Rwanda Youth Music, from Idea to Reality

Dear friends,

It has been a while since the last update. So much is going on that we barely have time to stop, take a breath, and thank everyone for their support and enthusiasm.

In short, Rwanda Youth Music is a reality. We will go back to Rwanda in two weeks to continue the project together with the inspiring twenty youth leaders and hundreds of children in the program. This time, we will be joined by local musicians that were recruited in May this year. We will sing, play, drum, and record! One of our new partners is the Kigali Music School, a young institution working to provide music education for children and youth in Rwanda.

One of the school's main activities is an outreach program that every week brings teachers to slum neighborhoods, hospitals, and centers, to teach those who cannot afford it, and to use the healing power of music with those who need it most. They specifically focus on traumatized or orphaned children and youth who still carry the scars of the genocide or its consequences. They also give small performances and do music workshops with women and young girls, victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. We have launched a fund-raiser for the music school, which is struggling to survive. Please donate if you can:

RWANDA YOUTH MUSIC
OVERVIEW SINCE 2010

In 2010 we traveled to Rwanda and Uganda not knowing what we will find. We met so many wonderful people and organizations, and did music workshops with hundreds of children and women all around the countries. We are so grateful to have found WE-ACTx, the Rwandan medical organization taking care of thousands of HIV-positive patients, among them hundreds of children and youth. And so, Rwanda Youth Music was born in summer 2010.

Click here for more photos from our 2010 assessment trip to Rwanda and Uganda

In 2011 we returned to give music workshops in the summer, and together with the youth leaders and WE-ACTx decided to create a yearlong project instead of only once a year in the summers. It hasn't been easy, but we managed to raise just enough funds, mainly thanks to individual donors like you, and start an intensive training program for the youth leaders.

Click here for more photos from the 2011 training

In 2012, we have already given two week-long workshops to the youth leaders in February and in May, and now are getting ready for a longer 3-weeks training in July-August.

In February, Otto de Jong and Joey Blake, a professor  of voice from Berklee College of Music, worked with the youth leaders, working on voice training and pedagogy.

 Click here for more photos from the February training

The talented documentary filmmaker Micha Hilliard created a short documentary film about the program after joining MwB team in February 2012:

Lydia Hsu, an independent journalist living in Rwanda, wrote an article about the February training and Joey's visit: American Jazz maestro empowers HIV patients via music

In April 2012, Dutch Jazz singer and Musicians without Borders Ambassador, Denise Jannah, traveled to Rwanda to give workshops and performances to hundreds of children and their families at WE-ACTx programs. The event was sponsored by the Dutch Embassy.

Click here to see more photos from Denise's workshops

An article about Denise's visit can be read here: Jazz star graces Music Family Day

In May, Laura Hassler, MwB director, Danny Felsteiner and Joey Blake, traveled to Rwanda to give another training week, and work on fund raising. We focused on voice training, singing, and songwriting.

Click here for more photos from May

Two articles were published about the May work:
- Musicians without Borders brings hope and healing through music, on Rwanda New Times
- Using music to heal, on The Independent

In May 2012, we have also recruited three talented local musicians: Kim Thuita, Aline Gahongayire, and Moise Mutangana. They work with the youth leaders on a weekly basis, strengthening their musical skills.

Click here for more photos from the weekly trainings

Again, I would like to thank all our donors for their support.

In peace,
Danny Felsteiner

Rwanda is Beauty

I remember walking in the gardens of the genocide memorial in Kigali, admiring the strong tall trees and strange plants which I had never seen before. There was also a stone fountain placed in a serene setting; closing my eyes I could hear and smell beauty.

Emerging from the gardens I found myself staring at immense slabs of gray concrete. Young flowers were haphazardly cast upon them, disturbing the ashen soberness. Underneath, thousands of men, women and children lay, silent, screaming tragedy. I looked at the hills around me: Clay patches of earth in between shacks of wood and tin and mud and bananas, lots of banana trees. I could hear the city traffic, and the presence of many people. There was a certain rhythm in the air, which felt like music, and birdsong, which made me smile.

Rwanda is beauty. Rwanda is tragedy. Rwanda is clay. Rwanda is rhythm and song.

My family, Musicians without Borders, had brought me there so I bring music to the people. But what I found was more music than I could ever grasp. The music of tradition, of change, of reconciliation, of rebuilding, of life. I am forever grateful for this opportunity.

I have seen the power of music with my own eyes. With Iraqi children who had lost everything. With Ugandan youth who had been forced to carry guns. With Rwandan women who had been the victims of dreadful deeds. With young Palestinians and Israelis who found each other with a simple song. With my own brother who had lost hope many times.

I'm going back to Rwanda in one month, to offer my simple perspective of the healing power of music. To be inspired by brave children and youth who fight the stigma of HIV on a daily basis. Mostly, I'm going back to meet my friends again.

Rwanda Youth Music is a music program. It's hope, and it's passion, and love:

Be part of it: http://www.indiegogo.com/RwandaYouthMusic2

-- Peace,

Danny

Hi everyone,
First of all, I would like to share with you some words WE-ACTx youth leaders wrote about the upcoming project:

Joseph: "First of all, we can not believe this. This music is important for me because before starting to do this music I was depressed and had many fear, I lost my future's hope but when I started to do this activity immediately I started to feel happiness in my heart and to create friendships between each other. That's why I can say that this music it takes one big part in my mind and for my health."

Joseph, WE-ACTx Youth Leader

Aime: "Music is a symbol of friendship for us in our country, and it will help us to create a new image between us it will help us also to be released from depression in order to have a better future. So, I think we will learn how to teach the others including our parents who are HIV+ in order to show them that they have a value for themselves and for their country."

Aime, WE-ACTx Youth Leader

Joint voices: "Let's rise up our hands to fight depression, stigmatization in order to have a better future for us and our neighbors without fear for saying that you have HIV+, and talk about our health status openly like any other medical situation, music is our first bridge to reach this goal."

The problem is that this project is not happening. At least not yet. We are dependent on fundraising, which is so difficult these days. That's why we have decided to try using the idea of crowdfunding -- we present the project to the good people of the world and hope that many individuals will donate and so make the project happen. After two and a half weeks we managed to raise $4,600 from 50 people, and there are 45 days left. This is barely enough, and we fear that we will not reach the goal of $15,000 just to begin with the project in February.

We need your help! Please spare ten-fifteen minutes of your time, and send the link to your friends a family.

http://www.indiegogo.com/RwandaYouthMusic1

Thank you so much
Danny

Rwanda Youth Music - IndieGoGo Fundraising Campaign Started!

It's December 1, World AIDS Day, and we are launching the fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo for the beautiful project we wish to set up in 2012 together with WE-ACTx.

For information about donating, sharing, and description of the project, please visit:

http://www.indiegogo.com/RwandaYouthMusic1

Thank you!

The Song of Birds and Goodbyes

That's it. I'm back in Jerusalem after three and a half weeks.
On the morning of my flight I had the magical opportunity to give a workshop to twenty women at one of WE-ACTx women support groups. Not only was it the first time I gave a music workshop to a group of adults, but they were all women, some traumatized, some suffer from domestic violence, and some shunned from their communities. So a few days before the workshop I called Fabienne for advice: "HELP!!!" I shouted in the phone, and Fabienne replied that it will be alright if I just do what I usually do. Easy said. I felt insecure; apprehension filled my thoughts, what if they reject my presence? what if they do not respond to the musical activities? I kept in mind what a friend psychologist told me before I left, that sometimes, in such situations of women support groups it is actually an extremely positive experience to have a man that is not threatening. I could do that.

So I did what I do usually, just with even extra attention. We sang songs, and danced, and drummed, and together managed to create a secure atmosphere that was based on music, laughter and trust.

It was one of the best workshops I have ever had, watching the women smiling and laughing, singing and doing silly movements with me. In the end the trauma counselor that also participated asked the women how they felt about the workshop. One said that her heart was relieved. Before I left they sang for me a goodbye song, which I recorded, and you can listen to here:

Goodbye song in Kinyarwanda sung by the women at the workshop - Listen / Download

I would like to thank WE-ACTx for hosting me during my stay in Kigali. They had provided me with a bed, a full daily vegan meal, and moments of contemplation on the beautiful backyard balcony, where I sat to play, talk, read, and listen to the captivating song of the birds which visited the garden daily. Here's a compilation of the birds' songs that I managed to record:

The Song of Birds at WE-ACTx House - Listen / Download

Thank you everyone again, the staff members, the Latin volunteers, the peer parents, youth leaders, and the children for an unforgettable summer. I will see you soon.

Weeks of Wonder, Beauty, and Learning

Three weeks ago I met forty-five Rwandan children. Almost all were shy, silent, still nameless, abashed by the tremendous amount of attention they suddenly received from so many adults. There were sixteen Rwandan youth leaders, a dozen American high-school volunteers from Chicago (who had to leave within a week), the hardworking staff members, and one silly, bald, white-skinned guitar player, who was me.
"Good morning!" I sang, strumming the A chord on the guitar, and the children repeated warily, "good morning...?"
"Mwaramutseho!" I continued in Kinyarwanda, and more joined in the singing.

(photo: Emily Siedlik)

Today, the same kids, all now with beautiful names and unique personalities, performed on stage in front of their families, playing dreams they had come up with during theater workshops, incorporating songs and dances from the music workshops. I sat at the side, playing the guitar when needed, set to help the children to remember movements and words, but they did not need me anymore. I stood there smiling, watching, listening to the kids singing the songs in perfect pitch, passionately, squeezing their lungs to the max, and my skin crawled with goosebumps.

(photo: Emily Siedlik)

During the last three weeks I gave five hours of training sessions to the youth leaders, and together we gave twenty-five music workshops to the children at the camp. The youth leaders, or peer parents, are the heart and soul of this program. They are the ones that will continue to look after these kids during the year, meet with them regularly, give them support, be their role models. Five hours of training were definitely not enough for the youth leaders; those five hours felt like the beginning of something that currently has no clear future, but they were probably some of the best hours of my life. Watching the youth leaders working with the kids during the music workshops at camp made me realize just a little bit more what truly is Musicians without Borders all about. Every day just a little bit more.

(photo: Emily Siedlik)

Every day was a journey of discovery, laughter, and rhythm. Every workshop was a thrill. Every child a wonder. I finished the days drained of energy, but inspired and motivated. The children amazed me with their musicality, their engagement, their passion to learn, their passion to have fun as all children should.
Some of these children's personal stories are now etched in my head forever, but are not important for this blog, nor are possible to share. And why should it matter? What makes the story of a Rwandan boy more tragic than the story of a girl in Brazil or Afghanistan? All deserve the childhood we wish our own children to have: full with love, laughter, learning, hope, and a little music.

(photo: Emily Siedlik)

One thing I learned from doing music with so many children in the last five years is that compassion cannot stem from grief. It is a universal, unending gift that all of us have in abundance and all of us must share without any prejudice. And that's exactly what I realized about Musicians without Borders these days: it is all about compassion without borders, without discrimination, without inhibitions. And every time I learn again how powerful it is. I learn from the people and children I meet. I learn, I'm learning, and I can't wait for the next music workshop, with children that I still don't know, but with whom I will share, and give, and receive, and remember forever.

Self-expression and Giraffes

When I give workshops to children I concentrate on the flow of the activities, on the children's engagement, and on the level of energy. It is practically impossible to follow one child's participation in the group, to study his or her interaction with the other children, or to appreciate his or her development over time.

Training session with the youth leaders

After two intense training sessions I gave to the amazing youth leaders, and after they had had the chance to observe me for two days working with the kids, I decided to let them run full fifty-minutes workshops by themselves, so they can gain experience and confidence, and I can rest and observe. That was Thursday.

During the music workshops given by the youth leaders

During the music workshops given by the youth leaders

When describing the goals of music workshops the term self-expression always appears. But what does it really mean in practice? I decided to focus on one child, a 12-year-old girl. In a musical improvisation game that lasts for about 5 minutes, where all children move to music in a circle, she gets one opportunity to express herself in front of all the children who in return follow her moves. Ten seconds out of 5 minutes are her own. Ten seconds in which she is the center of attention, she controls the energy and leads her friends and the youth leaders. This power which manifests itself in such a positive way during the music workshop is unique. It's empowering; it's constructive. It strengthens her self-confidence and identity. She is herself and no one else, and everyone acknowledges that. I watch the girl as her turn is approaching, a clear look of anticipation shows on her face, she is excited, maybe a bit nervous, is she thinking about her moves in advance or will she improvise on the spot? When her turn comes she wiggles her hips and waves her arms in circles, all children follow and we both smile heartily. It's over, another child in the circle will now experience the same. The music stops. All thirty children clap their hands enthusiastically, they cheer and laugh, and are ready for the next activity. I watch the girl again, she looks at her friends and that smile doesn't leave her. Only ten seconds, but what an experience!

One of the youth leaders leading an activity

The week is over. Friday we took the kids to Akagera, the Rwandan National Park, where we watched giraffes, zebras, bush-bucks and impalas graze and play in the immense savanna terrain, where cellphones fail to roam. We stopped the buses next to a family of giraffes, turned off the engines and stepped out. A tornado of high-pitched giggling and calls of wonder swept the valley, and the giraffes who are used to the song of birds and the occasional hyenas' laughter, but mostly silence, looked at our tiny human forms in perplexity; how much noise can such a small creature make?

“Shhh...” the youth leaders beckoned, “the giraffes will get frightened and run away.” The children fell silent and edged slowly toward the giraffes. These were moments of awe, where the only sound one could hear was of cameras switching hands, the woosh of wind, and the crunching of grass. The little girl was there as well among her friends, watching the giraffes leave in silence, their long legs brushing the grass. She doesn't know it yet, but next week she will be learning new songs, improvising sounds and rhythms and do songwriting with her friends. I think I will ask them to write a song about the animals they have seen, and about this particular one, the most graceful, the tallest of all, the one that almost never makes any sound, but observes the world from above, listens carefully, and just enjoys the music.

In Africa: First days thoughts

I'm truly blessed to have had the opportunity to return to Rwanda this summer...

I'm crossing my legs in the airplane, sitting in the middle seat between a talkative, well-dressed man from Holland and a beautiful Rwandan woman. He is seeing his Rwandan girlfriend and bringing a tennis racket stretching machine to his friend at the Dutch embassy. She is visiting her homeland for first time after 4 years since she moved to America. We all stare at the green hills down below but probably see different things. It takes less than 3 hours to cover a distance that would take 5 weeks just a hundred years ago.

What would I see and hear if I did this route back then? In 5 weeks of traveling I would hear hundreds of different dialects and languages and accents, I would listen to magnificent music, prayers and chants, I would hear so many different songs of birds, they could fill the history of music, and the rhythms of galloping animals, of ritual drums and of women battering flour with sticks and stones.

Underneath me is Kenya, and there is Sudan, and on my far right is Congo, and soon we will fly over Uganda and enter Rwanda. Each country name brings up the inevitable connotations of war, poverty, hunger, diseases, genocide, rape. But what about food, and dance and music? What do I know about the people in Africa that doesn't include the stereotypical image of an African child with a distended belly?

Last year I felt like a stranger, and when we left I felt we had made new friends. Last week when I met these people again a feeling of joy swept through me; such a strong feeling that I hadn't expected.  We hugged like a family reunited and laughed and sang songs from last year. The next three weeks I will be giving workshops to the youth leaders and work with the children at the summer camp. I'm so honored to be able to give them just a little bit back of what they have been giving me. Africa is a continent with unending amounts of wisdom, beauty, and love. I am trying to absorb everything but am only a child and have still much to learn. With teary eyes I looked into my friend's eyes, and he smiled and said, "Come on, Dan, let's make some music."

Traveling again, the project continues

In 4 weeks I will travel again to Africa. And like last time, the flight will be my personal time machine, taking me to a continent so distant in its pace, life style, and mind set.

But the year will be the same year, and the world will still be the Earth we know. Internet and Facebook and Google are words well-known in Rwanda, but not as much as war and AIDS and malaria. I remember last time during a bus trip in the countryside we watched Rwandan men and women, young and old, some with babies swaddled on their backs, digging a hundred-kilometer-long trench at the side of the road. They were preparing the ground for fiber optic lines that would carry the Internet signal from Kenya to Rwanda.

Maybe when the Western world meets the Rwandan child in the virtual world it will re-discover the continent that it has forgotten decades ago. A continent overflowing with beautiful landscapes, beautiful music, and beautiful people.

This time I will work only with HIV+ youth and children in Kigali, Rwanda, as part of the yearly summer camp organized by WE-ACTx.

Here's a video from last year, taken in Kampala, Uganda, during a workshop with the orphans at Empower African Children's house.

Please show your support for Musicians without Borders by joining the community on Facebook or directly helping to sustain the organization.

-- Danny

Back in Jerusalem, Final Notes and Numbers

That's it. On Sunday at 3.30 AM the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing landed, and 2 hours later we were back home in Jerusalem.

Almost everyone we met was very excited to hear that we come from Jerusalem, the holy city, but the best reaction goes to an eight-year-old orphan from SOS Children's Villages Entebbe who asked, “Were you there when Jesus got beaten up?”

We met so many wonderful people and organizations that do real significant and inspiring work. We are truly thankful for being able to work with so many different groups, and to learn so much from them. Rwanda and Uganda have many problems, but thanks to hardworking and motivated individuals there is a lot of hope in the air, and we have been blessed to meet some of these individuals.

Although we've been giving music workshops for several years now, we were again amazed to see the power of music. The way it can make people of all ages be free, happy, expressive, and creative, the way it can trigger emotions and encourage non-verbal dialogue and understanding, and the way it can heal.

We will finish with some numbers that best describe our trip:

2460 kilometers on the road (buses, cars, motors, and walking)

969 workshops participants (ages 3-70)

??? too many bananas

82 workshops

49 days

48 nights

14 cities and villages

9 hotels and guest houses

7 weeks

3 lakes

2 countries

1 organization to thank: Musicians without Borders

We would also like to thank Hivos for sponsoring this assessment trip to Africa, and for believing in MwB's work. Please support Musicians without Borders so these kind of projects can continue to happen.

Thank you for following our trip,

Love,

    Danny & Fabienne

Empower African Children!

Youth during music workshops at Empower African Children's house

“Music has made me what I am. It has made me self-confident. I don't know where I would be today without music.”

This was said in the end of a two-days training workshop we gave at Empower African Children house. It was said by B, a teenager whose story appears in the book Transcendent Spirit: The Orphans of Uganda, a telling and mesmerizing account of text and photographs of Ugandan orphans (photographs: Douglas Menuez, text: Rachel Scheier). Here's a quote from B's story in the book:

On the night of March 2, 1998, rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army crept into the tiny Ugandan village of Pacho. They hacked 11 people to death with machetes and burned their huts to the ground. Thirty-eight children were orphaned. Among them, little B.

The LRA, a murderous insurgent group that has terrorized northern Uganda for more than 2 decades, is most infamous for kidnapping village children and transforming them into child soldiers and sex slaves. B, then 5, and the other children of Pacho, were spared that night only because they were sleeping on the floor of a school several kilometers away when the rebels attacked—a safety practice known locally as “night commuting”.

B and his older brother, N, got news of the attack as they walked back to the village the next morning. B's mother died when he was an infant, so he was particularly dependent upon his father. B and N watched with horror that day as their father and the other victims of the LRA attack were hurriedly buried in shallow graves.

We strongly recommend that you order the book to support the EAC project, by placing your order through the website of Empower African Children: http://www.empowerafricanchildren.org

The 28 participants of the music training workshops that we gave at the EAC house welcomed us with a captivating performance of traditional African dance and music, which left us dumbstruck. During the workshops they proved to be so inspiring, talented and engaged, that we could really not hope for any better conclusion to our trip.

The girls performing for us

Empower African Children is a young, animated and vibrant organization which is set to provide a home and education to orphans and children at risk. They are currently building a school that will incorporate innovative forms of education, which will focus on students creativity, expression and preparation to real life.

The boys performing traditional dance, and drumming

The current group of children and youth at the EAC house have been traveling and performing traditional African music and dance, speaking about the situation in Uganda, their lives' stories, and giving workshops. From what we have seen and heard, they are absolutely extraordinary, and they want to give, and to teach others in their communities and other countries about the local culture and promote empowerment among other children and youth across the region.

Improvising with sticks

During the workshops, we improvised a lot, individually, in groups, and as a whole, and the vibe was so energetic and fun and musical, that everyone couldn't stop smiling and laughing. We promise to post videos when we come back to Jerusalem, but meanwhile use your imagination with the following audio bits:

Click here to listen to / download the traditional Ugandan song.

Click here to listen to / download the sticks improvisation  session.

SOS Stories and Wild Animals

Workshop with kids at SOS Children's Village Kakiri

The music workshops in Kakiri and Entebbe SOS Children's Villages were wonderful. The international organization SOS Children's Villages is celebrating 61 years of existence. In Uganda there are three villages in Gulu, Kakiri and Entebbe, home to 440 orphans or children at risk, and reaching 2500 children in the communities.

SOS Children's Village Entebbe

Check out their local websites:
www.sos-childrensvillagesuganda.org
www.sos-childrensvillagesuganda.org/gulublog
Facebook: sosougandafriends

SOS Children's Villages Kakiri

Fabienne has developed a theory that links between the children's exposure to violence and their eagerness to carry our stuff around. The connection seems far-fetched, and it might be a statistical mistake, but until now the observation cannot be denied. In Gulu, kids even took and carried Fabienne's shoes and scarf. Maybe it has to do with their need for attention and affection.

SOS Children's Villages Entebbe

SOS Children's Villages Kakiri

Entebbe lies on the shores of lake Victoria which attracts countless species of birds and other animals, namely a giant bone-crushing human-eating spider.

An Ugandan spider on our way to work

Okay, so the spider is the size of your palm, but on first sight you would also believe it could eat you. Here is a collection of other wild animals we have encountered on our way walking to the music workshops:

And some more wildly adorable children during the workshops:

And the daily quiz: How's this weird animal called? Does it have any bird friends? And why was it punished with a 6kg worth of beak and forehead?

Clubbing with Orphan Children in Gulu, Uganda

Our next trip to the city of Gulu in the far north of Uganda took us two days to complete, including 14 hours in crammed buses, a night in a rundown hotel in the bustling capital Kampala, crossing the Equator (Danny swears he felt his stomach fluids churning in the other direction once we had passed it), and being observed by dozens of baboons on the side of the road that seemed to be baffled by the caged humans in the bus who passed through their territory (Fabienne missed the baboons, as she was stuck between heavy luggage and a sick pregnant woman, and could not turn her head far enough).

Walking through the market in Gulu, Uganda

Also, as we traveled northward, we saw less and less modern houses and more traditional huts made of straw and mud. It seems that we haven't seen the worst of this country's poverty yet. In Gulu we spent 3 days with children from the SOS Children Villages, an international organization set to give shelter and support to orphaned children, and to children at risk. In every house in the village there are about 10-12 children, with one adult woman who cares for them and loves them, and in return they call her Mama.

Working with kids at SOS Children Village Gulu

From all the hodgepodge of death-dealing viruses in Africa, Danny managed to catch a mild form of flu. So with a sneeze, a cough and a slight fever, he stayed in the hotel on the first day, and Fabienne had to give the first workshop alone to more than 80 children at once, ages 3 to 16. This was quite a challenge, but thanks to the passion and enthusiasm of Mama Kevin, the workshop was fantastically successful. In any case, when Fabienne returned home she made it very clear to Danny that he would not be sick the following day.

The northern region is not as dangerous as it used to be, but it is still turbulent as it is close to the borders with Sudan and Congo, where just last week the UN stood helpless as 200 women were raped in a village in east Congo, close to Gisenyi, Rwanda, where we were just ten days ago. Children are still being abducted and recruited to vicious militias, and poverty prevails.

It is apparently the wet season here right now. We discovered this on the second night when we woke up to a booming thunderstorm. The next day we gave a workshop together in somewhat muddy conditions.

Singing with the kids on the wet grass

In contrast to orphaned children in south Uganda who lost their parents mainly to various diseases, the parents of the children here in the north were mostly killed during the violent conflict in the region. Some children were recovered from militias who kidnapped them with the intent of turning them into child soldiers, some were found wounded by bullets or machetes in raided villages, one child was found when she was just a little baby, suckling her dead mother's breast.

The children's circumstances translate directly into their behavior. In comparison with the children in south Uganda or Rwanda, the children here are very active, occasionally violent (flip-flops and little children were flying in different directions during the workshops), cannot sit still for a long period, and have concentration issues.

 These kids are much more energetic than the sometimes languid children we have met in our trip. Instead of us leading them from one activity to another, or having to excite them, the kids here were the ones who pushed us forward. They also sing and laugh SO LOUD that we came back to the hotel feeling like we had spent the afternoon clubbing: a peep in the ear, hangover, and a big silly smile. We indeed had so much fun!

So tomorrow we are heading back to central Uganda, where we will work in two more SOS Children Villages, in Kakiri and Entebbe, and another organization in Kampala... stay tuned!

On the road - sharing a taxi motor (boda-boda) in Gulu, Uganda