The Happy Life Story, by Sharon Emecz

   

I came across this gem of a book written by the wife of one of my publishers. For anyone who wonders what one person or family can do to make a difference in a troubled world, this little book opens a door to possibilities. Happy Life, a children’s home in the suburb of Kasarani in Kenya, Nairobi, rescues abandoned children and finds adoptive homes for them. 

Happy Life started as the brain child of two couples: Sharon and Jim Powell in Delaware, USA, and Peter and Faith Kamau in Nairobi. Both Jim and Peter were pastors, and met through Peter’s brother who had attended a retreat in the U.S., where he met Peter. The program has a three-pronged approach: rescuing children and finding adoptive homes for them; providing a Christian based education that meets their needs according to age; and a hospital, since many of the children come to Happy Life with medical problems related to their abandonment.

The beginnings of Happy Life were small: five children in the Kamau home, 2001, but now it has expanded to two sites in Kenya – Kasarani and, close by, Juja Farm. In 2017, the combined total of children at the two sites was 101. In between those years, as children have been found, cared for and adopted out, 300 had been adopted. Since not every child gets adopted right away (some can take years), Happy Life commits to care for these children until they become adults. School now goes through high school and includes training for life skills, and at Juja Farm, the church and schools are open to the local community. They also have a garden and a bakery.

Funding depends on donations from churches, individuals, businesses, some foundations, but there is no government funding. They have a paid staff, but volunteers also come from all over the world with teaching and nursing skills, or a simple willingness to spend quality time with the children. Sponsors for individual children are also appreciated. The author discovered Happy Life on a short trip and loved the experience so much, she and her husband now spend a few weeks there each December. In his words, “These are some of the happiest children I’ve ever seen.”

The book is beautifully illustrated with photographs of the children, the schools and hospital and living accommodations, and the various neighborhoods, as well as wild life preserves in visiting distance. 

You can learn more about the program and opportunities at the Happy Life website.  

You can buy the book HERE

How about you? Do you do any volunteering anywhere? Do you ever get discouraged by today's news of bad happenings and wonder if there's something you can do to help?

Sorry So Sorry - An Arresting Collection of Poems

 I've been reading a lot of poetry lately (and writing it, too), and Sorry So Sorry, The Complete Collection, by Angie Outis, is a beautiful discovery, although a thread of sadness runs through all the poems. ("The Complete Collection" because parts of the book have been previously published as separate booklets. Now they are all together, tracing the course of the author's dissolving marriage.) Angie Outis is a pseudonym, for purposes of privacy, since these poems were written during the author's divorce.

             This lovely collection of 78 poems actually unfolds like a novella in verse. Each poem is connected to the one before and the one after, like pearls on a string. The language is elegant, yet simple; spare, but full to bursting with restrained emotion as the protagonist gradually awakens to the reality of her life. 

            The book opens on her 30^thbirthday, but her awakening actually began a year earlier when an outside incident with her husband revealed a violent streak. She has always been a dutiful wife and mother, following the precepts of her church: Women are obedient. They don’t question. A husband’s love is enough to cover any unease in the home life. He is the one who knows best. In her case, he’s also a leader in his church and community. 

            But is he as loving as she always thought? After visitors come to the house (no spoilers here) she also has to wonder if she even knows who he is. The poems throb with pain as they trace the insidious deterioration of the relationship. He is not loving. He is not kind. He’s a stranger. She’s afraid of him and makes plans to leave. Her inner strength grows—and grow it must, because friends, parents, and the church are against the choice she makes. (The title, Sorry So Sorry, highlights the guilt she feels for disrupting everyone’s life to find her own.)

            I especially appreciate how the author avoids pitfalls of melodrama or cliché. The wife’s journey progresses like an opening flower, showing how a once shrinking life can finally bloom.

You can learn more about the author and her other works on her Amazon author page HERE:

Thanks for stopping by.  Do you like to read poetry? If so, what kind? Free verse? Rhyme? And who is your favorite poet? Do you write poetry? If so, what kind? For adults? For children? 

A Few Last Fleeting Moments of Braga

These are mainly street events that captured our interest as we walked around Braga for three days. In addition to some street performers, there were locals all dressed up and walking around seeing the sights themselves. Then there were the school groups. Lots of them, although I only caught two of them here.

And a couple more performances of interest on stage. The first was dramatic. The second was a musical group.  I loved all the music that was going on.  

That ideal audience member performers appreciate!

I hope you've enjoyed these last scenes of Braga Romana. Which happenings

did you find the most interesting, performances or street scenes?

Braga Romana and Belly Dancing

       

      

A popular feature at the Braga Romana Festival is the belly dancing.  Last          

year when we went, we only saw one group                             perform. This year there was another group as well, a pair of dancers and two musicians. The first picture to the left is of the group we saw last year, Radiki, led by a cousin of the fadista (fado singer), Marisa da Rocha, we've been privileged to know. They danced to recorded music. The second picture is of the pair of belly dancers and their two musicians. They first danced solo and then danced together. We didn't see them last year, but then, so much was going on, we may have just missed them. Sadly, we didn't get their names. 

You might wonder at a connection between ancient Rome and belly-dancing. Well, it is thought belly-dancing (sometimes called "torso dancing") originated in Egypt, which was part of the Roman Empire, and spread to places like Turkey and Greece, also part of the Empire. So it merits inclusion in this wonderful festival, both historically, and for its beauty as an art form.  

It has an interesting history as depicting childbirth and being instructive for mothers-to-be rather than the rather provocative associations given it in cafes where patrons tuck money into a dancers bra. Here is a YouTube showing the beauty of this form of dance. This particular group is called Raksat Brazil, and they are performing in Dubai.

We were struck by how creative and graceful the performances we saw in Braga were. Enjoy the pictures below — first by Radiki, and then by the paired dancers. Each choreography was so unique, and again, so graceful:

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And then the other stage. 

First the lady in blue: 

Then the lady in red:

Then the two together:

 Don't you just love the costumes? And the use of the scarves?

Have you ever seen belly dancing? Do you enjoy dance performances? Modern? Ballet? Bollywood or the old Hollywood musicals? Hip Hop? Have you ever taken special dance lessons?

Roman Dancing Maidens at Braga Romana

As I mentioned in the earlier post about the military camp enactment, there were many performances going on all over the historic district (the main tourist center) in Braga. Many of them were dance performances. We especially liked this one: a beautifully choreographed dance in several sequences by four "Roman" maidens.

The dancing was accompanied by haunting music performed by three musicians who sang and played special instruments. The group's name is Dorahoag, and here is a YouTube site where you can hear the three men of the group play a very similar sounding piece of music. They create their own music in fusion with other music. Really wonderful.

Here you see two of the men from Dorahoag with a woman who is playing an instrument that — sadly — I can't name:

And then the marvelous dancers! You can see such grace in all their movements:

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There were other dance performances by belly dancers, which I will share in a later post.


How about you? Do you like dance performances? Do you like music that fuses more than one genre? What is your favorite music?