Celebration Day; Our last day with the Artists

As always, this is a great and hard day and today was no different except it just feels more fantastic each year.

We got to the school early so to meet with the Principal Beatrice to have our closing meeting and discussed the possibility of Kuona Trust coming monthly and providing like a art "In session" for the students, talked about storing the art supplies, a debrief and a new idea, The Graduate Institute. Beatrice continually is amazed at the work of the students and really demonstrates her excitement and support. She gives us so much trust, support and latitude to make this all happen. The ingredients that make this a success are all the support and welcoming of us and us asking what is OK to do and not to do. This has been wonderful.

We each set up our rooms for celebration and the form 3 and 4 were ready to celebrate, be rewarded and look at art. We each had hung art and looked at the pieces with our students and it just seemed so awkward to hear them so maturely talk of the art, its meaning, what they feel like with it and how they approach it. They have become truly immersed in their art and it makes both Margaret and I pleased to see that this is part of who they are now. Today, Thom Ogonga of Kuona Trust came and took in the class and it was so wonderful to see his reaction to the students. He really loves working with students and art so it is so appropriate that not only as an artist but as part of the administration of the Kouna Trust, this is his role. The students received their certificates with pride, had their soda, ginger snaps and cookies and milled around, danced to music, sang to me, loved on Margaret, said beautiful things to us and made us feel like we had been over paid for lack of a better term from them. We get so much from this.

My form 2 class, came to the form 4 class so they could get their supplies and art to prepare for celebration. They hung their work and waited patiently for their time of celebration and we looked at their art, gave out certificates, had snacks and celebrated. The interesting thing is that they have 2 more years and they are already on this great path and direction that will mean that as they develop, they will continue to hone their skill, express themselves and by doing so, become even greater artists. They were happy and excited and said they could not wait to see me next year.

Prior to the celebration of form 1 celebration, Margaret had to practically kick out the form 3's since she had her celebration in the same room. The form 1 class who seems like a higher caliber student at that age, are ready to be truly the next big artists of St. Al's. Although my form 4 class is really talented, I cannot wait to see what Margaret's' form 1 class will be producing in three more years.

Form 3 made Margaret a video which I am sure she is watching as I am writing this, we each got wonderful well wishes from our students, a few cards and excitement of what they have accomplished and what is to come.

All in all, a day of absolute perfection. At the end of the day, we went to meet Anne Wangari at the Norfork Hotel for a celebratory dinner. This is the original colonial establishment of Kenya and has recently been redone. It was absolutely beautiful and a nice way to end this years visit. Tomorrow, we leave late in the evening and will have a day of fun. We will take the Georgetown Grad Students to see the elephants at Sheldrick. This is an elephant rescue that is so much fun. All should see. We will do what ever last minute running around we need to do before we depart Nairobi.

As I reflect on today, I just realize that it continues to become more apart of our lives and reality that we are in Kenya as part of who we are. As I say often, I do not think Margaret and I would never have imagined that our art backgrounds would ever lead us to making a difference in Kenya. I am so glad it has. It has made a difference in us and in the smart, beautiful and important artists that we are so lucky to have as part of our lives.

There may be one last post trip entry and surely more photos. Thank you for being with us on this trip and indulging us by reading these blog entries. Knowing that so many of you share our interest and passion is enough to help spur us on stateside as well as here in Nairobi. As I type this Ghana is winning their match and I can hear households across the valley cheering. Just imagine the impact it would have on Africa if Ghana won the world cup. Today it was equated to Obama winning the presidency for the Kenyan People.

Much Gratitude and look forward to seeing you soon,

Charles and Margaret

Last Day of Class, Frank Lloyd Wright and wow

So as always, the last day classes really ends up feeling a bit like a race. We go and prep for the celebration day by making certificates, buying soda and ginger snaps and getting all this so we do not need to run around on the last day worrying about it. Well, the Franco stand in, was late. Franco had meetings that came up at his day job were they called him back from vacation which meant they took our Franco away. He is great.

We went to Nakumatt, Margaret went off to pick up some things she had made, I got our certificates done, she gathered our celebration supplies,we got to visit with Ken Okoth for coffee at none other than Nairobi Java, and then all of a sudden it was 3:20.... The race was worth it to arrive 7 minutes before classes started because of Ken. This person is one phenomenal human. From Kibera, college educated in the states, grad school at Georgetown, former teacher at Potomac School in DC, started the Children of Kibera foundation, started the Red Rose Primary School that we usually get to teach at but time has prevented us this year, and is now a director at the University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. Wow....He is so joyous and so affirming that we are doing the right things in Nairobi in our art program. We raced to school and once there, it felt like the sky cleared and the reason we are there is so in front of us and the work we are doing is so worth while..... The Smart, Beautiful and Important Students of St. Al's.

Today was the day to deliver the presentation of Frank Lloyd Wright as architect/artist. We had been waiting for the projector and computer with External Modem etc all week. We set it up, took nearly half an hour to no avail. For some reason the presentation would not stream over the principals laptop and now the students were chomping at the bit because they really wanted to see it. Luckily I had my 6 year old Powerbook 12 inch computer and they all wanted to see it, so we all gathered around this little screen, listened carefully with rapt attention and I saw amazement. It was overwhelming to watch these students watch the world unfold through Frank Lloyd Wright. Having been a fan and admirer and now an absolute follower of FLW, watching the form 4 class get overtaken by his creations, made me sit back and catch my breath. The concept of all his beautiful work and then watching them realize the house, as someone in the class said "lives on a waterfall" was unreal. Then they making ow and ahh connects on the interior, etc. Then when I gave them all post cards, they were overwhelmed. They said to me, "this is for me, I can keep this", you realize how so little goes so far. Since I had recently done a residency Insight Onsite program in May at Fallingwater, I also shared my pictures and they loved them. They said, "why are you in the photo" how did you get there, like it was unattainable and that's when I again had the realization how much is not attainable for not just my art students but so many in the world. It made me become reflective. They loved it, they loved it....Thank you Lynda Waggoner, Vice President and Director of Falling Water and Justin Gunther, Curator of Fallingwater for sharing this privileged presentation and providing the post cards. These are new friends of mine from my visit to Fallingwater. So little makes such a huge impact. This presentation was presented in Brno, Czech Republic in April on a website. The volcano prevented Lynda from attending in person so they made the presentation available remotely as we did the same today in Nairobi, Kenya. Thank you, they loved it and there is something very funny to me. As I was leaving the school, I was looking at all the railing around the school and if I did not know better, the new school looks like Frank Lloyd Wright had been there. I will share photos later. After this, the form 4 class got to work doing everything from water color to charcoal in their newly freed style. Some even did FLW inspired work. I am so very proud. Today, they were singing to my Glee sound tracks, yes, don't laugh and working away, they nearly needed to be throws out 15 minutes late today.

With my form 2 class that usually starts at 5:15 wanted to start at 4:15. They are fiercely independent, came in, took their supplies, asked for the key to their room, set up and asked when I might be by to provide instruction. Kelvin informed me that I need not rush because they had lots of work to do on their art. Off they went and did their work. When I went to work with my form 2 class, they were diligently doing more work, focused on their painting or drawing, clearly took in and heard every thing I had to say when I read about more artists bios today. This group has been with me since they were form 1 and are developing as they should, steadily. There is not one that is sticking out like in other classes, but there is lots of talent.

Margaret's classes are just producing in a way she or I did not expect. Her form 3 class which she has been with from the start still need more focus and maturity but they are diligent and some of their work is really overwhelming. The shapes, the figures, the colors, Saisi Wycliffe continues to amaze. He totally gets color and does not get it at all and that combination results in some really beautiful art. He reminds me of Gauguin.

The work that her form 1 class does demonstrates more potential then any of our other classes did their first year. They are focused, quiet, and productive and damn good. They went from drawing to filling in their work with color today without direction. They listen to Margaret like she might be delivering the state of the union or that she is the second coming of Christ and She (The irony, oh the irony) is delivering the message they need to hear. She is mother incarnate to them and they really respond. It is so warm and charming to see and they really are producing.

The end of our day always culminates in Margaret and I walking through our classes together commenting on the artist's work. She walks in and we go through all the art and comment and we have such pride in the work that they are doing. We walked down the steps of the school today and looked at each other and said, wow, that was the last day of teaching for the third year. Margaret said something that I have thought about since she said it, "at the end it always feels like they are just getting started" and she is right. It feels like that every year. The thing I think we both find great comfort in is that this is just the beginning and then they get to work from the inspiration of these two weeks until we return next year.

Something came to me today....My form 4 class came to me when they were form 2's. This means that they will not get a full 4 years of the curriculum like all the students since they started as form 2 in the Art Immersion program. There is also a year between the end of secondary school and the start of higher education. I have committed to them that we will start the Graduate institute for Art Immersion that will bridge them between high school and college. In 2011, the Graduate institute will get the same curriculum that Art 4 will be delivered to Form 4, but subsequent years will get something that is outside of the 1 through 4 curriculum. This is so exciting and great. They want it and we can bring it. I am sure that we can do it at St. Al's, but if not, Kouna Trust would love it if we did this type of work with them. We have options.

Tomorrow is a big day. Not only is it celebration day, certificates get handed out, soda drank, ginger snaps eaten and art looked at but Thom who heads up school programs at Kouna Trust is coming to visit and he is bring Isaac Miriri who is an art correspondent for the news to accompany him. This is exciting. They might get press yet.

The reason that I have not attached more pictures is because it is difficult and time consuming using the stick modem. I will make sure to load the blog up and send it out one last time when I return to DC.

I hope that you have or will experience the absolute fulfillment that Margaret and I get out of this aspect of our lives. It is powerful, tangible and makes a difference. I never knew that we would be helping out Kenyans by providing them a venue to express themselves through art and art immersion. We feel so lucky.

One last Blog entry tomorrow.

On behalf of Margaret and I, thank you for being on this journey with us. It means so much.

Be well.

Charles and Margaret

The art is in the air

Can I say, I feel like Margaret and I are really so lucky to be doing this work here in Kenya. We looked at each other today at the end of our day with the thought, it is almost over. It is almost done, a third year complete.

Well, we went downtown (which is where you go to buy art supplies) at Sarat Center to get more nice paper at the Text Book Centre. Due to when our classes take place, we have been in constant commuter traffic and it is not fun at all. It has been really hard and sometime we think we might be late for our classes but we always pull it off. Today when I got to class, I just continued to watch the form 4 class unfold even more than yesterday. I asked today why it took me to tell them to go out side of the line, be a little uncomfortable, do things in your art that you have never done and they gave a very clear answer. One, the work that they have seen over the times that we have shown them mostly, not totally, were pictures that were recognizable as a content of some sort. Even the Cubism, etc. They also thought there work had to be recognizable by others and tell a story and did not necessarily see it as a story that you get to see when you look at art. They seem like they have been freed....The art that they are making and creating is over the top amazing....it makes me proud and they are feeling free to be in their art. In my form 4 class today we moved past Classical music to Michael Jackson and Pop and they loved it. They danced, the laughed and all while they intensely did the art that they are so passionate about.

Surprisingly, my form 2 class came early and wanted to start right away, so I set them up in another room. They are very independent and they love to do their work. They are very connected to their work and they seem so content to repeat and repeat and repeat which is really what helps artist become more skilled and then give them freedom and watch out.

Margaret's classes are robust and creative. The form 3 class are using colors and forms and shapes and scenes that are just beautiful. You would so enjoy them. She has been with this class three years and she has watched them go from rowdy freshman to maturing Juniors....They still have one more year and they will continue to mature. Margaret so handles their idiosyncrysies and they respond to her tone and control of the class. The difference between form 3 and 4 is the real maturity that happens in a year. It is visible. My guys can be alone and focused, form 3 need to be lead still and Margaret has brought up a good set of students.

Her form 1 class is a very different temperament and they have really gotten the drawing bug and have demonstrated the most still in all our classes yet for drawing. They got it, they like, they want it and they continue to flourish. There portraits and faces and shadings are amazing. In all our classes, we never saw this. They also hang on her every word.

After class we went to Kouna Trust for Cyrus Kabiru's exhibit called C-stunners which is an exhibit of eye glasses made into art. Once I get the write up in email, I will share it, there wa wonderful inspiration for this art. amazing. We each had bought a pair of glasses as art and they are so cool. We also met the head of the Kouna Trust, Danda Jaroljmek. She was engaged by the art of our students, the partnership of the trust with us and the potential of coming to meet us and others in the US. She would like to find a way to engage the students of St. Al's regularly. It was just wonderful to also be meeting the arts community in Nairobi. We also bought art from and visited with Fred Abuga, another great artist we met at Kouna Trust. All the people there are so nice and gracious and engaging and well, just good people to know.

Tomorrow is our last day of class and then Friday is celebration day. We give out certificates, we eat ginger snaps, drink soda and talk about our art. The difference this time, is the head of School programs, Thom, from the Kouna Trust is going to come visit us with a Isaac Miriri, free lance art correspondent to see the work of our students. They will be so excited.

Hope all is well, thanks for following us.

Charles and Margaret

The School feels like it has a soul

Another beautiful day in Nairobi and off to pick a few things at the market and then to school. Every time I walk into the place, it feels like more that just a school that students come to learn, it feels like a place filled with soul. The movement of the students, the voices, the feelings, the impacts, the learning and the development. It feels like it has a soul to me.

Today was suppose to be more of a lecture day with our primary topic being Frank Lloyd Wright. The projector for the laptop was not available so we went into painting instead. My first class is forms 4 and they are skillful painters and have really perfected the narrative of the Kibera slum and the Kenyan experience and some of the many scenes that we have educated them on. Today after realizing that they have achieved a high level of skill level at this point in their ability to paint these scenes, it made me realize that they are just continuing to do the same things, just better. After an hour, I spoke to them about how well they have done, how much they have learned and how similar it all looks. All good things, then I employed them to consider breaking out of their box, feeling uneasy while they paint, doing something that is not representative of what they have perfected but to break out. I also made them aware that they are smart beautiful and important and that comes with responsibilities to be more than just what they had already achieved. There was not a bit of love for me after that speech. I could tell that they were really not wanting to hear that I wanted them to be different. So I gave them another hour in class and said, "knock yourselves out" see you in an hour and with the many other classrooms available took my forms 2 class to another room for history and their drawing lessons. They are always quiet, amenable and attentive and are very good at drawing. It was a good class. When I returned to forms 4, it was like they had had a breakthrough. It was phenomenal. There were Rothko's and Pollacks and all these unique and FREE styles and they all seemed unconstrained. I asked them what they are feeling, and they all said it felt freeing. It nearly brought tears to my eyes. Art makes a difference in people's lives and it makes a difference in theirs and ours. The proof is in this art, their attitudes and their perspectives. I could hardly believe my eyes and when Margaret walked in, she looked at me and said, they had a breakthrough. This is what faculty must feel like when they have made a difference. Every time I have these moments, the first person that comes to mind is Professor Tony Arend. A dear friend, neighbor and colleague. He helps students have breakthroughs all the time. I can tell. He makes me have a breakthrough when we have intense conversations. Thank you for inspiring me Tony.....

Margaret's classes are doing well and they are working diligently and are working in wonderful colors and particularly Siasi Wycliffe. And why shouldn't he be using great colors with a rock star artist name like Saisi Wycliffe. Who does not want a name like that! I do...... The Form 1 class she has is great at really being focused unlike her first form 1 in 2008 and the form 3 class is motivated and maturing. They really love Margaret's demeanor and really look up to her. She is definitely a model teacher and is focused and direct and open and they all clammer for her attention.

After class we met up with our friend Anne Wangari and Sarah, Jamie and Consuelo form the Georgetown Masters in Conflict Resolution program for a nice dinner at Talisman. It was wonderful and the women may join Anne in Dadaab for a women's conference in July. This was a good connection. It helps to be related to the Kenyan Anne Wangari. She is so wonderful and a world of help.

We have 2 more days of art class left and one day of celebration and then we leave Nairobi on Saturday. I cannot believe it has moved so fast. It feels great to be here and I am inspired every day by the students and the amazing Kenyan people that we have connected with.

Assante Sana (thank you very much) for joining us on this Journey.

Charles and Margaret

It is definitely a village

Well the weekend was great. Saturday Studio at the school, good turn out for 3 hours of studio time, a little rest at Pedro Arrupe and then Anne Wangari arrived from Dadaab and we spent the evening into Sunday together. Off to mass the Nyumbani Home with Sr. Mary and Anne while Margaret stayed home and had time to her self. I have to say, if mass was like it is at Nyumbani every where, I think church would be filled regardless of your faith tradition. The kids make the mass. The kids take part, they dance, they sing and it is all about them. What a great mass and it was nice to see all the kids and also old friends like Loite who is from the DC area and hosts these KEST (Kenyan Education Service Trips) and dear friends of mine, the Vicas Family, will be going on one in August with there kids. After Mass, hung out at Pedro Arrupe and then went and took the art exhibit down and then to dinner. It was a nice Sunday.

Today, Monday, started at 6:15am on a road trip to Katui which is where the Nyumbani Village is located. The village house 663 aids orphan children and 64 grandparents that care for these kids, either as their maternal grandparents or newly connected. This place is great. Homes made of brick that interlocks, schools that are amazing, a clinic, a guest house, agriculture, sustainability, you name it and it was there. I was so impressed. As a Nyumbani Board Member, my feeling of pride for this organization just grew ten fold. Sr. Mary Owens is also a rock star for leading this to the place it is today.

The model is grandparents, and kids in a home and 4 homes in a block. It is wonderful. I believe there are 16 blocks. The melia trees are amazing and they are the what in the future will sustain the village. The melia is like a mahogany that can be harvested for hard wood furniture. There are a 100 acres of it and it is growing well. The farms and the livestock were also so well cared for and the areas so clean, Nickolas was also wonderful as he has major oversight of the village and the grandmothers and the children were great. They speak little to no english but it all works out. The school again, was over the top.

We promptly left the village at 1pm to return to Nairobi to teach our 4:15 classes and we got back with time to spare. When you are on a schedule with Sr. Mary, you are sure it will be kept.

Teaching was low key and rewarding and at 6:15 off to dinner with Anne. The three of us reflected on our day and then went home. I am exhausted and am about to fall asleep but if I did not get this out, I might loose sight of some of the details.

Be well and we appreciate you being on this journey with us.

Charles and Margaret

Art Exhibit at the Kouna Trust Centre for Visual Arts

Friends and Family,

We are exhausted and all I can say is that I cannot sleep until I share our great experience. Today we started off going to pick up so final pieces of art that our Form 4 class wanted to finish overnight for the show. I popped out of the van to go into the Principal Beatrice office where the art was waiting for me. She and another faculty member Bernard said that now that they have continued to see this talent, their are questioning is they should not be appealing the Ministry of Education to have Art be a part of their core curriculum. I was speechless and in a hurry because Margaret and I needed to "hang the show" at Kouna Trust. To think that our art program may change the format of the curriculum for St. Al's. I cannot believe it.

So off we went, grabbed lunch quickly and Margaret and I had our work cut out for us. We had a show to hang which based on Margaret's experience was going to be her gig. She basically laid out all the art in the gallery group it together and while she was doing this, I was creating and working with the Kouna Trust head of School Programs to create the program that would be distributed and get the names on the paper for the art work so there was recognition of the students art.

We were done by 4:30m the exhibition was to take place at 6:30pm. It was great. We looked at each other and were happy that we did it. They asked us one last time if we were done and then they closed the gallery so to clean it and not open it til time to show. This piece of professionalism was interesting and well received. We hung out and had some of the food that was prepared for the reception in advance of the arrival of our 60 students and administrators and guest and took it all in. This was the real deal and great to see not only how important this is to our students and us, but how important it was to Thom at Kouna Trust to make this go well. Margaret changed into a delightful outfit, I put on a bowtie and a sports coat and we were set.

Well, then their is Kenyan Time and traffic. The bus left the school at 5pm to arrive across town at 6:30pm and they arrived at 7:05. Oh well.....The traffic during commute time is horrible and then add Friday to the equation and it is really bad. While we waited, one of our guest arrived, Sr. Mary Owens, the Executive Director of Nyumbani home which is the AIDs orphanage in Kenya. I am on the Board of Directors of this organization and first meet Mary on the trip in 2007. It was great that she came to support and she loved it.

The students showed and all was well. The students, faculty and staff came from the bus and walking on the grounds taking it all in and in a fashion that we created three years ago insisted on shaking the hands of both Margaret and I as they entered. We started this the first year where we would stand outside our class and greet each student by shaking their hand and they still do it with us three yeas later. As they filled the gallery there was all this noise and excitement and picture taking and oohhhs and ahhhhs and asking the principal to come look at this or to have a picture taken with their work. It was a buzz I had never seen before. I was in heaven, shocked, internally emotional and pleased. I looked over and in a mere glance at Margaret, I could tell she was experiencing the exact same thing. We had felt like the work that we came to do with this program had been realized. I was and am still in shock.

Margaret asked me to represent us and do a speech and I did. I enjoyed being able to thank them for all that they do to make such great art and to remind them that the whole reason that we come each year is to be with these smart, beautiful and important people that we are are some clearly fond of. In true Kenyan fashion, immediately following my speech the power went out.

I laughed outload and things just carried on. People were taken pictures in the dark, people we eating food outside and walking around enjoying themselves and did not even care that the power was out. We were convening with one another celebrating artists and sharing their body of work that they put together this week to hang. Impressed and proud does not truly capture the feelings that Margaret and I feel but its all I can come up with.

As we were all gathered eating food, drinking soda and wine for adults and taking in the event, Sarah, Jamie and Consuelo all from of the Masters in Conflict Resolution program at Georgetown University showed up. It was great. I explained that the power went out, we grabbed a candle and toured them through the show. They loved it and all the students loved them. They grabbed wine and took it all in and hung out with the students. It was just great. It has been nice to share this with so many people that we are connected with in DC and especially for me with reference to Jamie who was an intern in the Presidents office and worked with me for almost a year on the Georgetown Africa Interest Network (GAIN).

As we loaded the bus to return the student/artist home, the light came back on....As always, nothing goes as you expect in Kenya. We all laughed. The few things that came out of this was that Thom and Patrick of Kouna Trust are committed to partnering with us on this annually and I believe in the coming years, art will be part of the official curriculum at St. Al's.

On our drive home, the principal Beatrice, Bernard and John, faculty members, drove with us because they do not live in Kibera which is where the bus was returning the students. I thanked Beatrice and them for coming and allowing us to deliver this program. Beatrice looked at me and said, "we should be thanking you. The sacrifice you and Margaret make is what makes this a success". Not once in the three years of delivering this program would I have characterized any element of this as a sacrifice. None of it. I asked Margaret and she said not at all. Maybe we have to work here with the program and still tend to our responsibilities at Georgetown or have difficulty scheduling to get away, but sacrifice, not at all. I call this a gift we are given. We get as much out of this as the students do, and maybe on somedays, more.

We have Saturday Studio from 9am to noon or I would be posting pictures with this blog tonight, more to come.

Be well,

Charles and Margaret

It just gets better and better

Today started off with the wonderful voice of Deborah Moijoi nocking on my door of the guest house I am staying in at the Pedro Arrupe Center, the same place we have stayed 2 of the last 3 years of the art program and the first visit in 2007 with the Georgetown Kenya Group.

It feels like home here and Deborah is part of coming home to Pedro Arrupe and Nairobi, and now part of coming home will be Joseph, her new beautiful son who is 7 months old. He is just beautiful and has captured my heart. Wow, and if he does not look like a Moijoi, who does he look like. Having been to Deborah's home multiple times, I know what her sisters, mom and dad and nephews look like and boy is he from this family-You shall see.

Today was the last day for the Georgetown Kenya 2010 Group being here on the same property and so Margaret and I had lunch with them at the Vernadah and dinner with them at Talisman. It was such a wonderful addition to have Georgetown friends here in addition to just Margaret and I. It was an honor to be included in their meals where possible and really want to thank Phil for always being so inclusive and making it feel like the community Georgetown is regardless if you are in Washington, Qatar, or in this case, Nairobi.

We were off and running today at school and I am pleased to say that we have the art work we need for the Art Exhibit. It is the real deal... Tomorrow we open an Art Exhibit, with a reception and an introduction and the press and 58 from St. Al's, 54 students and 4 administrators. Can you believe it???? I can't.

Today in class, the art students showed up 1/2 hour early for both Margaret and I. I did not questions why they were so early and not in another class, just glad they were there and ready. The Forms 4 class, mine, were spectacular. So focused, so quiet and so engrossed in creating great work. I was pleased. We were listening to Classical again and Castro, one of the artist, said to me "its beautiful but not very interesting...", I said that I was more interested in him being connected with creating his art and not distracted by the music, his response....good point... We walked away with a bunch of art and lots to do tomorrow to "hang" this show as they might say in the industry... Thank God Margaret spent 12 years teaching art and hung student shows each year for all that time.

Margaret's class has been amazing and they created some really different and wonderful pieces. They are talented. Her forms 1 class hangs on her every word and it is great to see how attentive they are. We looked at each other today and still can't believe how well they take to art education. They get it, they get it, they get it.... Wow, I wish we had more to give.

So tonight at dinner with the gtown group was fun and they were in a bit of frenzy to make it to the airport on time, etc. I get it. Large group type reservations sometimes have complexities....We came a little late, they left we finished and had a desert that we split and talked about how rewarding it is. How familiar and regular it feels to be in Kenya and how nice it is to be teaching (something I have never done professionally and Margaret had for 12 years) students that want to be taught. How receptive the whole place feels to us and the concept of being here and how nice it is that we are expected back. The work is hard, rewarding, restorative, refreshing, reflective and motivating for us. We get so much out of what seems like so little we are giving. I am thrilled and can't believe that as hard as it feels to scrap ourselves away from our normal lives, that we get to be here doing something that has so much to give for our artist and for us.

It is all about reciprocity....It is all about relationships, it is all about sharing your passions, it is all about going outside of your comfort zone, it is all about taking chances, it is all about doing the unexpected and it is all about believing in yourself and knowing that we have all of you that believe in us too.

The next blog entry will be about the Art Exhibit at the Kouna Trust Center for Visual Arts.....

Thank you for your support and being on this journey with us.

Charles and Margaret