April 12, 2009
Aum Amriteshwaryai Namah,
The bus came and collected us from the "lap of luxury" apartments at 6:30am and we went to the Hall to set up the bookstore. The local devotees had attempted to set up the bookstore the night before with the stock that they had on hand. They did a really nice job of making displays with African cloths and textiles to cover the plastic containers that made up these multi-level tiers of a display, but it was not very economical with space. We ended up tearing down a good portion of what they had done and re-doing it much more economically while keeping their ideas of the multi-tiered displays.
Amma arrived at 10:30am and there were African Dancers to usher Her into the Hall. I took pictures of these dancers and live instrumentalists (drummers) as they were really good and seemed to really like the attention of the cameras.
On stage, Amma was greeted by the Masai (one male and one female) and was adorned with the attire of an Elder. There is significance of each of the 5 items in the attire. They are as follows:
The attire and the Regalia of Elder consists of 5 items. Each of these 5 items has a very special significance.
Blue skirt:
The Blue skirt, signifies a female Masai Elder. Only the female Elder wears a blue skirt.
White top:
Spiritual Leaders/Elders wear white top, white signifies purity and peace but most of all spirituality.
Ornaments:
The ornaments consist of necklace, headgear and wrists or arm bracelets. Each ornament is decorated with a large number of very colourful beads. The beads symbolize people of different origins, different beliefs, different faiths, different religions. All brought together to make a unique, and colourful item which shows unity and harmony.
Masai Milk Gourd:
Milk is a basic but most significant of all Masai foods. The colour of milk – white once again — signifies purity and peace. We understand that no Masai ritual is complete without milk being part of it.
Leather Sandals:
This is to assist you to walk long distances and to take you wherever you need to go far and wide. To spread your message of love, compassion, empathy and tolerance.
After this, the renowned advocate and human rights defender Dr. P.L.O Lumumba delivered a rousing speech. His speech was so powerful I felt as though I was in front of Dr. Martin Luther King himself. He drew a co-relation of Jesus sacrificing His life today (as it was Easter Sunday) for Love and Peace and Amma, the embodiment of the same was here to offer Darshan in a country that is in so much need of this.
At one point, he referred to Amma as an amazing human who travels the world spreading this message and then just minutes later acknowledged Her as an Avatar. It was extremely powerful and moving. I don't think I have to tell you that I was drawn to tears by his presentation to Amma, but I was.
Unfortunately, Kenya is not a very safe place to be out in public once the sun goes down. As such, Amma was only offering day programs in Kenya that would begin at about 10:30am upon Her arrival at the Hall and would go until about 7:30pm. This happened both days that we were in Kenya. On the first day, there were not very many Africans in the crowd at all. The only Africans that were present were the dignitaries on stage with Amma and the 54 orphans who were accepted into the orphanage that was being inaugurated by Amma's visit to Kenya.
I later found out that there were few Africans at the program because they could not afford to travel to the location of the Temple. Apparently, Amma had told the local Indian devotees, when they requested Her presence in Kenya for the opening of the orphanage, that only if the programs were held in a non-denominational public venue would She come to Kenya. The excuse that they later gave Her for going completely against Her request was that by the time She gave them Her dates of being in Kenya, there were no other venues available. I heard that the local Indian devotees were very controlling and racism is very big in Kenya. The Indians did not want the Africans to attend the programs therefore held it at a venue that was difficult for them to get to. This was (and still is) very upsetting to me as I could see how controlling the locallers were. I actually experienced it first hand working in the bookstore. The local devotees were trying to tell us how to do our jobs in the bookstore and in selling products and making change for the people purchasing items. This was very upsetting seeing that we had just finished doing this in 3 other tour cities with no such energy surrounding us in the bookstore.
It was very weird and a real test in just smiling and doing the very best that we could in loving and embracing all of these devotees who have been longing for Amma's Grace to shower upon them without gettig into our own vasanas (negative tendencies) and operating from that place in interaction with them.
Amma gave Darshan to the 54 totally adorable orphans which was completely heart-breaking to think that they were abandoned by their parents. The anticipation is that the orphanage will take in another 54 before too long amounting to 108 orphans. Really sad but also really heartening all at the same time.
I went to the Westgate Mall again today for a little while to find some native arts and clothing but was unsuccessful. Steven, the Ashram appointed driver said that he would take me tomorrow to get some stuff like that to take back to Canada.
Kenya doesn't seem anymore dangerous than India to me, even at night. We are all still forbidden to go out at night. Amma's programs ran from about 10:30am to 7:30pm and that's it. No evening programs for freight of the crowds and their safety at night. It was really odd to be back in our apartments by 10:30pm and getting prepared for bed. It felt as though we were suppose to be back at the hall to start the evening program with bhajans and Darshan.
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