A wonderful evening of poetry...

My IB English students have been studying some amazing Kenyan literature in the last several weeks: Ngugi wa Thiong'o's childhood memoir Dreams in a Time of War, Wangari Maathai's Replenishing the Earth and poetry by Nairobi spoken word artist Njeri Wangari. On Tuesday evening we had a special treat when Ms. Wangari came to ISK to spend an hour with our group, reading from her poetry and talking about her work as a poet. My students asked some great questions and the entire event was thought-provoking and fabulous!

Cora's creativity...

As an IB art student, Cora is always busy working on paintings, photography and various artsy projects. Last weekend she became inspired to re-do one of her assignments and, inspired by the style of two specific artists, designed a bird design to paint on a set of blinds. She worked all weekend long and produced an amazing piece that is now hanging on the wall above her bed. It's so beautiful!

Chakula - Hawaiian style...

Brian and I belong to a group at ISK called "Chakula" (which, in Kiswahili, means "food"). Yep, it's a foodie group and we gather together every five or six weeks to celebrate good food according to a specific theme. In mid-March, we celebrated a Hawaiian luau hosted at Devin and Sue's place, and it was a lovely event, complete with a hula contest. Brian competed but, alas, did not win.

Sci-fi fanatics...

Cora, Brian and I will readily admit that we are die-hard sci-fi fans. Nerds is probably a better descriptor! This is perhaps best exemplified by a March break activity that took place in our home. Brian and Cora laboured over a detailed model of the Battlestar Galactica for many hours, honouring one of our favourite shows from last year. They both said the process was entirely therapeutic and enjoyable; of course, they could talk about a lot of good episodes while engaged in completing the model!   :)

Variable Sunbird - green version

We are blessed with about three pairs of variable sunbirds in our yard and they are so beautiful. Usually the male birds have an iridescent blue back, a violet band on the chest and a yellow abdomen. Every now and again you see a male that is more green than blue on the back; these birds tend also not to have the stark violet band on the chest. Last weekend one such male visiting our driveway and made quite a show of preening and looking at himself in our truck's mirrors and windows. He put on quite a show!

New soccer balls...

Last Saturday, on a visit to the Morningstar Academy in the Kangemi slum (a school we've been working with a lot this year), Brian was able to deliver three new soccer balls from the One World Futbol organization. These balls are virtually indestructible and are made specifically for conditions in slums, IDP camps, etc. The kids were so excited! In these photos you can see their old balls (a deflated ball and a few others made from plastic bags and string); the new soccer balls will mean so much to these kids when they play in their tiny little compound at recess.

Critters, critters...

Our yard is always teeming with life, and in the past few days we have been blessed with a visit by a 3-horned chameleon (that we were able to save from the jaws of Pepper, our perceptive cat), a fruit bat (this bat had about a 14-inch wing span and really liked catching bugs in our living room a few nights ago), a gorgeous African Paradise Flycatcher (alas, no photo) and, a few weeks ago, a bronze sunbird. Love the critters in our yard.