On Saturday, BLISS hosted its Annual Parent General Meeting. Every school in Kenya is required to host one of these each year by law. BLISS schedules its session at the start of the school year which is now. Forget about email reminders, letters to parent homes or phone calls. They do it the old way, Every morning this past week, students were reminded to TELL their parents to attend. It worked. Over 400 parents packed into the new building to hear about BLISS and the new school year.
The scheduled start was 10:00 AM … so it began about 10:40. Parents just continued to stream in. Before long, new rows were made and chairs were added to the aisles (no fire marshals here.) After an opening prayer, the BLISS band played and the show stopped. Their brief pre-set program rolled on through numerous ovations and encores. It was capped off by a thumping rendition of "Onward Christian Soldiers" that would have brought even my Methodist ancestors to their feet!! They did Larry Dittmar and all those Ann Arbor donated instruments proud. Whew - What a start!
Things sort of stalled there for those on the team who are not fluent in either Kimeru (the local language) or Swahili. (That was 100% of us.) Aside from brief snippets in English (for our benefit), the remainder of the meeting was conducted in the languages the parents were most likely to understand. The vast majority of the parents grew up before free primary school education was offered or available. Their commitment to educating their children was evident. Remember the 400+ parents? There were 3 cars. Not because of an eco-friendly or fitness ethic. They came on foot … some walking multiple hours just to be there. Many in their Sunday-best over rough roads and with no sidewalks. Not by choice. It was their only way to attend and demonstrate their support.
It would have made even the most jaded pause. Their children were going to have the opportunity they had not had because of BLISS.
Back to the meeting … in good Kenyan fashion, each 5-minute speech on the agenda took 20-30 minutes. No one seemed to mind. Several hours in, it was our turn on the agenda. Moses gave a wonderful introduction explaining all that FUMC had done for the school. We began introducing ourselves as Moses did the translation for the parents … until Marcos. With his beaming smile, Marcos addressed the throng with a loud "Muga!" (Hello in Kimeru) The place fell apart in cheers and laughter. It was wonderful. The remainder of the team followed suit. It really did not matter what we said. Muga was enough. Greg capped it off with a few brief statements about all we have in common … and "We love you." Wish you could have been there. Wish we could have bottled that gratitude to bring home and pass out next Sunday. Wish all of you get to experience this one day.
Tomorrow is Sunday and we will be in church with so many of the teachers we have worked with this past week. We will be marking the end of our week the way began it. This time asking help for our journey home, saying thank you for all that has taken place, and to borrow from the author Anne Lamott, "WOW!" She describes "WOW" as the prayer we make when we feel that unexpected flash of grace … proof that we are not dulled to wonder.
Your hands, hearts and feet in Kenya,
Kathy, Marcos, Julie, John, Dixie, Greg, and Debbie
[Photo taken before the meeting began as extra chairs were added]
[Parents beginning to register for the General Meeting]
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