<<<<<<.........>>>>>>

Hearts broken are open mended, ended, me, she, it was us not no more...

Bangin it out....

Yo famz,

wuts gud? past few weeks have been pretty eventful....there is a young dude from Sydney, Australia who came through and i toured him around AE. Turns out he's into film and produced a film that was nominated (and won) Best International Doc of the Year at a film festival here. It's called Ubuntu: a Street Child Story one of the key interviewees is Stephen Lungu, the CEO of AE. Anyway, in that way AE is connected to the film and we were invited into a partnership with this film festival through it all - madd kool connect, God is good!

What that meant is that last minute we had to send someone to the award dinner and there was no one available except for my colleague Jerry and yours truly (was also hype cuz we're both into independent film and are always talking about it - oh, you should check a SA produced film called Jerusalema if you can).

Jerry and I - hot ta deaf ryt?

So after travelling into the depths of nowhere on dirt, deserted road and in thick fog we end up at the venue. Was a small gathering and they were expecting us.....soon as we reach the director of the festival comes up to us and tells Jerry he's presenting an award....caught him off gaurd. It was a nice scene, as we met producers and directors from all over the world. So we were waiting in tension for the moment of being called up to present the award cuz Jerry didn't wanna do it and neither did i; he was saying they actually had my name in the schedule to announce it so it was a mistake they went to him...whatever, i wasn't sure what it was so was just tryin to stay calm. Well the moment came and my man took it by the........ He actually presented the award to the overall winner of the whole festival, he's actually the dude who directed Pretty Woman and Undersiege! He and his wife produced this film called Jackson which is like a street opera; we saw a clip and it looked pretty hype.

Jerry's moment of fame

There were quite a few hype-looking films there....another one called Machetero out of New York about the Peurto Rican independence struggle. Check out any or all of the above films, especially Ubuntu of course......

yup, that's it for now. Stay bless to be bless!

Ya ya famz,

bak again.......tnx to those of you who were supporting re:touching a mic. It went aight....wasn't totally pleased with it, but "i know i'm my own worst enemy, i make things harder when it's really elementary.........." Basically i had to switch it up right before i stepped on stage (which was massive, highly elevated and plain) cuz there was all this crumping activity right before me (nothing against that artform at all) and then i was supposed to come on some spoken word - howz dat for killing the energy? So i came with something that was more punchline oriented den my sistren, Carmel, joined me for the rhyme joint. That was going okay until i found out after that they couldn't hear us over the instrumental....can't really blame the hosts cuz the dj came set up his equipment.....den boogied. Anyway, it was kool for the fact that i brought some Americano's with me and they got a good look into Kwaito culture and other local music. Big up to most of the musicians, they did a pretty good job.

Americanos - students from Azuza Pacific University

That's how it goes. I've been really thinking though about coming alongside the event organizers (good peoples) and helping them establish this platform they're trying to create. Praying for direction with that.

The two sistrens who organized the event in black, MC in orange, Carmel (singer) and her daughter in white

Peace&Bless

My time to rhyme again...

Yo Famz,

after a long while i'm touching a poetry session this Sat, Oct 4th coming. I'm looking forward to it - gonna hit dem wit a poem and den me and my sistren gonna gi' dem a hip hop joint. Please do keep that in mind and in prayer.......all new stuff flowing out my experiences out here. I'm looking forward to it, will let you know how it goes.

Bless

A Time to Chill......

Wut up Famz!

I'm finally on my week off after an intensive 3 weeks with two different groups of Interns. It was a madd blessed experience - demanding, but blessed. It was also really my first time facilitating big groups as i was in Canada when the first group of 10 came from Australia. The experience really opened my eyes though concerning the parts of the programme that need to be improved and how much potential it has to grow.

In consultation with the groups that have been here i've realized that there needs to be more debriefing built into the programme (esp cuz some of the things people encounter out here hit you hard emotionally, etc.); we need to figure out a way of engaging people (kids esp) without giving them false hopes/expectations; we need to try to engage a wider demographic variety; we're thinking of creating a historical component and making the programme cross-country - bigga tings!

Something else i realized is that i really need to grow a team around me - i can't be managing, directing and touring people around all at the same time! That means working from am til pm and weekends as well; i told my last group i'm like their moms and the pops all in one! It was jokes, but it really is kind of like that.... It worked out okay for the past 2 groups but i was running flat out and as more groups come that will become highly....impossible. Much for y'all to pray into huh?

Much love to Malcolm and his group though as well as Jessy and her group; they're great peoples and i look forward to growing our relationship in the future.

By the way, the pic below was of Samson smiting the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass.......nex time Steve, nex time.........

Until then, sometimes life is a like a mural - if you get caught up in the small picture you'll miss the big picture and even the small one, cuz the small picture ain't even relevant til it finds it's place in the big picture......... Bless up

Chek this out.....

Greetings Famz,

i'm now facilitating for the US group of 10 and by God's grace it's going very well so far. Yesterday, we visited a ministry called Zanini Bantwana which is a hospital ministry to children. They're basically engaged kids in hospitals through play, education and just caring. It's an awesome ministry.

Check out the pic below though, this scene blew me away. It's the children's playground for a hospital with now about 900 beds - that's a ball of barbed wire right in the middle of the jungle gym.....no front, the playground looks like a warzone cuz it's so dilapidated. I was really challenged, because part of me didn't really empathize and I really have been asking God to sensitize me afresh to the pain and brokeness of the world around me. Yet, the children are beautiful!


Wunluv

Haylo

Greetings All!

long time still.....been in the Motherland for a few weeks now. It's been good to get back to the community out here, the work and of course my lady! Ya it's good to be back....but I do miss the T-dot summer.....here winter is coming to an end so some nights can get pretty cold but, the days are generally pretty warm.

As for the AE work, I currently have two local Interns: Hloni and Lerissa. They're both very gifted, talented and competent; it's really an honor giving leadership to them. Most recently Lerissa conducted a Needs Assesment Analysis of part of Edendale, a local township. This was done on behalf of a preschool there by the name of Bonginkosi Preschool. It's a small school as it stands now and really needs refurbishing so they are planning on expanding which has been made possible by partnering with other organizations, etc. The kids are precious and the teachers are so committed. There's actually a website which is pretty informative for the initiative and you can even sponsor a child's education, please check it out: http://bonginkosi.wordpress.com/about-bonginkosi/our-story/.

The Preschool

The assessment happened by way of surveys; it was a great experience. My job was to make sure the surveying teams (which had to be fluent in Zulu) were kool, so i was driving up and down in the township on roads that weren't meant to be roads, dodging chickens and people.........it was great as most of my work has been urban thus far. I'd really like to spend a week/end or something out there - please join me in praying for an opportunity to do that.

The Surveying Team (Hloni with back to us, Lerissa holding pillar)

As for the near future, there is a team of 11 coming in from the US this Saturday, then another 4 on Sept 7th. Their schedules have been prepared well in advance and i'm confident that by God's grace it will be a meaningful experience for everyone involved. Those of you who are the praying type, please ask that Jesus would make this experience everything He intends for it to be!


By the way, the trip here was great by God's grace. My layover this time was in London, England. I had a few hours and decided to explore some. I stumbled upon a bunch of free museums and in particular ended up at this one called VA (or sum'n...) and inside saw many interesting sculptures like the one below...... anyone who can figure out what Biblical (dat's a BIG clue) scene it is will win....... something.........from me. Bless up!