The Chapel at St. John’s University is home to the Kikuyu Parrish and the wonderful Revival choir. I was able to sit in on a choir practice as they rehearsed for the Sunday Swahili service. They rehearse from about 4:00 to 6:30 twice a week. The singing includes movement which is choreographed by the women. The blonde woman is a CMS missionary from the UK. Her husband is a professor here at SJUT and they have two very cute small boys one a little over two and the other five! Before Children, Christine and Paul spent several years in a village in Tanzania, they both speak fluent Swahili, and Christine sang and danced with the choir then as well! I am amazed and impressed with her talent and courage! She holds her own! She and her husband are just beginning an “Alpha” class in Swahili through the Parrish and reaching out to the students. The class just filled yesterday and will start in the next few weeks, what an answer to many prayers.
The young woman is the purple shirt is so fun to watch, I wish you could see her sing and dance, she seem to lead the movements and set the tone all very intuitively. The children you see in the picture with the guitars are just part of it, if feeding is required, the mother just sits and nurses the baby, if they want to sleep, they are placed in a cloth (A Kitenge (Ka-tang-a) is a piece of fabric: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitenge it is used as an outer covering and the fabric is also used to make tops and skirts, headdress, lots of baby slings! Kanga is also fabric but has a border, pictures and often words. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanga_%28African_garment%29 ) on the back life goes on! Singing, dancing so natural.
The man with the guitar in the front row, William, is the choir director and song writer/musician. What a gift! The Chapel will be hosting the election of the new Archbishop of Tanzania this week, we are so blessed to have the current Archbishop as the Chancellor of the University and for this to be the venue of his transition. In honor of this, William is writing two new songs! I can’t wait to see what the Lord bring to life through his gifts!
