There are a few things that impacted my decision to go to Africa. In 2003, at Eastern Illinois i was fortunate enough to be able to see a performance by the African Children's Choir. This choir is made up of orphans and the poorest of the poor children from all over Uganda. They were featured on American Idol for their Idols give back campaign. They are fantastic. Check out the video link below. How could you not fall in love with these faces.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydrSO5SXnes
I still have the email saved in my inbox that i sent to my mom that night telling her that i wanted to work with the choir. I guess that officially started my plans in my head of going to Africa. That was my first choice when looking into my trip this summer. I was really bummed when they changed their trips and it wasn't going to be an option, but I am so excited about the opportunity to go with Empower a child.
Some of you know that in the middle of my masters program i started going to Yoga. I found it to be a really awesome way to release stress. The yoga that i go to is tough, but great. The instructor is really awesome and i like her style a lot. She plays a lot of different music while she essentially kicks our butts. One day i noticed a song playing in the background that sounded like the African Children's Choir. It took several visits to yoga for me to hear the song and remember enough of the words to google it when i got home. Trust me, it is a lot harder to remember the words to a song, when you're more concerned about falling on your face... i'm just sayin' BUT anyway, come to find out, when i googled the Lyrics, it was a song called Million Voices by Wyclef Jean featuring the African Children's Choir. The song is about the genocide that took place in 1994 in Rawanda.
The video is a pretty graphic if you would like to watch it, but you can also minimize the screen and just listen to the words. The genocide in Rawanda was massive and the people in Burundi suffered a similar experience. Burundi is where Rajabu was from (the little guy i tutored).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACP-mjyERK0
I was feeling pretty restless in my job. Frustrated with the students in my school's lack of understanding about what is truly important. Not that it is their fault, it is just their experiences are different then mine. When walking down the halls and the conversation after Christmas is about who got an Iphone AND an XBox 360, and who JUST got an IPOD... which was just crazy to me, i was questioning exactly what i was doing. I mean really, what 5th grader DOESN'T need an IPhone, i'm just sayin'
Anyway.. I have always talked about teaching abroad, but while i really want to do that, i have a great life here. A job which aside from minor frustrations i LOVE, amazing friends, and my family being here is not something you can complain about by any means. My mom suggested looking into summers to see if that would be a way to have the "best of both worlds." A comment she may be regretting now. HAHA
May 16th, 2009 I took a personal day to take treats to Rajabu's school for his Birthday. He's awesome and i didn't want the kids to ask him where the treats were. I asked my friend Erin (his teacher) who would get treats for his birthday and she said that it would have been her. Not all teachers buy treats for kids who can't afford them, but my friend Erin is Awesome. She had several students in her class who would not be able to bring in treats, so i thought that it was a great way for me to spend the day. I took dunkin' donuts and a birthday present over to spend the afternoon. It was most certainly the best day I had that year. Hands down. It was pretty funny though when the kids thought i was Rajabu's mom... can you see the resemblance in the pictures below. HAHA. I worked on a diorama with him and a presentation on the Ostrich. He was pretty pumped when he learned that like him, it was from Africa. He shared with his class that "I am from African, and the Ostrich is from African!!!"
For his birthday i picked up a book that we had read that he liked, a coloring book and crayons, and quite possibly the gift of gold... a glitter ball. I don't know if you are aware of this, but apparently on the playground, if you have a glitter ball, you're cool. This was one of the least expensive presents i have ever bought for a kid, and his reaction was priceless. He opened it all up with the biggest smile i have ever seen. When he took it all out and looked at it, he turned to me and asked "I get to take this to my home?" It was the best moment ever. I hadn't experienced such appreciation from a 1st grader in a long time. He made me cry. Check him out.
There were a lot of little things that kept coming up though out various parts of my life last year that made me feel like going to Africa is something I have to do. I have no idea what will happen while I am there, or what it will be like when i come home. I know this is going to be an unforgettable experience because i know that after a short time of knowing Rajabu, my life has certainly been changed.
