Saturday, November 8, 2008

Usa River Academy Parent's Visiting Day

Last Saturday, Usa River Academy hosted a day full of singing and dancing preformances, speeches, food, and christmas carols for the families of student's attending the school. Parent's Visiting Day is really special because Usa River administration does not allow for any parental visits throughout the course of the term except on this day. So all of the children have been anxiously awaiting this day. Luckily, since The Foundation For Tomorrow has 32 children attending Usa River I get some special treatment and am permitted to visit more than just this one day. Although I frequently visit the schools and TFFT students there, this did not decrease their excitment for the celebration. I was getting reminders every week from them since the beginning of term not to miss November 1st!

My Mom was in Arusha visiting, so we spent the day with the children listening to stories of teachers, school, friends, and families after the performances were complete. It was great to spend some down time with all the kids, as I am normally there giving out school supplies or tutoring in a more formal setting. I was able to get a little bit more insight into some of their personalities - for example, Zacharia wants to be a photographer. He had my Mom's camera for two hours just snapping every possible scene and got some amazing shots! Ombeni Elia wants to be a teacher or the President, I also learned that he is an excellent tour guide as he took my Mom around campus telling her all about it.

Parent's Visiting Day brought other visitors for the children as well. Aunts and Uncles, Mama's and Aunties, and friends for Violethi, Simon, Isack, Zacharia, Richard, Aminelly, Happy, Glory, and Irene also joined in on the festivities. Most of the visitors were new faces for me, so I was really happy to meet everyone and so appreciative that they made the long journey to visit the children - the endess smiles were enough for me to know that it made their weekend!

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