Beatboxin' it at AMAVESA!

We drove to visit AMAVESA, the agricultural program with the women from HEAL Africa. The Upper Room has helped pay for the mills for the women to process the grains to make nutritional porridge for the kids (grains are a mix of soy, maize, sorgum and wheat). The long road left nothing to be desired in regards to movement- every rock was acutely felt as our flesh jumped with the jeep’s every move.
As the jeep jumbled to a halt, we saw a long walk ahead of us, a path made up purely of lava rock of every size. The sharp stones comprised the entire landscape. You see, the area of town where AMAVESA is was directly in the path of the volcanic explosion of 2002 in Goma that covered and destroyed the entire city, which has been haphazardly rebuilt upon 6-8 feet of porous lava rock. The villagers use the rock from the ground to build walls that attempt to separate and mark their minute property lines, as well as using the rock for their houses. I could not help but wonder what they slept on, since most could not even afford decent sandals to walk with on the sharp stones.
Delicately, we maneuvered our way down the path, careful to keep our flip flops on our feet (apparently Havaianas are made for Brazilian beaches, not lava rock) and our toes away from crashing against the sharp edges. Eyes followed our every move, little children yelling, “Jambo! Mzungu!” We smiled back, “Jambo sana!” as we fixed our eyes on the walk before us. We arrived at a little plot of land that had a couple of women sifting grain by hand on the ground. We received a tour of the 5 by 8 room that contains the flour mill the Upper Room church sponsored, watching the people explain how it functioned, proud that they had such an important piece of equipment for processing the fruit of their hard labor.
Children pressed us from every angle, eager to see what the mzungus were doing. I asked them their name, and quickly befriended 10 year old Francois, who was clearly the leader of the pack. Unable to communicate further, but smiling and laughing goofily at each other, Francois surprised us by beatboxing for us. Smiling back at him, Steve rose up to the challenge and busted out a little rhythm of his own. The children giggled hysterically, as Francois dared him further by beating musically with his throat. We were having a “beatbox off”! As the talent continued increasing with every turn, we all laughed delightedly. Cackling, but fed up with the challenge and ready to show Steve down, Francois whispered with his buddies and turned to stare at us intensely. He serenely shoved his T-shirt deep into his dirty shorts and staring at us intensely, the white around his eyes shining like new rims on a tire, he began shifting his weight back and forth rhythmically. Suddenly, his pelvis was thrusting front and back at the same time that his shoulders shook and his head moved back and forth. And from deep within him, he sang a melody, metrically marked by his beatboxing. We all watched stunned, clapping happily at the talent this little boy had. My friend Mike got it all on video, so someday I’ll be able to show you little Francois’s moves and his crazy eyes!