Introductions:
When Janice Katambwa was introduced, she brought forward the word “harambee.” A word in Swahili that she explained meant “working together” or “pulling together.” Along with mentioning that she was previously an English teacher in multiple grades in the United States AND in Africa!
Janice explained that she was going to have lots of class participation, and she wanted people to work with her during her story telling. Before she began her storytelling, she told us about her song she wrote. She had a collection of fun instruments including maracas, bells, etc. She had 5-7 people grab an instrument and play along while she sang a song that went something like, “Harambee means pull together harambee means work together, harambee means pull together as one! Harambee we pull together harambee we work together harambee pull together as one! one, two, three, four, five, six, seven (repeat again).” It was quite catchy and she had all the students join together and sing alongside her while the students with instruments attempted to play in harmony to go along with the song. (I was actually one of the people using an instrument. I had a singular maraca and it was funny.)
Memorable quotes:
“When you get good advice, take it.”
“Don’t let anybody or anything distract you. There are a lot of distractions in this world.”
“Don’t be side tracked by anything or other things that don’t go in the direction of what you want to do that’s good.”
“Don’t be distracted from making good choices.”
She said a lot more, but I struggled to catch every cool thing she was saying. Either way, she was quite an inspiring person and I enjoyed listening to her.
The Story:
Instead of simply telling us this story, she called people up and had them dress in little outfits and had them actually interacting with this story to play along. It was hilarious to watch the entire story being told and having the students act it out as best as they could. (Janice told them every line, they just had to copy after her.) Anyways, the story went like this. . .
There were 3 brothers 9 (young, middle, and old) who were very sad because their parents had passed away. One day, they decided they were going to go on an adventure to find “death” and kill it. Wherever they traveled, they walked on feet and feet only, never using any other means of transportation. As they traveled many miles through the countryside, through the city, they were SERIOUS. They genuinely planned to find death and kill it. As they were walking along, an old lady sweeping her porch stopped to ask them where they were going. The eldest brother stated they were going to find death and kill it. The old lady laughed at them, clearly not taking them seriously. She told the brothers it was not possible for them to kill death. The eldest brother said they were sure to do it. As they continued on their journey, another old lady asked the middle child where they were heading to. The middle brother responded saying they were out looking for death. The lady told them it wasn’t possible and the middle brother said they were going to do it, just wait and see. Again, they continued walking to find death. A lady washing her clothes in the river stopped and asked them where they were going. The youngest told them, “Were out looking for death to kill it.” The lady asked how they were going to do it. The youngest responded with, “Just you wait and see!” Later on their quest, there was an old man dancing and singing a tune. He stopped to ask them where they were going. They all said they were out looking for death. The man encouraged them not to do it, and to return home immediately. The boys ensured they were going to find death, and they were determined. The man then agreed to give them some information, knowing he couldn’t stop them. He told them to go to the big tree in the forest and dig. Then, they will find death. When the boys went and dug under the tree, each in their own unique way, they found a chest with exactly 7 gold coins in it. When they saw the gold, they each completely forgot about searching for death. The only thing they could think about was how rich they were now! They each took two gold coins, leaving a single gold coin that they wouldn’t be able to distribute between the three of them. They then drew straws to decide who would go into the city to buy some bread and juice for them all. The youngest brother ended up pulling the shortest straw out of the three brothers, and thought of a plan. He could take the gold all for himself if he poisoned the bread and juice and killed his brothers! While he was out, the middle and oldest brother planned to kill their younger brother and split his gold between the two of them. When the youngest brother finally returned with the bread and juice (that was poisoned), the brothers killed him. When they were done, they each took one of his coins along with eating the bread and drinking the juice, which ended up killing both of them alongside the youngest brother.
They went out looking for death, and they found it in the end.
