Katie and I are so grateful for the time we have taken to go through this process.  We knew at the beginning of 2018 that we needed to take a minimum of three months off during the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019.  The physical demands of touring full time (multiplied by 11 years makes your body feel at least 10 years older.  When we found out that Katie was pregnant we immediately (and unanimously) decided that 3 months needed to actually be 5 months.  

5 months seemed the most natural to us.  It is what our collective mind and body have been saying for years.  Our Spirit also let us know we need to take this time for ourselves, for our baby, for our family and our career(s).  The culture from which we come from however says the opposite.  The idea that a mom and dad would take anything more than a week or two away from the hampster wheel is ridiculous.  Right?  My job can feel like a hampser wheel too sometimes.  I'm not calling anyone out in particular.

Where I'm from, the second question a lot of people ask a stranger (after what is your name) is "what do you do?" 

What do you do... as in what do you do for work and/or how do you make money??
We are conditioned to work but are we Created to grind? Are we Created to make a corporation as much money as possible? Or in my case, am I Created to grind 175 shows a year... I could do 300 if I wanted... and make as much as possible for the family...

Am I created to do that? 
At what cost?

How much of my today to I give up for (the hope of) tomorrow?

I have felt both ways.

Am I or am I not defined by what I do (or don't do) to make money...
And, is my worth or identity connected to it?
If so, how much.

​These are things I think about.

Taking four and half months to learn how to be a family was the best thing we could have ever done.  If there was one thing we could have done better - it would have been to take more time. Like 6, 7 or 8 months.  Developing this bond between all three of us is priceless.  No amount of money could be more important then all the time(s) we get to hold her in our arms.  We get to build this trust with one another. When she cries (which isn't a lot) she self comforts or finds comfort in either Katie or myself.  That is trust.  And that trust is sacred to us.

5 months of maternity and paternity leave has been vital to the foundation of our family.
I can't believe (actually, I can) why our hyper consuming, money worshiping leaders (and talking heads) feel that new mothers and fathers are "lazy" and "entitled" for wanting (or believing) that anything more than a week away from making someone (else) money (after your birth) is a bad thing.

A few miles behind where we live (on the backside of the mountain and a few miles up hill) is a neighborhood called the Red Hill Township.  Townships (in South Africa) are where the blacks live.  The townships are metal shacks with stones weighing down the roofs. Many South Africans say it is dangerous to go in (or around) the townships... 

Over where we live, in Scarborough, we pick up hichhikers from Red Hill (everyone in South Africa hitchhikes). People stand on the side of the road with money in their hand. A lot of the population does not have a car (let alone the means to save up and buy a car). 

We pickup hitchhikers every single day when we drive past Red Hill.  The people we meet are not dangerous.  They are not poor.  They dress nicer than Katie and me. They are rich in culture not to mention some of the nicest people we meet.  We have picked up some South Africans but mostly refugees from Zimbabwe and other people from Malawi and Namibia.  

Just some of the most beautiful people you would ever meet with amazing stories.
We talk to these people like we do anyone - with respect, dignity and sensitivity.

One of the men we picked up was a refugee from Zimbabwe. Katie expressed her sorrow about the violence that caused him to leave his home.  He looked at her and said "the media makes it worse than it is and I just have to enjoy my life where I'm at today and make the most of it and I am happy."

That's what he said after we dropped him off at the Township.

Here I am living this life of privilege. 
In my nice rental car coming back from my ocean front AirBnb that I rented for a few months.
Going to and from the grocery store at will, without having to climb, walk and/or hitchhike the 15 miles up and down a massive mountain because I will never make enough money in my lifetime to ever buy a car... This refugee from Zimbabwe whom we picked up hitchhiking told us (and showed us) that he is happy. So. Who is rich and who is poor?

If you want to be rich, want more or desire less.

I have to decide to see, listen, feel, receive, process and never forget the stories of so many people I have met across this continent and around the world.

Or, do I decide to not see, not listen, not feel and instead assume, pity and so on??

​Or is it both. Am I rich and poor?

I'm grateful to perform at the ReForest Festival in the beautiful Platbos Forest.  ReForest Festival is put on by Greenpop, which is one of South Africas greenest NGO's in the country. They're green because it is a tree planting festival.  Just this year alone they planted over 2000 tree's.  

I absolutely loved the child talent show.  Huge thanks to the parents who are out there encouraging their children to explore their creativity.  I am beyond grateful to bring my music to this festival.  I am humbled that we have been given the gifts and the stories of so many,  We remember.

Thank you Greenpop for bringing us back to this amazing festival and thank you to everyone who came out to see my set.  It's amazing to see how every year the crowd gets a little bigger.  It's a humble reminder when I find myself in the valley to simply trust the process.

Another highlight was that our daughter Rayah was 3 weeks old for the event. 

​She was definitely the youngest at the festival. 

I love holding her.  She melts my heart and brings me to center.  To the present, and then your name gets called and it's go time...

This is a picture of me trying to tell her why I have to put her down to do sound check. 

At 01:08 am on February 23, 2019 we welcomed our daughter Rayah Aurora Ernst into this world.  She was born up in our tree house, just outside Cape Town, South Africa.  Rayah and Katie are both doing great.  Katie labored for a little over four hours.  We were accompanied by two midwives, with whom I have the utmost respect for.  This was the most unbelievable experience of our lives. 

​Thank you to everyone who sent us their love, prayer and solidarity.  Thank you to the Women who hold space for all Life.  We are blessed to witness the birth of our daughter - as well as the birth of a new mother and new father. 

Sincerely, 
Brian, Katie and Rayah Ernst

We have spent almost 12 years traveling the USA and around the world.  Living from van to tour bus to hotel and airbnb to camp ground, national park and more couches than we can count.  What started as a distant dream slowly, slowly bloomed into a dream we never could have imagined. 

There are plenty of pro's and con's.  And social media (and the internet in general) skews our realities into romance.  We walk between the peaks and valleys, trying to live as humble as possible.  We spent the whole year living in our van and saving our money so that we could come out to South Africa, rent a few AirBnb's at some of our favorite places and, of course, pay for the pre and post natal for the birth of our child.

South Africa is a special place for many reasons.
The diversity - biological and cultural to name a few.
Her beautiful coastline is not only the edge of the African continent but rough and rigged coastline that connects two Oceans. ​

Another thing that makes South Africa so special is how she is misunderstood. 
She bears the name of the magnificent African continent - which to some people in the western world, (Africa) carries a stigma of inferiority, or lack or poor when South Africa and the rest of this continent is far from that dogma. 

It was interesting to hear the words that came out of some peoples mouth.

We heard the "it's a dangerous place."
We heard the "it's not safe for white people."
We heard all about the "white genocide" being pushed by certain news media.
All of this came from Americans who don't have a passport and also have never been to Africa or know (really) anything about South Africa.

They just assumed we were going to have our baby out in the bush.
Which millions of people still do to this day.  And there is nothing wrong with that. ​

As I said earlier, we saved up our money all year to get a few really nice places (to us) so we could unwind after our tours and have a baby where we are comfortable and safe.

There were many people who don't understand that South Africa is, in a lot of ways, similar to USA, Europe and the rest of the western world. (Which is not why we travel here).

I hate saying this...
But too many times, the thing that made my fellow westerners pause their onslaught of intrusive you are a bad parent for going to (South) Africa to have your baby  interrogation was when Katie or myself would say the words "there are white people in South Africa! There are roads, and infrastructure and hospital (nice) hospitals, and healthcare and billions of people who are having healthy babies just like in America!"

Then we watch (over and over) peoples faces say exactly what is registering in their brains.
"Oh, there are white people and white culture there?? Ohh Uuhhh... maybe they (might) be safe after all." 

Why is it when my fellow privileged westerners learn that there are white people in (South) Africa that, all of a sudden, it's not as "bad" as we assumed it to be???

We never get to have that conversation though...

Africa is an extremely rich place.
It is more diverse than anywhere I've seen.
The people here and their faith in particular.
And I'm talking about all of their faiths.

Faith that comes from struggle.
Us privileged westerners can't fathom The Struggle here.
And the Rock Solid Faith that comes from that, in my opinion, is Richness that us privileged aren't privileged to feel unless we truly Struggle.

That is just my opinion though.
Katie and I don't measure a nation (or it's people) by it's GDP or how much money it has or doesn't have. Maybe that's just me though...

It was very important for Katie (and myself) to go where we were most comfortable.  Being in a safe place was the first priority.  Which is why we came to South Africa. :) 

There are problems here in South Africa.
Just like a few other places I know.

There are some thieves you do have to keep a look out for.

Hide yo kids.
Hide yo wife.
The baboons are everywhere!!

We just finished playing an awesome festival and went back to the free room they gave us. We're about to crawl into bed when I happened to look up.  (I wish I didn't).  See that "little dot" in the upper left hand corner?

Oh. My. God.    let me get the zoom lens...

So this guy was right above our bed... He was the bigger than the size of my whole hand...  The problem was that the ceiling was about 10 feet off the ground, so a newspaper wouldn't work. 

I thought about throwing a pillow at it, but then it dawned on me that it could probably catch the pillow and throw it back.  And, I definitely didn't want to piss it off before I turned off the lights.  (Plus, he had two somewhat smaller cousins on the other side of the room).

We sort of had a staring contest.  We agreed that we wont mess with him if he doesn't mess with us.

There are a few things that would warrant a new hotel room here in Africa.  Roided up tarantula's that make their homes above your head isn't necessarily one of them.  Especially if it's midnight, when there are probably no other available rooms anyway. 

Obviously there are more important struggles going on in Africa than this guy watching me while I sleep.  So, we just check our privilege and thank God that we woke up alive the next morning.  

#AfricaAintForSissies

We are extremely grateful to be in this magnificent country.  It's our third time touring South Africa and yet, sometimes it still feels like it's our first.  I get that feeling every time I come to Africa.  We've only spent about 13 months in the Motherland. Mostly in Kenya and South Africa, but also Botswana, Uganda and Egypt.  Africa is so big and so diverse it doesn't even feel like we scratched the surface. 

​The more time I spend here, the more I see how much I don't know. 

This tour is more regional than the previous cross country tours we did in 2013 and 2017.  Instead of living backpackers to backpackers, we are going to base ourselves between the Garden Route and Cape Town. 

The Garden Route is a beautiful drive that reminds me of the Pacific Coast Highway in California or HWY 101 in Oregon Country.  The Garden Route goes east to west starting in Cape Town all the way to Port Elizabeth. ​

Katie and the baby are doing great.  The pregnancy is normal and we are so happy to be here right now.  We are both nesting pretty hard right now.  It still doesn't feel real that we're going to live in a house for 5 months...  Our bodies are still slowly winding down from the road. 

Last month we had a midwife appointment at our house.  I walked out to greet our midwife and immediately heard (not just her American accent) but a mid-western accent.  An American accent is easily identifiable to a lot of people around the world (mostly because of pop culture).  When she told me she was from Milwaukee, Wisconsin - living and working in South Africa, I knew there was a good chance we might have some things in common.

Our midwife told us about how her her best friend saved up some money, quit their jobs and flipped a coin to decide where they were going to spend the next year of their lives.  Heads is Vietnam, tails in South Africa.  Tails is was.  It didn't even take the full year for them to realize that they wanted to live in (the Garden Route of) South Africa so they went home, saved more money, came back out here and bought a beautiful plot of land on top of a mountain.  Her and her husband grow their own food and live in  one of the many communities that are rooted in African village life. 

Our midwife was one of the few people who totally understood why we came to South Africa to have our baby.  She understood so much that she didn't even ask any questions.  She laughed because she said she would do the same thing too. 

It's been nice playing shows along this beautiful coast.  I love the South African music scene.  I'm blessed to feel welcomed here.  The music and story lines go deep here.  Those lines of communication run through the veins that travel the length of this vast continent.

We are blessed to be a witness.

To be continued...

Here are a few of the highlights and accomplishments we were able to do through Journey4YOUth this year. Thank you to everyone who supported our music and the various causes we're passionate about.  2018 was the biggest year on the books.   We have more updates coming soon.

Katie and I would like to begin with Gratitude. Thank you all for another great year. We are going to take some time off the road and go live in South Africa for the next 5 months. We rented an airbnb on the Garden Route (Dec/Jan) and a small flat outside Cape Town (Feb/March). We'll use this time to create new art, write new music and learn how to be a family. That way we'll be ready and full of new life when we come back to USA next spring/summer.
​
I booked a few local shows and festivals during our time in South Africa. We can't wait to reconnect with our friends and community out there.
Thank you for showing us what is possible. 
Brian, Katie & New Baby.
​
2019 SOUTH AFRICA SUMMER TOUR8 DEC - Cocomo (Widlerness, SA) 6pm
14 DEC - The Seashack (Struisbaai/Cape Aghulas, SA) 2-5pm
16 DEC - Mahkanawe Music Festival (Soweto)(Johannesburg, SA)
22 DEC - Cocomo (Wilderness, SA) 6pm
23 DEC - Kaaimans (Wilderness, SA)
29 DEC - Cocomo (Wilderness, SA) 6pm
30 DEC - Wild Spirit New Year Festival (Natures Valley, SA)
31 DEC - NYE Party at African Bush Cafe & Farm (Hoekwil, SA)
2 JAN - Kaaimans (Wilderness, SA) 5pm
5 JAN - The Surf (Plettenberg Bay, SA) 830pm
7 JAN - Fairy Knowe Backpackers (Wilderness, SA) 8pm
11 JAN - Cocomo (Wilderness, SA) 6pm
​12 JAN - Scarab Market (Sedgefield, SA) 10am
19 JAN - The Surf (Plettenberg Bay, SA) 830pm
21 JAN - Barlycorn Music Club (Cape Town, SA) 10-1030pm
22 JAN - Quay4 on V&A Waterfront (Cape Town, SA) 7pm
26 JAN - Cafe Roux (Noordhoek/Cape Town, SA) 2pm
​27 JAN - The Brass Bell (Kalk Bay/Cape Town, SA) 3pm
23 FEB - House of Machines (Cape Town, SA) 930pm
10 MAR - The Brass Bell (Kalk Bay/Cape Town, SA) 3pm
11 MAR - House Concert (Muizeberg, SA) 6pm
15 MAR - Camel Rock (Scarborough, SA) 8pm
16 MAR - ReForest Festival (Platbos, SA)
17 MAR - ReForest Festival (Platbos, SA)
22 MAR - Fairy Knowe Backpackers (Wilderness, SA) 8pm
23 MAR - Scarab Market (Sedgefield, SA) 1030am
24 MAR - Kaimaans (Wilderness, SA) 6pm
30 MAR - Cocomo (Wilderness, SA) 6pm
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