{"id":2622,"date":"2024-12-02T12:30:41","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T12:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.asimons.co.uk\/?p=2622"},"modified":"2025-01-21T12:35:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T12:35:49","slug":"in-malindi-for-joyces-ordination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.asimons.co.uk\/?p=2622","title":{"rendered":"In Malindi for Joyce’s Ordination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Saturday 30\/11\/2024 – Ordination<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The big day dawns, and there’s a lot to get ready. Sometimes you just have to sit down and think about it…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joyce is ready<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And I’ve been Africanised <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the Cathedral I’m introduced to so many people, all wishing Joyce (and the other ordinands) well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A huge procession forms up outside the church, but as people realise how long they might be standing in the sun many seek shade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Various clergy assemble – including the man in a wig, who I believe is the Chancellor of the Diocese and is required to make the ordinations legal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Bishop is here, we can get started<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Processing round the partly-complete Cathedral<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The candidates for ordination are presented to the congregation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A long service with readings and prayers, almost all in Kiswahili<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joyce’s turn arrives – the moment of ordination<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The new deacons with the Bishop<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back at Joyce’s, a feast awaits us. Several clergy join us, though they have to move on to other celebrations later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joyce’s mum shows that age is no barrier to dancing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mum helps Joyce cut the cake<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There’s a funny tradition in Kenya where a celebration cake is shared – guests feeding the host and vice versa. I was not excused!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The girls took my camera and had some fun<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Having masterminded the party, Joyce junior is allowed to rest<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sunday 1\/12\/2024 – Thanksgiving<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My day started early with a run to the centre of Malindi and back. The roundabout has sculptures of wild animals on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Soon we were off to Gede, to Joyce’s church (St James), ready for a service of thanksgiving that would take much of the day. They’re not shy of telling you how you can make an offering via your phone! (Actually, that was one of the few things that was in English rather than Kiswahili).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Several choirs led the worship – I think this was the Youth Choir<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A visiting choir from Kilifi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There were many ministers present, each playing their part in the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It wouldn’t be a celebration without cake; here new Deacons Joyce and Mike make the incision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They were given gifts by the parish<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The last of the group shots<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joyce models a lovely cloth she was given as a gift<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We then went upstairs where lunch was served.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After lunch we headed to Joyce junior’s house in Watamu and while Rev Joyce attended a meeting we went to the beach, where I swam and ran. We then retired to a small bar to take a beer while we waited for her reverence to return. There are worse places to drink…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joyce took “hanging around” rather literally<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was quite dark when, after a fish supper, we left the beach and made our way back to Malindi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Monday 2\/12\/2024 – Leaving Malindi<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before we left Malindi I took a run, this time away from town. I remembered the instruction to turn left at the little mosque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A tree with an anthill (or termite mound?) up its trunk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even for me, 7am is a bit early for a beer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We didn’t move quickly – by the time we’d packed up, dropped the others in Watamu, driven south via Kilifi and Mtwapa, crossed the ferry, and drive to Diani the day was all but finished! We met another of Joyce’s nieces, Valentine, when she finished work and shared a late dinner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday 30\/11\/2024 – Ordination The big day dawns, and there’s a lot to get ready. Sometimes you just have to sit down and think about it… Joyce is ready And I’ve been Africanised At the Cathedral I’m introduced to so many people, all wishing Joyce (and the other ordinands) well. A huge procession forms up… Continue Reading In Malindi for Joyce’s Ordination<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","radius"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43dbc-Gi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.asimons.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.asimons.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.asimons.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.asimons.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.asimons.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2622"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.asimons.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2688,"href":"https:\/\/blog.asimons.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622\/revisions\/2688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.asimons.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.asimons.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.asimons.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}