Shake It

Boy, do these kids know how to shake it. Today was the last day for Lew and Judy, an older volunteer couple who has been working at MPK for nearly three months. Lew has been working on the strategic plan for the organization, while Judy has been creating a curriculum proposal. In honor of their departure, the school put on quite a show to thank them for their hard work. The celebration was set to start at 2pm, but did not get underway until almost 4 (Did I mention they operate on “Ugandan time” here? Slightly worse than Jewish time, and often only slight better than “Old Laura” time!) and when until just after 6pm. There were speeches, comedic dramatizations (inside jokes which I was definitely on the outside of), and most impressively, lots of dance! There were several choreographed dances, and then even a little freestyle dance time for the children up on stage. One group of dancers was older women, all of whom are HIV+. It’s amazing that they can still maintain such strength and stamina and joy on their faces and dance with such power. I made a goodbye banner for Judy and Lew (along with Veronika, a new volunteer who has joined MPK—a gap year student from Germany) and had all the students sign it. All in all, it’s sad to see them go, as they were surrogate parents of sorts for my first three weeks here. But I’m sure I will be seeing them around Friendship Heights soon enough.
Now I’m off for the weekend to go chimpanzee trekking out west in Kibale National Forest! Full report on Monday :)