turning, turning we come 'round right.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Kenya: pre-departure
I dreamed of Kenya all night last night.
I am standing on a precipice. It's strange knowing that in two short days your life will be forever changed. It's strange leaving on a trip you know will be so life-altering.
I am excited for this trip for a lot of reasons. I feel like my first trip to Africa (South Africa, 2010) showed us mostly the Westernized and tourist parts of that country. Now I'm going to see how real Africans live. 1 Billion people on this planet live in poverty. 1 billion. I am going to meet them, and see how they live, and teach their kids.
I am going to do my best to blog as much as possible while abroad, and to post pictures. Please keep in touch! See you on the flip side.
I am standing on a precipice. It's strange knowing that in two short days your life will be forever changed. It's strange leaving on a trip you know will be so life-altering.
I am excited for this trip for a lot of reasons. I feel like my first trip to Africa (South Africa, 2010) showed us mostly the Westernized and tourist parts of that country. Now I'm going to see how real Africans live. 1 Billion people on this planet live in poverty. 1 billion. I am going to meet them, and see how they live, and teach their kids.
I am going to do my best to blog as much as possible while abroad, and to post pictures. Please keep in touch! See you on the flip side.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
No more excuses
Well it has once again been far too long since I updated this blog. A lot has happened since I last posted. A Cliff's Notes version follows:
-I completed my first year of teaching at Norwood School. I learned a lot about myself as a teacher and about private school education.
-I moved into DC! No more suburbia. I live in Shaw-- near Howard University. I love living in the city. I can't believe it took me so long to move into a truly urban environment.
-My parents visited for just shy of a week from Michigan. It was great to have them here.
-I have finalized plans for my Kenya trip. I leave a week from Thursday! I will spend the first 2.5 weeks chaperoning fourteen high school students, then will be on my own the last week. I can't believe this is actually happening. I am so grateful for the opportunity to go to Kenya and to teach music. This is such a dream come true in so many ways.
I want to blog more. I want to live my creativity more and more. I get so bogged down during the school year in to-do lists, e-mail, errands.... and I let that get in the way of my creative output. I want to sing. I want to write and arrange music. I want to conduct. I want to start a non-profit. I want to live my creativity more every day. And I will. No more excuses. Just truth.
I will be blogging in Kenya and posting pictures here and on Facebook. You can follow the official blog for the beginning of my trip (with the Children of Kibera foundation) at http://kenyaservicelearningadventure.wordpress.com/.
-I completed my first year of teaching at Norwood School. I learned a lot about myself as a teacher and about private school education.
-I moved into DC! No more suburbia. I live in Shaw-- near Howard University. I love living in the city. I can't believe it took me so long to move into a truly urban environment.
-My parents visited for just shy of a week from Michigan. It was great to have them here.
-I have finalized plans for my Kenya trip. I leave a week from Thursday! I will spend the first 2.5 weeks chaperoning fourteen high school students, then will be on my own the last week. I can't believe this is actually happening. I am so grateful for the opportunity to go to Kenya and to teach music. This is such a dream come true in so many ways.
I want to blog more. I want to live my creativity more and more. I get so bogged down during the school year in to-do lists, e-mail, errands.... and I let that get in the way of my creative output. I want to sing. I want to write and arrange music. I want to conduct. I want to start a non-profit. I want to live my creativity more every day. And I will. No more excuses. Just truth.
I will be blogging in Kenya and posting pictures here and on Facebook. You can follow the official blog for the beginning of my trip (with the Children of Kibera foundation) at http://kenyaservicelearningadventure.wordpress.com/.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Fundraising site launched!
http://www.indiegogo.com/joshkenya
Hello friends and family!
I have launched the fundraising site above to raise money for my trip. If you are able, please consider making a donation.
Many thanks!!
Josh
Hello friends and family!
I have launched the fundraising site above to raise money for my trip. If you are able, please consider making a donation.
Many thanks!!
Josh
Monday, April 2, 2012
A real new year
So 2012 has been pretty darn good so far. I had a fantastic time at home with my family over the Christmas holiday. While the 20-something angsty Josh would blow into town for three or four days.... the 30-something Josh stayed nine days this year... and wanted more. I am lucky to have all four of my grandparents and loved spending some time with them..... as well as my sister and parents of course. I got to re-connect with my friend Sam and her brother Adam and his new wife. Quality time was spent. Lovely.
After Christmas I went headlong into training for my first half marathon. In February I attended the American Choral Director's Association Eastern Division Conference in Providence, RI with my new friend Brigette...
The day before my 30th birthday my old roommate Suzanne came out to D.C. to run said half marathon with me. I did well and we celebrated my birthday and it was fantastic. The following weekend my friend Cris came up from Tampa for the Reason Rally on the mall-- the largest Secular/Atheist gathering in world history. Fantastic. Then Cris flew to Tampa and I flew to San Francisco where I spent a week in the Bay Area re-connect with old friends. I am so lucky to have all these people in my life.
One of the things I've been working on since the fall is a grant proposal for a program through my school that sends teachers on summer trips. The story that follows is why I think the D.C. area is so amazing and interesting.
When I first got to Norwood I heard about an art teacher that had volunteered at a school in Kenya last summer. Owing to my new-found obsession with Africa, I sought her out and asked for information about the school. She told me about this amazing place called the Red Rose School in Kibera-- the second largest slum in Africa. Red Rose is a part of the Children of Kibera Foundation. My friend and colleague, Amanda, had a phenomenal experience teaching there and subsequently told me about the grant program through our school.
Amanda put me on contact with the man who started the CoKF, a phenomenal human being named Ken. Ken grew up in Kibera, came to the U.S. for his collegiate education, taught at Potomac School in McLean, VA (right across the river from Norwood) where he taught Amanda's kids, and then started the Children of Kibera Foundation with some friends and supporters (many of them involved with Potomac School). It happened that Ken was in D.C. fundraising for the foundation the week after I emailed him... I was able to attend a fundraiser in D.C., meet Ken, make a donation to the foundation, and conceive a preliminary vision for my trip to Kenya with Ken.
Then I went to writing my grant. Two weeks before the grant proposal was due, Amanda informed me that the foundation runs a trip every summer where Washington area highs school students volunteer at Red Rose for two weeks. She put me in contact with Sarah, the woman who heads up the trip each summer. With the dates I was looking at going, I would have just missed them. Then Sarah told me that she was in need of a chaperone for the trip and wondered if I may be willing to serve this need. I agreed, re-wrote my grant to include their itinerary, and submitted the grant. The proposal was for a purely service-oriented trip. While the students are volunteering I would be able to teach music to the students in the school and even start the first-ever Red Rose choir!
I found out right before spring break that I received the grant!! I will be traveling to Kenya from June 28-July 24!! I will stay for six days after the high school students leave to do some professional development with local teachers about music education and to study Kenyan folk song and drumming. I am beyond excited for the opportunity to serve students in Kibera and to get a sense of what their day-to-day is like.
I won't lie-- a part of me was incredibly disappointed I didn't go to the Peace Corps to live in Africa for two years. But I see that I can travel to Africa to serve using my real gifts. I am so lucky to be able to do this kind of work. I am so excited to go to Africa again.
I will be fundraising in the coming months for my trip so stay tuned for updates about that!
After Christmas I went headlong into training for my first half marathon. In February I attended the American Choral Director's Association Eastern Division Conference in Providence, RI with my new friend Brigette...
The day before my 30th birthday my old roommate Suzanne came out to D.C. to run said half marathon with me. I did well and we celebrated my birthday and it was fantastic. The following weekend my friend Cris came up from Tampa for the Reason Rally on the mall-- the largest Secular/Atheist gathering in world history. Fantastic. Then Cris flew to Tampa and I flew to San Francisco where I spent a week in the Bay Area re-connect with old friends. I am so lucky to have all these people in my life.
One of the things I've been working on since the fall is a grant proposal for a program through my school that sends teachers on summer trips. The story that follows is why I think the D.C. area is so amazing and interesting.
When I first got to Norwood I heard about an art teacher that had volunteered at a school in Kenya last summer. Owing to my new-found obsession with Africa, I sought her out and asked for information about the school. She told me about this amazing place called the Red Rose School in Kibera-- the second largest slum in Africa. Red Rose is a part of the Children of Kibera Foundation. My friend and colleague, Amanda, had a phenomenal experience teaching there and subsequently told me about the grant program through our school.
Amanda put me on contact with the man who started the CoKF, a phenomenal human being named Ken. Ken grew up in Kibera, came to the U.S. for his collegiate education, taught at Potomac School in McLean, VA (right across the river from Norwood) where he taught Amanda's kids, and then started the Children of Kibera Foundation with some friends and supporters (many of them involved with Potomac School). It happened that Ken was in D.C. fundraising for the foundation the week after I emailed him... I was able to attend a fundraiser in D.C., meet Ken, make a donation to the foundation, and conceive a preliminary vision for my trip to Kenya with Ken.
Then I went to writing my grant. Two weeks before the grant proposal was due, Amanda informed me that the foundation runs a trip every summer where Washington area highs school students volunteer at Red Rose for two weeks. She put me in contact with Sarah, the woman who heads up the trip each summer. With the dates I was looking at going, I would have just missed them. Then Sarah told me that she was in need of a chaperone for the trip and wondered if I may be willing to serve this need. I agreed, re-wrote my grant to include their itinerary, and submitted the grant. The proposal was for a purely service-oriented trip. While the students are volunteering I would be able to teach music to the students in the school and even start the first-ever Red Rose choir!
I found out right before spring break that I received the grant!! I will be traveling to Kenya from June 28-July 24!! I will stay for six days after the high school students leave to do some professional development with local teachers about music education and to study Kenyan folk song and drumming. I am beyond excited for the opportunity to serve students in Kibera and to get a sense of what their day-to-day is like.
I won't lie-- a part of me was incredibly disappointed I didn't go to the Peace Corps to live in Africa for two years. But I see that I can travel to Africa to serve using my real gifts. I am so lucky to be able to do this kind of work. I am so excited to go to Africa again.
I will be fundraising in the coming months for my trip so stay tuned for updates about that!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
American perfectionism
I live pretty far outside the American mainstream. I know very little about pop culture. I don't have cable. I don't have a smart phone. I don't know anything about the Kardashians.
When I visit places with cable I often find myself glued to the set because I can't believe what I'm seeing. This week I am with family for Thanksgiving and I am staying in a house where TV was on all day.
I should say here that I watched a lot of television as a child. I was glued to TGIF every Friday. In college I didn't have time to watch TV anymore and it's been basically the same way ever since. I can't believe what it's like now-- Sitcoms, commercials and reality shows full of people without a flaw. Beautiful white people with perfect teeth, perfect hair, perfect skin, the newest designer clothes, beautiful clean homes, etc, etc etc. This is not reality. No wonder kids grow up to think adulthood is such a disappointment. If they grow up thinking their life is going to be like what they see on TV, any sort of life would feel like a let-down.
I'm glad I don't understand or follow this trash. My dad, a very wise man, is very much about going back to basics in life and I agree more and more the older I get. I'd much rather read a good book, or -- better yet-- have coffee with a friend or family member and hear a good story, than sit in front of the television. There is so much beauty in the world and so many stories to be told. Stories that are more beautiful and more powerful and more vivid and dramatic than anything on NBC, CBS, or ABC.
I want to connect with people as much as I can-- with my students, with my friends, with my family. Have you and I connected recently?? If not, give me a call. I'll curl up with a cup of coffee and we can talk about something that matters. Something real.
Happy Thanksgiving to my dear friends and family. You make my life so vivid and so beautiful. I have been so blessed to know you all.
When I visit places with cable I often find myself glued to the set because I can't believe what I'm seeing. This week I am with family for Thanksgiving and I am staying in a house where TV was on all day.
I should say here that I watched a lot of television as a child. I was glued to TGIF every Friday. In college I didn't have time to watch TV anymore and it's been basically the same way ever since. I can't believe what it's like now-- Sitcoms, commercials and reality shows full of people without a flaw. Beautiful white people with perfect teeth, perfect hair, perfect skin, the newest designer clothes, beautiful clean homes, etc, etc etc. This is not reality. No wonder kids grow up to think adulthood is such a disappointment. If they grow up thinking their life is going to be like what they see on TV, any sort of life would feel like a let-down.
I'm glad I don't understand or follow this trash. My dad, a very wise man, is very much about going back to basics in life and I agree more and more the older I get. I'd much rather read a good book, or -- better yet-- have coffee with a friend or family member and hear a good story, than sit in front of the television. There is so much beauty in the world and so many stories to be told. Stories that are more beautiful and more powerful and more vivid and dramatic than anything on NBC, CBS, or ABC.
I want to connect with people as much as I can-- with my students, with my friends, with my family. Have you and I connected recently?? If not, give me a call. I'll curl up with a cup of coffee and we can talk about something that matters. Something real.
Happy Thanksgiving to my dear friends and family. You make my life so vivid and so beautiful. I have been so blessed to know you all.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
new roads for exploration
I've been teaching at the new school for almost two months now. That's going pretty well.
Living in D.C. has been absolutely terrific. There's so much going on here. I have seen many concerts by area ensembles-- Choralis, Washington Bach Consort, Master Chorale of Washington. I have been to museums and restaurants and festivals. Last night I visited a haunted forest outside Poolesville, MD. Today I breifly visited Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. Absolutely breathtaking. A different kind of beauty than the National Parks of the Southwest. But stunning nonetheless.
I love living on the Maryland/DC border-- I love being able to get into the city easily on the red line of the Metro. I love being able to take the Metrobus to work.
One down side: It's COLD here... and it's that damp cold that cuts you to the bone.... and it's only October. It's going to take some getting used to. I wish my blood hadn't thinned quite so much during those years in beautiful Northern California.
Oh, and I got a pumpkin to carve.
Thus, far, a beautiful fall here in the Mid-Atlantic. Looking forward of more good things to come.
Living in D.C. has been absolutely terrific. There's so much going on here. I have seen many concerts by area ensembles-- Choralis, Washington Bach Consort, Master Chorale of Washington. I have been to museums and restaurants and festivals. Last night I visited a haunted forest outside Poolesville, MD. Today I breifly visited Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. Absolutely breathtaking. A different kind of beauty than the National Parks of the Southwest. But stunning nonetheless.
I love living on the Maryland/DC border-- I love being able to get into the city easily on the red line of the Metro. I love being able to take the Metrobus to work.
One down side: It's COLD here... and it's that damp cold that cuts you to the bone.... and it's only October. It's going to take some getting used to. I wish my blood hadn't thinned quite so much during those years in beautiful Northern California.
Oh, and I got a pumpkin to carve.
Thus, far, a beautiful fall here in the Mid-Atlantic. Looking forward of more good things to come.
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