Sitawa Ignited

Sitawa Wafula is a blogger living with epilepsy and bipolar, pursuing academic dreams abroad, and embracing the abundant life

Enroute to see South African Grammy Award Winning Gospel Group - Soweto Gospel Choir (Nov 2022)

Hi beautiful people,

As I was putting my 'Macbeth show photos' into an album, I walked down memory lane and my gallery location pin showed me around this time last year, I attended a concert by South African Grammy Award winning gospel group, Soweto Gospel Choir at the Winter Center Arts Space (where the Macbeth play was).

I cannot trace any videos from the time, guess I was still using my BlackBerry (yes I am one of the last people to still own one, and I still believe they will make a comeback) - and it was on its deathbed, and not backing everything up. I have a few photos I managed to take amid all the dancing, singing and soul searching that was the Soweto Gospel Choir Concert in Millersville, PA. I have added YouTube Videos from the choir's channel to highlight some of the songs that I stuck with me.

This concert dubbed HOPE: Its Been a Long Time Coming - was part of the choir's US/Canada 2022 Tour. We had a full house that night...and I am so glad I got a ticket early...and braved the cold to get there.

The two hour concert started with Soweto Gospel Choir giving us a front row seat in the country's (South Africa) struggle for freedom

If you have watched Sarafina, you may know the song below - this is a pic of Soweto Gospel choir before they started singing it.

At the back stretching during the 15 minute intermission of the Soweto Gospel Choir Concert in Millersville - the first half of the concert had 10 or songs that 'spoke' about South Africa and her 'long walk to freedom'

The first song after intermission was all about drums, cheers and dance...and if you have seen South Africans dancing, you know they danced their 'socks off'...the guy was doing the leg rising one here (Indlamu)

They swiftly crossed over to the Black America movement and it was interesting to see the parallels between both struggles and how gospel music/spiritualities played a part in freedom struggles. We sang along to Amen by Curtis Mayfield and Johnny Pate, An 'Africanized' rendition of Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come and Stand up by Joshuah Campbell and Cyntha Echumuna-Erivo

I have to mention their costumes were amazing and I lost count of how many times they changed their colorful attire

The second half had 10 or so songs too, and ended with Leonard Cohen's Halleluiah which got everyone on their feet and lifting their hands - we were literally having church at that point. When they were done, they bowed and left the stage...but we were not done, so we started shouting for them to get back on stage...and so they came back and did another verse of the song...and it was AMAZING!!!

Hope CD cover - Image from Soweto Gospel Choir Website

After the concert, they had a stand with their music, unfortunately I do not have a CD player so I did not get anything - but I found a playlist on YouTube with most of the songs they performed. You can listen to additional music on their website, and if you are in Australia, they will be going on tour there.

As an aside:

If you are in places where the temperatures drop at this time of the year, it is tempting to be indoors and immobile but please sign up for as many activities as you can. Like me, you might only make it to a handful of them (I am working on being better) but those moments you get out, and move, and be around people (if even if you are not talking to them), can contribute to your general mental wellbeing and help keep SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) at bay.

Until next time,

Sending loads of love and light,

Sitawa

Selfie with the Saturday Night Mass poster take 5 - Downtown Lancaster (Nov 2023)

Good evening beautiful people,

Just finished serving at the monthly Saturday Night Mass at my church and the Mass was so amazing, I wanted to share.

Before we talk all things liturgical, I would like to give a shout out to Arsenal for the amazing game this morning. Though my people - Saka, Odegaard (didnt play) and Nketiah were not on the score board, Zinchenko showed us why he is on the team with that air kick that took us back to the top of the league...ok we will be on top if Chelsea beat Man City tomorrow and Man City does not score...also have my eye on that Liverpool v Brentford game.

Full time: Arsenal 3 - Burnley 1

While we are still talking about things that happened before tonight’s Saturday Night Mass, let us go back to yesterday evening when I braved the cold to catch the second last night of Shakespeare’s Macbeth at the Clair Performance Hall, Winter Center - Millerville (15 minutes drive from Lancaster).

The Clair Performance Hall entrance, Winter Center, Millersville - Can we talk about how it looks like it is midnight when it is only 6pm?

I currently live in a Historical-ish town called Lancaster, and as mentioned before, the arts and gallery type things are among the biggest things here. Besides the plays we had to watch in High School as part of our English and Swahili Literature readings, I have never been much of a theatre person.

But since moving here, I have become so hooked...and I look forward to new releases at the Fulton Theatre, which is the main theatre here in Lancaster (will do a piece on it) and I maximize student discounts and preview days (when the cast do the full play, as part of their rehearsal, to an audience that pays want they want).

Got my ticket...let's watch this play

So it goes without saying that when I saw the Clair Performance Hall at the Winter Center, Millersville would be bringing Macbeth aka 'The Scottish Play' (to mark its 400th anniversary) to their stage...and they had student rates, I could not let the opportunity pass me by.

Before the play started

Here is my watered down version of the play, that I am sure will make Shakespeare and his 'followers' cringe.

The play is about a dude called Macbeth, who is a warrior. He is friends with king at the time, King Duncan, the King of Scotland (where this play is set). And they hang out at each other’s homes every so often...and even have sleep over - like friends do (I guess).

One day after battle, when Macbeth was on his way to see the king, he meets three witches who tell him that he will be king. This sends him into ambition mode as he tries to be the king by all means necessary. He ends up killing King Duncan and a couple of other people. He becomes king but it is not a smooth reign. The witches keep visiting him, and the 'nobles' start whispering because he is always talking to himself and shouting at people no one else can see.

His wife, Lady Macbeth, who helped cover up her husband's tracks when he killed the king in their house, is also involved in a couple of murders - and an infanticide. She, too, starts seeing and hearing voices and eventually, 'runs mad' and later kills herself (it happened off screen)…Fast forward to the end, Macbeth is eventually defeated and beheaded. Again I mention that this is a very watered down summary but I hope you get the gist of it - ambition, greed, and their consequences (and loads of killing).

A word from Jonathan Stayer - the play's director

Without even trying, I kept on seeing parallels between the play and the early 2000 Nigerian movies. I know this is supposed to be a quick roundup of my weekend, and not a Literature analysis session, but hear me out …this plot is what 90% of early 2000s Afro-cinema movies were made of. Someone is living their lives, a ghost appears or they become greedy or ambitions or jealous, then they do something (mostly put poison in someone’s food) to gain some form of mileage(a job, a wife, a husband, a baby) but their life is not smooth afterwards. They or their families are haunted by their deed and eventually someone becomes 'mad’ and starts chasing cars on the streets.

As someone who is in the mental health promotion side of life, I always had an issue with this plot. Mostly because a lot of people who struggled with their mental health equated it to something superstitious or a curse for God/or the gods. Macbeth's story includes witches and how life ends for him and his wife can be said to be a curse for what they did. But can we conclusively say that they had psychological issues because of the witches, because of a curse, because of their actions? Or should we dive deeper both in this play and the countless of Naija movies that used a similar story line to show how people end up mental illness? From the 15 years I was active in the mental health scene in Africa, unfortunately the former wins every single time.

Mini posters for the event

I am tempted to explore these parallels deeper but that is a post for another day. Today we are here for a weekend round up, so let us wind up with this evening's Saturday Night Mass which featured music from Elton John.

I talked about Saturday Night Mass in My Fav Events at This Historic Church in Downtown Lancaster. And to quote directly from the post - Saturday Night Mass "is hosted at 5pm on the second/third Saturday. It is a normal mass with a twist; instead of having ‘normal hymns', we have music from 'famous' musicians curated by local bands".

I was serving today...Part of my serving included taking the bulletins from the Parish House to the main sanctuary before Mass

The prayers we shared during the Mass - I pray that you take time to pray them or say your own this week

This song reminds me of Princess Diana's funeral (I think it was) - the lyrics instead of Norma Jeane, he said England's Rose...I think that was the first Elton John song that stuck with me

Clearly I had a very 'English Weekend', from Macbeth, Arsenal and Elton John...and I enjoyed it all the way. As I was doing my Bible Study this morning, I was reminded of the second part of John 10:10 where Jesus says that he came so that we can have life more abudantly. Abundance means different things to different people, and it can mean different things to us, at different times.

I am slowly embracing that what abundance looked like and meant when I was a successful mental health advocate/social entrepreneur is very different than what it means when I am a fulltime student abroad. I was very resistant for the longest time about finding joy and fulfillment in the 'little things'.

I am glad that I am now at peace with the fact that I do not have to be on advocacy mode 24/7 (though I almost went there with this post).

I am glad that I am now at a place where I am ok about sharing a weekend of catching plays, watching a football match and singing along to Candle in the Wind in church.

I am glad that I am now embracing this other definition of 'having life in abundance'...'having life in full'.

How is your weekend coming along?

Until my next adventure,

Sending love and light,

Sitawa

Welcome Fall - at Penn Square, Downtown Lancaster

I love the Fall season,

I love the cool weather and rain that accompanies it,

I love sipping on warm apple cider drinks and trying out baking recipes as an excuse to add heat to my apartment,

I love seeing the different shades of orange and mustard that we layer up with as we try to be in sync with the leaves.

By now you know that the school pond is one of my fav chill-out spots (most of my pics are usually from the other side)

Good evening beautiful people,

How beautiful is it outside - Fall is hands down my BEST season of the year. I was planning on sharing a couple of pictures from my photo gallery to showcase the lovely foliage at my school, Downtown Lancaster and my church...but ended up with a mini- sermon.

Loving the 'carpet' - Penn Square, Downtown Lancaster

This past October, the weekly forum hour discussion at church jumped on the 'Halloween bandwagon' by highlighting 'scary' stories in the Bible in a series dubbed 'texts of terror'. On the second Sunday, we discussed a dude called Jephthah - not to be confused with Japheth, Noah's son who alongside his brothers Ham and Shem are known for their role in 'the drunk naked father scene' of Noah's story (no Hollywood writing room can make up stories like those in the Bible).

'Oh God of all Creation'...just look at that amazing color mix - Scenes from school

The focus of our forum hour discussion was on how Jephthah asked God to help him win a battle and in return he would give God the first thing that came out of his house when he got home from the fight.

First of all, if you live with humans in your house, why would you make such a promise?

Another angle of the school pond - can you see the transition from the green(grass) to the lime/yellow/orange (leaves) then the blue spread (sky) - always takes me out

Secondly, if you are a soldier coming home from battle, chances are, your loved ones will be the first ones to come out to greet you. I am not saying anything but if you read between the lines, this Jephthah dude sounds like a 'true crime show candidate'.

Anyway, his daughter was the first one to come out to greet him...to be clear, we are not really told if he sacrificed her but we are led to believe that something happened...so yes, this story totally deserved to be in the texts of terror series.

Loved this fountain 'burning bush' play (too much Bible?) - Scenes from school

Since I had never heard of this Jephthah dude before the discussion, I decided to read a little more about him in the Book of Judges where he is highlighted. As I read through, I became curious as to why he was considered a judge...in my books, he ought to be judged. As it is with many Bible stories, the best way to get clarity is to go through the pre-text...and that is how I started studying the whole Book of Judges.

I am getting MAJESTIC vibes - More Scenes from School

To my surprise, this book is not about judges and lawyer types...it is more about people falling, and those falls setting the precedent for oppression, which is followed by crying out to God, God sending a leader (a judge) to the rescue…the people then experiencing beautiful Sunny days before they rinse and repeat aka fall again. The judges are more of leaders/helpers/warriors, and some theologians call this book ‘the book of cycles’ because it more about this pattern being repeated over and over in the 21 chapters that make the book.

Had to get in the frame - Other side of pond in school

I am currently in Chapter 10 (and there have been out of this world events in all these other chapters) and will be re-reading Jephthah’s story tomorrow (doing a chapter a day). Initially I was like -'why can’t you all learn from your past?’, ‘Why are we reading about your falls over and over and over again'...but as I continued reading, I started to see myself in these people.

Love that color - Downtown Lancaster

Just because the things I repeat over and over are different, does not mean I am any different. I, too, have done some things over and over again, that anyone looking from the outside in would wonder, 'why can’t you all learn from your past?'...'why are we reading about your falls over and over and over again'...I bet Don's (my therapist) inner voice says these words silently.

Love it when it rains - Downtown Lancaster

Lord knows that I have vowed to never ever ever go back to some things or people, especially after a season of shedding some premium tears. But when the pain died down, my two hands held the phone as I typed messages back and forth with them, my two legs took me back to meet them...clearly who am I to judge these people?

You have seen the inside of our church, this is what the outside looks like - can we talk about the red leaves

Secretly I think this is why this book is called the Book of Judges. We might come in thinking we will meet judges, then learn that the people called judges were leaders/helpers but we, the readers, are the judges, because we judge the people in the vicious cycles...and that should be cause enough for us to step back and look at our own lives...I am just saying. (This is one of the reasons I love studying the Bible - gold mine).

More scenes from church - love 'the mess'

The bigger question is, where do we go from here?

Clearly, at different points of this journey called life, we get stuck in this hamster wheel of falling, crying, getting rescued, 'being healed' and falling again. In my getting back to therapy post I talked about relapsing and how we learnt in my Counseling strategies class that it is part of the healing process. Sometimes we 'fall' because we have not yet gotten enough tools and skills to keep ourselves in the next level or season of our journey...and there is nothing wrong with that...it is part of the growth and healing process.

My 'neck of the wood' - Downtown Lancaster

I am not saying that we should intentionally go towards the fire, but if we find ourselves next to the fire over and over again, we should not give up or let shame and guilt overtake us. Instead, let us gently investigate the why behind the fall, behind the cycles, behind not 'getting it'.

...my semicolon tattoo - a reminder that the sentence would have ended but it still goes on...keep going

And as we do that,

I pray that we give ourselves grace over and over again, just like God did with this people.

I pray that we use the Fall seasons of our lives to re-member ourselves with ourselves - and God.

I pray that we have the courage to cry out for help - to Him, to therapists, to our community.

I pray that we have the strength to release the things that are meant to fall out of our lives.

I pray that we give ourselves permission to feel worthy of experiencing the seasons ahead.

I pray that that the vocabulary of guilt and shame is replaced with accountability and action.

Most of all, I pray that we do not give up,

…that we allow ourselves to rest and try again tomorrow

...and if we fall (relapse), I pray that we remember that that is part of the journey.

WE'VE GOT THIS!!!

Sending love and light,

Sitawa

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