Sharing Oral Poetry and Issues in Kenyan Communities

INS Castell d’Estela (Amer) | May 22, 2019

Wednesday, 22 May 2019 , Olot

Sharing Oral Poetry and Issues in Kenyan Communities

Sharing Oral Poetry and Issues in Kenyan Communities

We arrived at INS Castell d’Estela high school in Amer to cheers and applause from students. Nothing was formal and this made students to express themselves freely as though they had known us for years. While my friend and musician, Monique Mizrahi, played guitar and discussed much about artivism, I presented oral poetry from my community, the Abagusii people of Kenya. I sung and chanted five oral poems and translated them to students. They were glad that they were able to learn new things from oral poetry of a far way community in Western Kenya of 1 million people. They asked questions about marathon in Kenya, about Barack Obama whose parents came from Kenya, about students whom I teach, about the state of football in Kenya, etc. Questions were endless and it was all full of excitement, laughter and cheers. We had to spend four hours in order to satisfy the students.

After we finished, students jostled to take position for photo-taking with us. Some exchanged contacts with us, while some wanted to hold our hands not wanting to let us go. It was a warm experience, one to etch itself in our memory for a long time to come.

As we were leaving students suggested that it was a good idea that they should mentor and exchange ideas with students in Kenya. They also asked for my teen award-winning novel, Sabina and the Mystery of the Ogre, a copy of which I have already given to their teacher, Miquel Jimenez, to take to them.

The visit to IES Castell d’Estela high school, the experience we had with students and the hospitality of their humble teachers, is indescribable, is unforgettable.

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