“What did you think about the new movie last night?”
“Well, I can’t say exactly, so let me sing you a song and perform a drama to answer your question.”
That exchange probably would never happen in America (unless you are acting in the latest High School Musical movie), but it is what happened to us recently in northwest Kenya.
An evaluation team was in Kenya assessing our mobile school project among the Samburu people. We gathered a group together at a newly planted church to ask them about the project and to hear stories of impact and transformation. After a few summary comments and testimonies of impact, a group of women assembled in the front to “tell us” in their own way. They began singing one of the songs from our training content. But they added some of their own verses. And then began performing drama vignettes as part of the song. What emerged before our very eyes and ears was a drama/song that told the story of the mobile school project and its impact among the Samburu in that region. While we still needed a translator to explain the words of their song, the drama didn’t need translation: we could see with our eyes the real impact our project has had among the Samburus.
