Watoto Wote Wazuri

Having departed from the Village and trying to squeeze in a blog post in the wee hours of the morning showed me the next day that my haste and weariness had caused me to upload the wrong, long unedited video clip talking about the event. I also neglected to upload the video about lighting the luminaries. Since this was one of those “you just had to be there” experiences, I really wanted people to experience a little bit of what it was like through the video clips. I am grateful to other people, particularly Justus, for providing me with photos and videos. I was so busy making sure that everything was going properly that I didn’t have an opportunity to use my cameras. It was a bit of a challenge to get all the luminaries lit and then we were all anxiously worried that some would go out before the mass was finished so filming wasn’t on my mind. Amazingly enough, everything went perfectly–all of the luminaries were lit despite lighters that were either not working or searing our fingers, a hefty wind that blew out matches as soon as they were lit, and luminary bags which required a lot of sand in the bottom to keep them from blowing over. It felt like a bit of divine intervention that it was perfect in the end.  So I am including here the correct video clips and wanted to add a couple of meaningful things that I neglected to mention.  In addition to lighting a luminary for my son Brendan, I also lit luminaries for several other mothers who have lost their sons and a close family friend who had lost his brother all under tragic circumstances. So I want to let those mothers know that I lit luminaries for Orlando H, Benjamin B, Jake H, Greg M. and George W. and that all of you were in my thoughts during those moments of silence as well. I also wanted to be sure to say that this first Day of Remembrance was held on Brendan’s birthday, the day that he would have turned twenty-four. This was the first of what will be annual Days of Remembrance which will hopefully over time play a role in the healing of the grief of the Nyumbani Village children and many others of us who have been impacted by grief and loss.

If you get this post by email, you should be able to click on the videos and be taken to the website to view them, but if you have trouble go directly to the my blog site and you can view them there.

REMARKS ON THE DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

LIGHTING OF THE LUMINARIES

We have been winding down the trip and spent the weekend going on safari in Ambocelli and Lake Nakuru and visiting the Kiambethu Tea Farm. I will have MANY wonderful photos to post from those adventures since we had very successful and exciting animal sightings.  I am now sitting in the airport in Nairobi typing after many tearful goodbyes that seem to get harder every year even though I can definitively say, “See you next year.”  So I will keep blogging some more of this trip to stretch it out and keep it actively in my heart as I return to life back at home which seems so much still like a distant time and world away.