My girls!

Today we spent pretty much the entire day at a choir performance for all of the primary schools in the district. It was hot and crowded and looong and the chairs were terrible, and it was awesome :) Like Jaynie said today, "There's not a child in this country who's not pitch perfect with great rhythm." It was soo fun to see them sing and dance and be so animated! It was also pretty interesting when Pastor Sam would explain to us what was going on (most of it was in Ateso, the local language).

I haven't been to any elementary performance in the US in a while, but I remember all of mine being about baseball or princesses and fairy tales. Today, theirs were about HIV, government corruption, women being taken by rebel soldiers, and witch doctors kidnapping kids for child sacrifice - all real happenings in Uganda's recent history. It's just crazy... I cannot imagine understanding and thinking about any of that as a child or having to be a parent to a child who is exposed to those things and having no way to protect them... It's certainly a while different world over here.

My favorite parts of the day - Job, a boy who we met on our first trip who is also a neighbor to Amelia in her village, was one of the main characters for his school. He is so cute and so fun to watch - really animated and a great dancer :) Loved him!

Thennn, another school got up to perform and my Diana (the girl I met on my first trip who I'm sponsoring and have been hoping to find) was front and center! We made eye contact and both got the biggest smiles on our faces. THen she got the attention of Agnes (her best friend who's being sponsored by my best friend) and she got a huge smile on her face too! After they got done performing, they ran over to me and gave me huge hugs and said a quick hello.

After the choir performances, there were a few students who got up to do speeches. And my Diana was one of the kids talking... She was soo good and she was one of the few kids who actually talked loud enough to be heard over the crowd. I was like an excited mama about to burst with pride because of that sweet girl! She ran over to me again afterwards and we were able to talk for a little bit longer. She told me she would be at church on Sunday so we could talk again... I'm so thankful that the Lord brought us together when I really had no idea who I would find her! :) Eyalama Yesu!

Headed to bed now, I don't know why I'm alwaysss the last one up! Sorry there aren't any pictures again tonight :/ But I'll leave you with my favorite quote from the day...

After getting dressed this morning, Christine (our cook and super great caretaker) told me that I looked very smart today (which apparently means I looked cute :). So i was pretty excited that a Ugandan liked my outfit and was feeling pretty good about myself. Then, ten minutes later, Pastor Sam came to the compound to take us to watch the performances. As soon as I walked out of my room, he said, "You're ready to go? You look like a Jew..." Everyone started cracking up and I said, "What in the world does that mean?! Is that supposed to be a compliment??" He just responded by saying, "I like the Jews, the Hebrews are a nice people." Soo I still actually have no idea what he meant by his comment, but I guess I have no choice but to assume it's the nicest compliment you can give someone in Uganda ;)

Love you guys!
Caitlin

ps - Kati and Amy... Cecilia was also part of the performances today. She was the female lead in two or three of them actually! She got to wear some beauuutiful outfits and did a great job :) I'll try to post pictures for you guys another time!