A lively prayer for Africa

It is once again the time of year for carol concerts, mulled wine and mince pies... and we have one such occasion coming up next Monday at All Saints Church in Orpington. We have been invited to The Priory's Carol Service, along with many more of the school's former staff, students and friends, at the special request of deputy headteacher Tim Pike who is also an Elimu trustee and who will hang up his lab coat, set down his brief case and board marker, hand over his files and folders, and leave behind memories and imprints in The Priory's every corridor and classroom when he retires in July. The school has not known a life without him.

For Elimu, it will be a reunion of sorts, too, with staff who took part in our October trip and who have since taken on the task of selling Elimu Christmas cards, giving assemblies, and generally talking about their experiences in Kenya and helping to generate more interest and support on our behalf!

We also draw your attention to this year's annual AV Carol Concert to be held in St George's Church, Hanover Square, London, on Tuesday, 20th December at 7pm in support of the AV Foundation. Last year's concert raised a substantial amount for the charities of ex-volunteers, including ours.

AV has asked me to do a reading at the service while our more musically-inclined trustee, James Dwyer, will be sitting down at St George's grand piano for his own contemporary arrangement of 'Walking in the Air'.

If you would like to join us, tickets are on sale here at £12 http://www.aventure.co.uk/The-AV-Foundation-Carol-Service-–-Tickets-on-sale-now!-News.htm

We are very much looking forward to both events.

In the meantime... here is a lovely, lively poem on Africa from the 2010 AV Carol Concert:

'A Prayer for Africa'

Bless the Lord...
And all you people and places,
From Cairo to Cape Town,
From Dar Es Salaam to Lagos.

Bless all you BIG things...
Mount Kilimanjaro and the River Nile,
The Rift Valley and the Serengeti Plains,
All eucalyptus and tamarind trees,
You hippos and giraffes and elephants

And all you TINY things...
Busy black ants and hopping fleas,
Wriggling tadpoles and mosquito larvae,
Flying locusts and water drops,
Pollen dust and tsetse flies,
Millet seeds and dried dagaa

Bless all you SWEET things...
Wild honey and papaws and coconut milk,
Pineapples and sugar cane and sun-dried dates,
Slow roasted yams and banana juice

And all you BITTER things...
Quinine and blue soap,
Sour milk and maize beer

Bless all you SWIFT things...
Wild goats and honking matatus,
Frightened centipedes and lightening flashes

And all you SLOW things...
Curious giraffes and old bony cows,
Brown humped camels, grass munching sheep

Bless all you LOUD things...
Monsoon rains on aluminium roofs,
Midnight hyenas and feast day drums,
Train stations and busy bus stops

And all you QUIET things...
Candle flames and just sown furrow,
Heaps of clouds and sunny libraries,
The Pyramids and Sahara Desert,
Land snails and crawling turtles,
Grazing zebras and stalking lions.



Jo