Uganda meets Mexico!
It's been a whirlwind past 2 weeks...I can't believe we're halfway through November already. Watch for several entries this week to fill you in on everything that's happened both around the mission, and on Chris's and my trip to St. Louis for the LCMS Servant Event Leadership Conference.
Our Reformation luncheon and joint worship service took place on October 31, then 3 days later, YLM hosted it's first ever golf tournament at Vista Hills Country Club. It went well overall; everyone from here kind of has the attitude of, "Not too shabby for our first go at it, but now we have 365 days to learn from our mistakes and make next year's even better." Three days after that, San Pablo received a visit from the Watoto Children's Choir, which is what I want to share more about below. I got an e-mail from the director in late October asking if they could perform here, maybe 2 weeks before they wanted to come. Not having a clue what it was (although now that I think about it, I think they might have come to Drury while I was there...Springfield IS on their upcoming tour schedule...), I forwarded it to Krysia and Stephen, who responded with a resounding, "Ohmygoshtheyareamazingwehavetoletthemcome!!!!!!!!" OK then! Turns out they are an internationally renowned choir from a village in Uganda, made up of children who have been orphaned by war or AIDS...internationally renowed as in they have performed with Christian artist Chris Tomlin and been on Oprah.
I wound up being their go-to person, organizing all the details of their trip--the "Concert of Hope," as they're called, meals, lodging, etc for all 29 kids and adults. Their performance was at 6:30 on November 5, so they arrived in their tour bus earlier that day. I have to say, they immediately struck me as some of the most well-behaved, polite children you will ever meet. I guess they kind of have to be since they go on the road for 6 MONTHS AT A TIME! Anyways, they greeted me with a "Good afternoon, madam. How are you?" when they got off the bus and never stopped calling everyone they met "madam" and "sir." Everyone spoke English--which, I learned, is the official language of Uganda--it was just very heavily accented in most cases. They also respond to their chaperones with "Yes, Auntie/Uncle ________" whenever they are directed to do anything. The whole choir is divided into groups of 1 chaperone (whom they call "Auntie" or "Uncle") and 2-3 of the kids. I got to be "Auntie Erin" too!
The performance itself was really something special to witness. After Krysia and Stephen's initial excitement, my hopes were pretty high, and they did not disappoint. It included song, lots of energetic dances--even an audience participation one--drums, video presentations, multiple costume changes, testimonies from the kids and some of the adults, and all of them introducing themselves and saying their name, age, and what they want to be when they grow up. The set was pretty impressive too, although I guess by now they have the whole set-up process down to a science. I wound up having to interpret all the testimonies on inredibly short notice--like 10 minutes before the concert. It hadn't really occurred to me or anyone else that half the people in attendance weren't going to understand more than basic English. Speaking of which, I also had to make sure all the PR materials I used were in both languages, which included translating some pre-printed posters the director sent me. Having stuff in Spanish is something I think about everyday, but it made me wonder if they have ever encountered an oddity like that on their U.S. tour. Wow was interpreting a challenge: a) it's way harder to interpret from English into Spanish than from Spanish INTO your native language; and b) their accents were really hard to understand at times, especially since I was all nervous, and I would have to ask them to repeat themselves a lot...eventually the audience started helping me out (they also helped out when I didn't know how to say words like "accountant"!)!
You could tell the whole thing was very gimmicky at times (like showing a really sappy, tug-at-your-heartstrings video and singing a song called, "Who Will Sing My Lullaby?" right before taking the "love offering"), but the whole point of taking the kids on tour is to raise awareness and funding for their ministry, and their ministry does sound pretty exceptional. I could try and explain what they told me about how it all operates, but I'd probably butcher it so it's probably a better idea if you visit their website, www.watoto.com. Here are some pictures from the concert though. Ann took them for me since I was up front interpreting...it was hard since they were moving pretty much constantly, but she did a fantastic job!
Until next time, blessings!
Our Reformation luncheon and joint worship service took place on October 31, then 3 days later, YLM hosted it's first ever golf tournament at Vista Hills Country Club. It went well overall; everyone from here kind of has the attitude of, "Not too shabby for our first go at it, but now we have 365 days to learn from our mistakes and make next year's even better." Three days after that, San Pablo received a visit from the Watoto Children's Choir, which is what I want to share more about below. I got an e-mail from the director in late October asking if they could perform here, maybe 2 weeks before they wanted to come. Not having a clue what it was (although now that I think about it, I think they might have come to Drury while I was there...Springfield IS on their upcoming tour schedule...), I forwarded it to Krysia and Stephen, who responded with a resounding, "Ohmygoshtheyareamazingwehavetoletthemcome!!!!!!!!" OK then! Turns out they are an internationally renowned choir from a village in Uganda, made up of children who have been orphaned by war or AIDS...internationally renowed as in they have performed with Christian artist Chris Tomlin and been on Oprah.
I wound up being their go-to person, organizing all the details of their trip--the "Concert of Hope," as they're called, meals, lodging, etc for all 29 kids and adults. Their performance was at 6:30 on November 5, so they arrived in their tour bus earlier that day. I have to say, they immediately struck me as some of the most well-behaved, polite children you will ever meet. I guess they kind of have to be since they go on the road for 6 MONTHS AT A TIME! Anyways, they greeted me with a "Good afternoon, madam. How are you?" when they got off the bus and never stopped calling everyone they met "madam" and "sir." Everyone spoke English--which, I learned, is the official language of Uganda--it was just very heavily accented in most cases. They also respond to their chaperones with "Yes, Auntie/Uncle ________" whenever they are directed to do anything. The whole choir is divided into groups of 1 chaperone (whom they call "Auntie" or "Uncle") and 2-3 of the kids. I got to be "Auntie Erin" too!
The performance itself was really something special to witness. After Krysia and Stephen's initial excitement, my hopes were pretty high, and they did not disappoint. It included song, lots of energetic dances--even an audience participation one--drums, video presentations, multiple costume changes, testimonies from the kids and some of the adults, and all of them introducing themselves and saying their name, age, and what they want to be when they grow up. The set was pretty impressive too, although I guess by now they have the whole set-up process down to a science. I wound up having to interpret all the testimonies on inredibly short notice--like 10 minutes before the concert. It hadn't really occurred to me or anyone else that half the people in attendance weren't going to understand more than basic English. Speaking of which, I also had to make sure all the PR materials I used were in both languages, which included translating some pre-printed posters the director sent me. Having stuff in Spanish is something I think about everyday, but it made me wonder if they have ever encountered an oddity like that on their U.S. tour. Wow was interpreting a challenge: a) it's way harder to interpret from English into Spanish than from Spanish INTO your native language; and b) their accents were really hard to understand at times, especially since I was all nervous, and I would have to ask them to repeat themselves a lot...eventually the audience started helping me out (they also helped out when I didn't know how to say words like "accountant"!)!
You could tell the whole thing was very gimmicky at times (like showing a really sappy, tug-at-your-heartstrings video and singing a song called, "Who Will Sing My Lullaby?" right before taking the "love offering"), but the whole point of taking the kids on tour is to raise awareness and funding for their ministry, and their ministry does sound pretty exceptional. I could try and explain what they told me about how it all operates, but I'd probably butcher it so it's probably a better idea if you visit their website, www.watoto.com. Here are some pictures from the concert though. Ann took them for me since I was up front interpreting...it was hard since they were moving pretty much constantly, but she did a fantastic job!
Until next time, blessings!
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