After a delicious lunch of african-style pilau rice, and some reorganization of our luggage, courtesy of our friends the Lewises in Niagara Falls, New York, we set out for the border to Canada. We cleared immigration relatively easily for two vehicles carrying an American, an Australian, a Kiwi, a Canadian and 7 members of a Maasai choir. We arrived at Chris and Joy Borutski’s place near Waterloo, our accommodation for the evening, to find an event in full swing. After singing for our hosts and their friends and sharing some stories the Maasai were treated to a song in return and were even more delighted when they were able to lend their own voices to the harmony with a Swahili chorus.

The next day began with a Maasai introduction to frost — no, this is not the snow we’ve been warning you about! Then we were taken to St Jacob’s market where we were given permission to do some spontaneous busking. Our audience was very generous and the Maasai gave their first outdoor performance bravely despite the autumn chill. We warmed them back up with hot apple fritters and spent the rest of the afternoon recuperating at our accommodation. Thanks to the crew who took us out there.

Saturday night Elevation co-ordinated an event, where we sang at St. Johns Lutheran Church. This event was particularly exciting as we were reunited with Jeremy Feser’s sister Nadine, the author of the En-kata photo book. The church building lent itself beautifully to the voices of the Maasai and we were even treated to a performance on the church organ. We were fed a wonderful dinner afterwards and enjoyed the opportunity to mingle with the congregation.

Needless to say we couldn’t have imagined a better start to our Canadian leg of the tour. Thanks so much to everyone for making us feel so welcome!