We spent the past 2 entire days at a peace celebration/conference in Kenya which brought together people from different ethnic groups from around the country. I learned that there are over 40 different ethnic groups, or tribes here in Kenya. Almost all of the people who attended were somehow involved in peace work in their communities because they find it vitally important to have peace, especially in light of the post-election violence that happened earlier this year.
We learned a lot about the different ways that people express peace in their diverse cultures; through artifacts, nature, song, dance, beads, ceremonies, etc. One of the things that was really neat was a peace bead tree that is in the process of being taken around to all of the different ethnic groups in Kenya. People weave a bead on to the tree in whatever color their tribe uses to represent peace. So far over 100,000 people have put a bead on the tree. We learned that many tribes use beads to symbolize peace. For example, in the Masai culture, a necklace of blue beads would be worn by a young girl and when neighboring tribes would see her, they would know that she was a representation of peace from that tribe.
(see photo of bead tree)
By far the highlight of the event for me was the cultural celebration on the evening of the second day. I experienced my first sheep slaughtering, which I did not watch for very long and I won't include pictures, except for the sunset silhouette below. If you look closely you will see two Masai men holding some internal part of the sheep.
(see photo of sunset)
After each of the different ethnic groups had a chance to prepare their different foods, we all shared a meal together, which is another way that peace is brought about. I have to confess that I wasn't too excited about the food. One dish was sheep meat mixed with sheep's blood. There were 3 choices for drink, and I'm pretty sure all of them were fermented for certain periods of time. One looked and smelled like curdled milk with a dusting of oreo cookie crumbs (I was told the crumbs were from a ground-up part of a certain tree). It was quite the experience!
(see photo of food)
Lastly there were three groups that performed cultural dances, which was my favorite part. The Masai group was first, all young men in their twenties, wearing colorful beaded necklaces, headdresses, and their traditional red cloth (which comes from the idea that as the sun rises and sets it is like God cloaking himself with a blanket of reds and oranges). Their dance included lots of deep humming and grunting, and sometimes one person would call out and the rest would respond. Some of their movements reminded me of how a worm would wiggle if it were standing up straight. Other times they would go around in a circle, bobbing and swaying while stomping their peace sticks on the ground. I wish I had video....
(see photo of Masai dancers)
I did however have a chance to video the second dance group, which I believe is a Kikuyu group. I was doing some major multi-tasking, switching between two still cameras, one with a flash and one with a super-fast lens for low light, as well as a video camera which I had yet to use on this trip. I was a little bummed because I was doing so much camera handling that I was watching the performance more through a lens or screen than real life. But I did manage to capture Tim being pulled onto the dance floor and trying to escape, along with Ron Ratzlaff, MCC rep, and that will be worth watching again. :)
(see photo of Kisumu dancers)
After all the cultural dancing was finished, there was a bonfire and guitarist who would play until dawn, and that was when we decided we were tired and it was time to leave. By the time we got back to Nairobi and I was in bed it was nearly 3 a.m. And now we have a day of rest at the lovely Mennonite Guest house before we fly on to our next destination in the DRC.
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