Daraja has been in North Carolina for a whole week now and has had some awesome concerts! Most recently, Daraja led worship at St. Mark’s Church in Burlington, and then this past Saturday and Sunday at Baptist Home Church in North Wilkesboro!

Will you be hosting Daraja kids in your home before the tour is over? Will you be visiting Kenya soon? How about attending a Daraja concert? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this blog is for you!

Now’s your chance to get a jump on your Swahili phrases and impress those Kenyan kids when you meet them! Remember, Swahili is a phonetic language, so everything is pronounced the way it is written! Just sound it all out! Here we go:

Hello! How are you?
Jumbo! Habari gani?

What is your name?
Waitwaje?

Yes/No
Sindio/Hapana

Thank you very much!
Asante Sana!

Are you wearing clean underwear?
Je, umevaa nguo ya ndani safi?

I love you.
Nakupenda.

Stop picking your nose.
Wacha Kuingiza kidole puani.

I don’t know.
Sijui.

And when all else fails…

I don’t speak Swahili.
Sielewi lugha ya Kiswahiki.

This weekend Daraja boys Nelson, Anthony, and Moses agreed to sing a traditional African song for their host home …on one condition: The host home must dance!

Larry, Carolynn and family- thanks for being such great sports and dancing!

On Saturday night Daraja led worship at the Youth Specialties conference in Cincinatti, Ohio! Check out the view:

Just the other day Daraja sang at North Iredell Middle School, a public school in the greater Charlotte area! Daraja was invited to sing as a Cultural Event since students in the school had been studying the continent of Africa. It was an awesome opportunity not only to teach students about Kenya’s culture, but also worship God in a place it is typically resisted. And the students had a blast!

Getting into the fall spirit, a few Daraja boys (Kevin, Ian and Eddy) painted some pumpkins with their host home this week! No knives, candles or puncture wounds required! Just paint and some imagination:

Today Daraja left Virginia for North Carolina, but not before enjoying the fall weather at a nearby park! The leaves were peaking in the area and made for some awesome fall pictures!

Last night here in Cranberry Township, Grace Community Church hosted a big Western themed fall festival for the community! Everyone had a blast dressing up as cowboys and cowgirls, and the mechanical bull ride was huge hit!

Daraja has been in Cranberry Township for the past couple nights, and so far we’ve had two concerts at Grace Community Church! The choir has one more concert here tomorrow night before heading down to Virginia on Saturday!

Here are a few shots from the first two concerts here at Grace:

Daraja Flashback:

Last week, during Daraja’s journey into the Northeast, we had the chance to stop in Washington DC for a day! The choir toured the White House, stopped by the Capitol, and then spent the rest of the day at the Smithsonian Museums! So much fun!