Nothing goes to waste

You're lucky smells can't be blogged.

Where's Waldo?

After 2 weeks in Kenya and 2 DJ gigs in Isiolo, Erik is legitimately famous.

"Mzungu Mrefu" (Tall White Guy).

chai and mandazis = coffee and donuts.

Emmanuel (right) and Steven (2nd from left), after an early morning cup of chai. Steven's still sporting last year's trench coat, but he's here now, clear and present, having cut down on the glue. Back from the far away land of hallucinated lions and limousines, he gets the "Most Improved Street Kid" award. Things are looking up.

Episode 1: Back to the Frontier

Week 1 here. We let the pocket-cams roll as we cross through dimensions...

More coming soon.

Attir

The boys and girls of Attir- a Turkana village just outside of Isiolo- lead a far-out life. The boy on the right likely tends to a herd of goats or cattle, all alone, over hundreds of square miles. The girl on the left is probably 10 years old. The beads around her neck signify that she is engaged to be married. Life has been this way for the Turkanas for ages, but something is sending this generation to the city in droves.

Goat Town

Roughly one-half of the beings in Bulapesa are goats. This one is about 20 minutes old. As soon as Mama finishes the most nutritious meal she will ever eat, he'll take his first, wobbly steps.

Take me to the river...

Anneliese and Paul, telling a few stories under a giant Acacia.

The Mayors of Isiolo

Right to left are our friends Abdulrahman and Rosanna - who founded the Isiolo children's home "Fursa". We've become good friends. It's nice to have people to trust who know how to get things done around here. Sitting beside them is Kaome, taking down a liter of fresh camel yogurt. We met him last year the first morning he walked the streets of Isiolo. Thanks to Rosanna and Abdulrahman, he's now living at Fursa, showing signs of actually enjoying his childhood. Having returned to Isiolo, we're now able to see the effects of a year upon the former street-children at Fursa. For some, it's revolution.

Sokom Jinga

Sokom Jinga: "Crazy Market". A relatively safe place for a street kid to crash.

Reunions

This is Paul. He's 20 now. He lives on the Isiolo streets and is one of our main characters. Seeing him again, right where we met him a year ago, with the same old marketplace backdrop, was a beautiful moment. His normal, guarded cool broke wide open with genuine surprise and happiness to see us again.

with the Mutilyas

So this is the week 1 crew enjoying the hospitality of he Mutilya family, our first friends in Kenya. Not much has changed in their Bulapesa neighborhood. They did manage to route in some electricity, so while we eat Mama Musyoka's famous beans and chapati, we can watch some of Kenya's priceless music videos.

ONCE AGAIN...

Village Beat is back on their feet, tearing around the East African nation of Kenya, dust cleared from our eyes, hearts wide-open, and excitement pumping through every vein and cell as we dive back into the communities where we've discovered beloved friends and new family. We'll be updating The Indestructible Beat blog of our adventures for the next few months, so stay tuned and please don't hesitate to join in to the beat with your stories and ideas! It takes community to be immune to the system!
We've also got our website up and rolling, so to find out more about Village Beat and our documentary film, Tough Bond (working title) go to www.villagebeat.org!
love love love love and asante