Running away with circus

I feel like if 4 months ago I have disappeared and teleported to completely different planet!

Where was I?

What have I been doing?

What sucked me in so much that I've forgotten about my prior life?

The answer is simply in a single word CIRCUS.

I was locked down in my small apartment during quarantine time, getting a bit depressed already with the heaviness of loneliness and lack of purpose, having nightmares about being unable to travel. Suddenly, I received an e-mail saying "We would like you to join our team called Circus Space Pirates that is going to spread circus in public spaces of Berlin". My reaction was a mixture of amazement, excitement and disbelief. After two months of sitting at home I got an opportunity to finally start doing some meaningful actions again! I decided to leave Poland as soon as it was possible and literally RUN AWAY WITH CIRCUS. That decision led to an ongoing adventure of social circus work, blending into fast life in Berlin, becoming part of a new community and learning a lot about myself and human relations.

Before I even noticed I became part of a

volunteering group in Cabuwazi Social Circus that is now my new international family. The summer months we spent on organising events on the streets and in educational centers during which children and their parents could taste a little bit of juggling, hooping, spinning poi or staff and being surrounded with smiley people encouraging them to play, dance and simply enjoy life at this unique moments. We gathered thousands of smiles and hopefuly we awakened in some children the desire to practice circus more often :D

Circus Space Pirates team on a Spielstrasse action

The job of a street entertainer is quite peculiar. It requires even more energy than organised circus events where children are coming especialy to take part in your workshops or to see your show. In public space, where colorful toys are an unexpected possibility to play, we as Pirates have to face an enormous amount of flying objects, running small humans of all ages, shouts and inconsistancy of the crowd. Sometimes you find a todler left by his parents, eating your juggling ball, being completely cowered with face paint. Sometimes you get sucked for an hour into simple game of children throwing rings on your arm. All that is at the end just beautiful, because of the uniqueness of the circus atmosphere. 

During dozens of activities that we run this summer I rediscovered the power of throwing and catching, how it can become the best game ever for you and your child, for a group of children, for adults too. The street actions reminded me how easy it is to make people smile, laugh and feel satisfied with themselves.

These sunny months of colorful chaos helped me to write a recipe for creating a playfull connection:

1. pick a friend or two

2. choose any object/toy/instrument

3. check how you can interact using your toys, GET CREATIVE

4. keep smiling and laugh at the failure

5. challenge each other

This is highly recommended to try at home, in the park, on the street. Remember - you can play everywhere! 

Here are linkt to our websites, check it to know more! : https://cabuwazi.de/ Circus Space Pirates fb

How reality shapes the mindset

Spending time in Kenya forced me to change my way of perceiving the world. The conditions and culture that were so different from what I know forced a new understanding of life in my head. I would like to describe some lifestyle aspects and culture differences that create Kenyan reality and how through getting to know it we can be slightly closer to understanding Kenyan people.

FOOD&WATER ISSUE
It is not fully true that there is no food in Africa. Some countries, like Kenya that are in the equatorial climate zone are the most green places that we can imagine and plants are growing there all the year. Seeds sprout in few days when wattered and after few months you can harvest already. Fruits like mango, papaya, banana, avocado, custard apple and passion fruit are growing freely everywhere which places this country on the top of my list :D Although, it is true that people are hungry and thirsty but it is money issue. What I've noticed is that Kenyans have mastered eating and drinking very little at the same time keeping their body fit and strong. I've heard from my friends who train acrobatics and dance in Nairobi, that they usually eat one or two meals a day, without lunch. I was wondering: how is this possible to exercise for so many hours without food and still have so much of fiery energy? For them, lack of food and water is so common that it doesn't stop them from being active and as my friend Mike said "When you eat a lot, your body gets heavy and lazy, so it is better to eat little". Hard living conditions are explained to create a "healthier" lifestyle, this is what I call surviving abillity! And I have to admit, Kenyans are inbelievably strong and fast and they seem to be build only of muscles. To be honest, the westerners are the ones that are eating much to much food in comparison to how much we actually use the energy during the day.

photos from the farm next to Nanyuki where I volunteered

"PRIMITIVE BEHAVIOURS"

          I really don't like this expression as it has negative marking but this is exactly how people would describe eating with your hands or squatting in the toilet which are just normal in Kenya and many other countries. When I was living with my african family on the island I was often said to "use my five spoons" which after a while became my only way of eating. It might seem grose but there is so much logic in it! First of all, locals claim that using cutlery creates a barrier between them and their food. I can understand that as it is similar to walking barefoot. Just remember this liberating feeling when you take off your shoes and step on soft fresh grass :)  It gives so much more to the meal if you can feel the texture and  temperature also with your fingers. Not only it creates the connection, but also you avoid getting your tongue burned as you can feel the heat before putting the food in your mouth. Another reasonable point of not using cuttlery is lowering the amount of things to wash. How smart is that? Especially, if you have 6 or more children, which in Kenya is just right or even not enough. Eating with your hands also forces keeping the hygiene more - hands are being washed very carefully before and after each meal.

         I appreciate so much that many Kenyans cultivate this part of traditon, not letting the western way of living sneek to deep into their reality. They know that their ancestors knew better and they follow it as it still fits their reality. "Cuttlery free" mindset shows the african closer connection with their surrounding.

pimpkin stuffed with sukuma (kale and tomatoes)

straight from the garden!

pumpkin bread made of our own ingredients

        This connection is visible also by letting the nature inside the house. Kenyans I've met are not affraid or disgusted with insects or bigger animals walking around their property. They accept other living creatures and give them permission to live, not appropriate all the space for themselves as they were kings of the world. 

        In one of the houses I was invited to in Kisumu, I had this situation: We were eating the dinner and I saw a mouse walking above the window in the kitchen. When I told about it to the family, I heard "yes, we know, so what?". I was amazed with this reaction as I would expect switching on some figthing and killing mode, but no. In the house on the Mfangano island we had two nests of paper wasps that are extremely dangerous, but we just accepted them, knowing that it is higly forbidden to get close to their home. There were some plans of getting rid of the nests but they weren't so urgent, because for three weeks at least no one took care of it and also no one got hurt.

          The same attitude worked with chickens entering the house and eating food leftovers. By living so close with nature those people shortened the distance between humans and animals. Even though they are mostly meat eaters, they have bigger respect to the animals, because they share the space with them and they observe animal's life at close range, which gives the opportunity to notice similarities to human's lives.

            

african paper wasp...

being hosted in a house with happy mouse

It seemed for me as if life in Kenya was less filled with fear than it is in western countries. As hunger, thirst and dangerous animals are commonplace, locals got toughen by their living conditions and they have learned how to overcome it and cooperate with it. Experiencing it made me rethink all the situations when people in my country are complaining or getting angry, sometimes even furious because the dinner is not ready or they didn't have time to get lunch... 

My biggest lessons connected with the issues I mentionted are:

- try eating less then you are use to

- get friendly with living creatures surrounding you (we don't have to kill each bug we see in our houses)

- decrease the amount of dishes to wash, use your hands when you can ( or try it some time just to check how it feels like).

         

Everyday Island Life

During my stay on Mfangano Island I was living with a local family that started the Wagego organisation that I was volunteering with. Their hospitality was noticeable from the first evening that we've spend together during which I already fell in love in their joyful attitude to life expressed with tones of laughs. I would like to describe here, as visualy as I can, the duties, rhythm, and feeling of everyday life on this paradise island. Sometimes I will just call it "Paradise" as it is the closest word to how I felt there :)

There was 5 of us - me, Mama Eunice, Father of the Family, David - one of 3 sons, the sponsor of Wagego, my main co-worker, Juliet - the youngest daughter who was 19 years old and Flora - 5-year old orphan that had been taken in few months before I came to visit them. We created a lovely team together!

Life in Paradise goes in the same rhythm everyday, slowly, without rush, a bit more organised than on the mainland but with less rules and expectations.

From one side there is always time to stop on the road to work or school and greet other members of community, chat a little bit, smile to each other. Everyone knows everyone. As David said once: "Even if I see someone coming in the darkness I can tell you who is that".  Greetings are a big part of culture and human interaction. You always have to say few nice, polite words before starting a conversation, it is seen rude not to greet someone, especially elders. Even shaking hands takes more time and is filled with more kindness than usually.

As in all Kenya - time is being measured differently on the Island. Days are passing by filled with waiting - for a friend to come, for the waterbus to take to you work or school, for the first client, for the fish to catch, for the motorbike, for the food to be done. Getting used to this state of  waiting after few days makes you feel relaxed, you slowly start to understand that the rush of the life you know is completely unnecessary here. It might even get disturbing.

  charging inner peace in Mawanga cave

However, for some, there is plenty of work everyday. Women are working the hardest from dusk to dawn. Their day starts with the sunrise or even before it with a walk to the Lake Victoria to bring water for cooking and washing. They are carrying 10 or 20 litres containers on their heads, keeping their straight backs and smilled faces. Then there is a breakfast to prepare, dishes to wash (in the lake), laundry to be done (also in the lake), lunch to prepare, cleaning the house, working in the field and to all that, every day there may appear some new tasks. Maybe some holes in clothes need to be sewn up, they might have to buy huge amount of omena (tiny fish that they sell everywhere and eat fried or cooked) and dry it on the sun, maybe there is maze to grind. All these tasks are being done by the mother of the family, sometimes with help of her daughter or if the mother is working - only the daughter. Everyday duties take much more time on the Island, because everywhere you have to walk, mostly up the hill. That extremely shortens the day. 

Juliet carrying food for Mama that was working on the field

After the darkness falls, making work outside impossible, our family was gathering in the house for the dinner. That was my favourite time during the day, because we were all together, without any distractions. There was no smartphones, no television, poor internet connection, only an old radio that was playing reggea, gospel songs, corona virus news and african r'n'b which made us want to dance. And we were dancing! Lack of all the facilities of the "civilised world" was bringing us closer together. Evenings were the time to talk about all the day, to speak about plans for tomorrow, to sing, dance and laugh (mostly at me as I was often doing something that was completely inappropriate or just funny from their point of view - africans have very simple sense of humor, it is so easy to make them laugh!). I really loved sitting in the kithen-living-dining-bedroom with my african family, even though I could see everyday how Mama and Juliet are becoming more tired, how their eyes were closing while sitting, how hard it was for them to walk. Beside that tiredness they were still full of joy and love to each other and my heart was warming up watching them, feeling more and more part of this world.

One of the cultural differences that was interesting to watch was that the father had two wives. The second wife was living in a house next to ours and the father would be changing the place of dining each evenig. All his children and both his wives were still obligated to serve him, respect him and always be on his call. On Mfangano most people are christians from different sections of the church. They still allow poligamy that is deeply rooted in their traditional culture but they also find an explanation for it in the Bible. Poligamy can be found in the Old Testament several dozen of times, Esau, Elkanah, Solomon and Moses for example had few viwes, so why Kenyans can not?

I am very gratefull for the Agagwa family to take care of me and share with me their reality. It was so different from what I know, so stripped of urbanisation yet so beautiful in the simplicity and joy. During those three weeks I changed my point of view on how a happy life should look like, I've learned the importance of keeping the family together. I realised that I don't need much to feel happiness in my heart and that helping others and being involved in a live of community is what I want to devote my life to. The moment I will have opporunity to move from Poland I will put all my force to come back and visit them again to feel like in a laughter-filled paradise again.

with Flora - the sweetest child I know

I encourage you to get to know more about the Island if you haven't feel enough interested to visit it yet. Here is a link to a document about the island reality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC4PbLiQzxo&t=1341s

More about cultural differences and magic of primal life in the next post! Until then, appreciate your family and turn off technology for one evening - check how does it feel to be together :D

How to forget the paradise?

What a change of reality! In great rush, facing many financial and logistic obstacles I managed to organise my return from the depths of the Dark Land as the contry of Kenya was rapidly closing the borders for all the flights which I got to know one day before it happened. Now I am starting my two weeks quarantine. Three days ago I was still enjoying the heat of equatorial sun, eating sweet mangos and greeting smiling people on the streets...

view from the pick of Mfangano Island on the mainland of Kenya

There is many stories and facts from the teaching experiences and island adventures that I will be telling you in next days, so thay tuned! 

For now, as I am still adapting to the feeling of being at home, I can easily bring back the memories of omnipresent nature on the Mfangano Island where I spend the last three weeks. Let me describe you the uniqueness of this quite isolated place in the western part of the Lake Victoria. 

Mfangano Island seen from the waterbus

The main thing you notice from the first step made on its ground is the peace among people, so common for the island life. From the first step you feel the difference in the air which is much cleaner and lighter than on the mainland, because due to the fact there is no hard roads - there is almost no cars. Only some oldschool motorbikes decorated colorfully in african style by their owners are driving on bumpu and rocky roads. From the first step you can not ignore the coexistance of humans and animals which is stronger than on the mainland. Mfangano is inhabited by mixture of Luo and Suba tribes. In their culture having cattle is a tradition and still it's quantity says about your wealth. Therefore, families keep many cows, donkeys and goats on their properties, but as most of the poeple can not afford fences around their land, the animals are just walking freely around the island. Another reason is - a free cow is a happy cow that gives happy milk. You can meet groups of them lying along the roads, on the roads also, passing in front of your door, gathering in your yard. And what was beautiful for me - everyone is fine with that, no one is getting nervous at them (but if they start to eat your crops... Oh, they better run away before farmers catch them!).

The part of the island life that made me fall in love in it with all my heart and will never let me forget it were THE SOUNDS. The lack of cars, factories, commercials and TVs created perfect space for all the cute bird and bug trills to be heard in their full power. There is 350 spieces of birds on the island and I assure you that during the day you could hear at least half of it if you listen carefuly. Some of the sounds were similar to the bird's songs that I know, but some where like from a fairytale. The multitude of sounds makes you shiver. Every now and then you can hear a new, delightful singing. After few days, you can easily recognize individual birds and choose your favourite one, whose melody will cause a smile and a feeling that this paradise is more and more your home. There is no silence on Mfangano. The nature orchestra is playing its sypmhony all day with specific parts at specific times of the day. Around 5 a.m. you can hear first rooster crowing, which begins the morning concert of joy welcoming the rising sun.  The dawn hours are the loudest and most lively during the day. The twittering of birds combines with cows mooing and goats bleating. What was extremely funny to hear - some of the goats' sounds seemed like children crying for help, or old men screaming or drunk guy trying to pronounce incomprehensible words. Until the dusk you could enjoy those soothing notes, letting them pet your ears and heart. With the sunset there was a change of the band. Some birds were falling asleep being replaced by the night singers. Frogs would croak loudly trying to drown out the cricketing of crickets. The lake surrounding the island was gently and rhythmically sending it's waves to cool our minds before floating into the land of dreams. And again, the next day you would be awakened by a rooster getting up early from the bed. The daily concert would begin and all the people on the island would slowly start their everyday routines with theirs souls getting pleasure from this wonderful soundrack of life.

fichermans waiting to start their work

The bush and forest on Mfangano seems like there was a bomb with lush greenery that blew up and covered each part of the land with fastly growing palm trees and grass, aloes, cactus, custard apple trees, banana trees, huge fern and many other types of trees that I couldn't even recognize. They all tangle with each other creating a perfect place for some humans to build their clay houses in a secure, covered from the sun and strangers areas. There a family can have their peaceful life, vegetable-rich garden, space for keeping the cattle that from time to time comes back home, just to visit,  because there is plenty of food wherever they go.    

Mfangano stole my heart with it's simplicity of the way of living, joy and kindness of people and the nature that gives a strong friendly hug which reminds that this environment if where we came from and this is where our souls and minds feel safe and at home. Even thought my conditions at home are so different from the ones on the island, on Mfangano is where I found inner peace and felt connected again, brought back a primal understanding of living with the nature, taking care of it, fighting with it, accepting it's force and managing to survive. 

Although, except the beauty of nature there are many troubles that people on the island have to deal with. I will tell in my next post about the everyday life of Suba and Luo people that I was lucky to experience.

Living on the island made me understand how much we need beauty in our lives. That by surrounding ourselves with natural beauty we make it easier to awaken the beauty we have within. Everyone has it. Everyone has their own. Some of us already found its source and a way to refill it. Some are still searching.

Wherever you are, try to find a way of bringing the beauty around, May it help you smile to yourself because of simply enjoying the moment :)  For me, as I am now closed in the apartment, it would be playing some nature sounds that will fill the silence of the four walls and a city where the spring is just slowly starting.

Here you have a link to a short and old movie about some birds of Mfangano and you can hear the traditional Abusuba language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Mmz0a55yI

And here is a website where you can create your own life soundtrack: https://mynoise.net/

Clowning for smile - Nairobi Hospital Project

        One of the most touching parts of our Performers Without Borders project was for sure each visit in the Jomo Kenyatta Hospital. As a child I've spend months in different hospitals having different health issues. Now I felt like I can take part in giving back some joy to those suffering children. 

           Our task was to walk around rooms with songs on our mouth, gather the youth for the show that some incredible clowns from "Smiles for change" prepared, in which we also took part and visit the burn unit. There were waiting for some time of laughs the ones that couldn't leave their rooms. 

Some of the hospital and "Smiles for change" staff

The work in hospital is filled with dualities. On one side there is US - colorful, laughing, doing circus tricks and smiling at every one around. For being the Rainbow Creatures we get applause and smiles back. And we know exactly why we are there. To give a Little bit of sparkle to the ones that are struggling for years with catastrophies, unfortunate accidents, powerlessness and exhaustion. They get from us a tiny shot of endorfines that are being kept asleep because of the serious conditions. They stay frozen in the corner of the mouth and in tired eyes without seeing a purpose of releasing themselves. Thanks to us, there might be an explosion of happiness hormones that brings a laughing relaxation. Laughter is precious, cause it helps to survive the hardest times. 

Arts&craft activity

On the other side - those CHILDREN. With scars all over their faces and necks, covered with bandages after burns, stuffed with medicaments until numbness, with blown bellys in which fearlessly grows deadly cancer. There is a fog of sickness, sadness, hopelessness and a huge hope at the same time. A hope in parents of this adorable, loving being that in some cases have just been born, that has all the life filled with possibilities. A hope that the light might shine for him that would brighten the labyrinth of future. But a parent that keeps feeding himself with those hopes, everyday sees suffering and deteriorating conditions of his sunshine. The death of other children whose voices just yesterday were resounding from over-packed rooms, from between beds surrounded with machines, pipes and sweaty bedsheets. And this parent despite the doubts has to be strong for his Child and assure everyday, support and encourage to live, convince that constant suffering makes sense, that it is worth living, because maybe one Day it will pass. How difficult is persistence between terrifying truth, uncertain future and shy but strong hope ?

This is why we did our Best to give all of them some safe space to forget even for few minutes about their worries. It was extremely rewarding to see children engaged in the dance, laughing at clowning gags and being amazed with Magic tricks. Sometimes with a glimpse of an eye we could see a parent crying silently somewhere in the corner of the room. Maybe from joy of Seeing his Child happy, maybe just taking advantage of few minutes on his own. Either way, crying is cleansing and they need it for sure...

 The experience of clowning in hospitals had a huge impact on my emotional resistance and ability of seeing good parts of any situation. I was also delighted to work with some local clowns from "Smiles for change" organisation. It is heartwarming to know that the Children have constant dose of joy brought each week by very talented and professional artists.

Remeber how important it is to appreciate each healthy moment of your life and never forget to smile to the ones that you Love <3

Here you can get to know more about Hospital Clowning in Nairobi from its source:

https://sarakasi.org/programmes/smiles-for-change/

Don't be worried, be human

         Going out of your comfort zone gives  the opportunity to find human beings so diverse that it would be hard to just get to know them while walking the street or ordering a smoothie in your home town. Especially that talking to strangers in some places seems inappropriate...

   However, when you are in a travelling mode, new friendships happen by themselves. "Your vibe attracts your tribe" as they say. I was extremely lucky to meet in Kenya two soulmates that showed me even more of how easy it can be to spread smiles around by being open to any person that you meet.

With Benja, watching stunning view on Hell's Gate gorge

           Before coming to Africa I had to listen to many warnings that made me feel quite stressed. I couldn't imagine myself travelling and not getting into conversations with people on the street. I was wondering: How will I get to know the country if I am not allowed to meet with locals because I am a girl, white and tiny and have no self-defense skills? It made me really anxious.
         And then the universe put me in one apartment for 6 weeks with Danni and Benja who made my worries disappear with their lovely laughs and loud way of speaking.
         Wherever we went, they were acting like they were friends with all the traders at the market, staff in hotels, people in matatu. I have to admit, some locals are very friendly but some of them look at us - wazungu - as if they would like to kill us or at least torture for hours or they just seems extremely tired with life. Even with them my friends could create a close relation by simply showing them attention, throw some jokes, use their swahili skills. And it was working!

       

   With Danni, after a fashion show during our project with refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia

       It is really easy to put a smile on someone's face, but sometimes it requires some effort. During our stay in Nairobi Danni was a Master of small chat, with her huge amount of energy and ability of asking tones of questions. She would make everyone laugh at themselves or at her. And she would always show respect and appreciation of the person she met. This powerful woman living her live between continents, changing jobs with each flight, creating her live as it goes, taught me how to be flexible, thankful and always keep on going with a huge smile on your face. Because if you will smile, others will smile to you. What bad can happen from a smiley interaction?

With Peter, our local guide at Hell's Gate. Such a lovely smiling boy! 

         As Benja was saying You will always get something from interacting. If you don't - you get nothing. And aren't we travelling to get this SOMETHING in our memory? A story, an experience, a thought, a friendship, an adventure, even a stressful or scary moment. For that we travel - for that we should live.
      Himself for sure lives for sharing with others. He would always find an opportunity to give, without wanting to receive anything back. This approach in combination with ability to make fun of himself and make others feel noticed filled our travels with small lovely moments with locals.
         During the time I've spent with them I could notice how easy it can be to break the pattern of a white tourist and to stay in minds of the people from our path as wazungu that actually care and respect. Wazungu that are also people, like the locals, not only cash machines filling their bellys and bags with more and more goods.
 

Our Performers Without Borders team on a Valentine's Day dinner

    This post is my huge bow to both of them and shows my appreciation for their loving hearts that keep on beating in the rhythm of Kumala Vista song.
       Thank you for giving me safe space to open myself for you and others and forgetting about worries from the regular world. Thank you for your crazyness, I shall follow it!

For all the readers, if you feel like sometimes in your everyday life you close yourself too much in your own world and don't aknowledge the people around - try one day to smile to someone on the street or start a conversation in a bus or while waiting in a line with someone that seems interesting to you.
And let me know how did it go!

Social circus in Nairobi

It is incredible how many new possibilities appeared since I've started practicing circus and Flow arts. For almost 3 years now it became my new passion that keeps on bringing inspiring people on my path and showing me how to develop my body, mind and soul.

 The main reason why I came to Kenya is participation in a 6 weeks social circus project with NGO Performers Without Borders. Being chosen as a part of this tour is another step in learning how to teach circus and seeing the remarkable influence it has on people in the poorest areas.

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? 

The group of 6 people (now 5 cause one of us decided to come back home) from USA, UK, Ireland and Poland is training with acrobats and youth in circus space called Sarakasi. The project we take part in takes place for 13 years already and each year different crew is coming here to share their knowledge with local artists and street children in the slums. 

Kenyan acrobats have an amazing drive to train and they seem to have no fear and never get tired! During our everyday warm up at 9a.m. they are doing front rolls, back rolls, cartwheels, walk-overs, handsprings, hand to hand and two-high on a floor without any matress or spotting. For me it was shocking in the beginning HOW CAN YOU NOT BE SCARED? But after 3 weeks of working with them I understood that this is just how they are used to train. And the fact that they have any safe space to do all these crazy jumps is better than having nothing. Working with them is teaching me to appreciate all the comfort of an european life. Moreover, their attitude during training is unbelievable. "JUST TRY" - we hear it each time any doubts about our acrobatic skills are filling us with fear. This is how they learn here - if you don't have a coach that will teach you the technique,you have to keep on trying and at some point it will work. Seeing everyday the inner power of those extremely strong acrobats is giving me a lesson of pushing myself to achieve the impossible and never give up. 

During the project we are focusing on sharing with them our knowledge about professional performing, building the characters and preparing a show. We are teaching them clowning, hooping, staff, Theatre, juggling and proper acrobatics technique. It is challenging and interesting at the same time. Importance of our cooperation is based on bringing parts of the artistic world that for us is an everyday reality to the performers that have really minimal contact with anything else than building complicated acrobatics pyramids. 

Except the acrobats training, we are working with few organisation that provide after school classes in slums and are working with street children - educating them, taking care of their health and reclaiming them. This work for me is an experience that is changing the way of looking at all life aspects from completely different perspective. 

When it comes to running classes with street children it is easy to notice that they have gone through some strong experiences in their lives. Some of them have many scars and burns. Some of them are glue addicts, so during any activity they would stay with the coca cola bottle filled with shoe glue in their mount or in their pockets.

Some children in the slum areas are only walking barefoot, wearing very dirty clothes that you can tell haven't been washed for a long time. All this from distance looks really miserable. However, we are coming there with the power of circusy happiness that is giving us the access to these children's Play Space, to their world of fun and laughter where the conditions don't make any difference. 

Seeing these children rolling in muddy ground, running around in the area surrounded with trash and playing with each other regardless the age is a great confirmation of the fact that our happiness depends only on our perspective. Because of someone from outside of those poor areas or from richer countries, the conditions that Kenyan children are growing in might seem terrifying. But for them it is just everyday reality that with all it's dirt and hunger does not exclude enjoying the time with friends. 

While teaching these children juggling and playing circus games they are sharing smiles and hugs with everyone around. Their laughter sends sparkles all over and reminds us of our biggest purpose: to start the fire of smiles :) 

Mzungu meeting Mama Africa

It has been already 3 weeks that I am experiencing all of the novelties of the Black Land. Since I was a teenager my interest in the african culture was growing with every book that I've read, with every movie that I've watched. There was always something driving me towards the tribal rhythms of the drums and energetic steps of traditional dances. My dream was to visit Mama Africa and see with my own eyes all the landscapes, crowded cities and colorful people that I was feeding my imagination with. 

wooden sculpture in park next to National Museum

Fist impression of Nairobi could be put into few words: garbage, noise, car exhaust fumes, poverty and COLORS. But after first hours of being shocked with huge amount of stimuli, I started to notice more and more details in complexity of this enormously diverse agglomeration. 

 Walking down the streets forces all my senses to work on their best. Tired traders are barely visible from behind piles of fresh mango, avocados, pineapples, tomatoes, carrots, greens and roasted corn. The expression on their faces changes to a welcoming smile followed by "Hi mzungu!" every time that I pass by. Mzungu stands for white person but it literally means someone who wanders without purpose, someone that is constantly on the move. For the locals, especially sellers and beggars, to see a white person is an announcement of potential earnings. The stereotype of an European with a wallet full of dollars is very strong here and unfortunately it is being confirmed by tourists spending huge amounts in expensive restaurants and resorts. But this is not the only reason why they see us as cash machines. First one would be all the colonialists' influence on the local economy and their attitude towards Kenyans for hundreds of years. Then, we have all the missionaries and organisations that are coming here and giving the people clothes, building them houses, providing food. At the end there are tourists that are wearing branded clothes and leaving big tips that for locals can cover food costs for a week. All that and more accumulates in the simple mind of a Kenyan that is spending 1$ or less for a meal (that he might not get everyday) and creates a picture of equivalence of white skin and wealth. So except getting closer to them on a human level, making friends, being open and curious about their culture, we can not do much more to fight this stereotype. And let's be honest, most of white people are richer and better situated than most of the Africans and our everyday problems are way different than theirs.

workers waiting for job on the side of the road

Although, when you get used to being pointed out from the crowd and stepping over decaying leftovers, everything that is happening around can be really fascinating.African beats vibrate with dancing power from each shop or market. People are sitting next to the road chewing khat or leaves they call magoko. It is similar to coca leaves in South America. I could not stop myself from trying a local soft "drug". The effect is wuite weak - it seams like you would have to eat huge amount of iy to get some unusual feeling. After chewing out one small bag I felt some shivers in the body and I got quite energetic, it was a pleasant feeling. For the locals it is something that makes you relaxed and chilled. Some of the people I spoke with are looking at magoko almost as on a real drug, putting it on the same shelf with alcohol and weed.

Fully packed colorful buses called matatu change walking around Nairobi into an extreme experience. This is one of the cultural pearls that you can not find anywhere else in the world. Each of these vehicles is fully decorated outside and inside. Covered with graffiti, funny quotes, paintings of Bob Marley, movie characters, cartoons. Most of them are fully equipped with speakers and screens inside so that few hours spend in the traffic doesn't get too boring. They really want you to enjoy the ride, although my experience was quite tiring. We got into one of those matatu that was splashed with colours inside, had few screens playing video clips of black rappers in expensive cars accompanied by almost naked dancers shaking their booties few centimeters from the camera lens. The music was so loud that the base coming from the speakers attached with metal bits and screws to prevent them from being stolen, was drilling into my ears, heart and soul leaving the vibrating sensation even few minutes after leaving the bus. We were being thrown up and down on bumpy roads that made us feel like we are bouncing with the rhythm of tuff rap music. Our local friend laughed at our shocked faces and assured us that what we've experienced is not so terrible, that we could get even louder speakers and even more screens with sexy pole dancers... Funny contrast that appeared in this matatu - screens with almost porn videos were facing walls covered with religious stickers and posters of bands singing about Jesus and God's mercy. Thank you Kenya for making me laugh even in the hardest conditions :D 

                                                        religious stickers inside a matatu

 inside of our disco matatu

Kenya is my first African country and I am going to spend here 3 months exploring first the city parts, visiting slums and social community centers and afterward I am going to start the nature adventure. Each day here brings more thoughts and remarks that I will be sharing with you, so stay tuned! 

If you are interested in Kenyan history, here are some documentary movies that I've watched before flying, to be aware of the place I am going to visit. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afHFNVZZ-7U&t=730s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Umi0l-NNXg&t=1850s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKRATwnLbw4