Less than 4 weeks until we depart Seattle for Rwanda. And so much to do.
My own personal items and “to do” list (my sister and I call it TODO [pronounced tow-dough]) is well under control. But I have been “volunteered” to handle a lot of the day-to-day pre-trip events for the entire team.
Some of those duties include:
- I’m in charge of preparing and publishing the final itinerary for each member of the team
- Getting personal contact information for all team members to add to the itinerary. I will receive this detail from Erica (the gal from Africa Mission Alliance [AMA]).
- Contacting the travel agent in Portland to get all of our confirmation numbers
- Once that info has been procured, I will be making the seat assignments for everyone
- Erica has put together a “wish list” of items we need to take with us for the Rwandan Children’s Choir. I’ve been elected to receive all of the items as they are donated. I’m cataloging these items and will evenly distribute them between the team members. Actually it is only 5 members, since the folks from Portland already have stuff to bring, and Angie from Spokane received her items last month. So I have stuff for the 3 of us folks from the Tri-Cities, as well as Alex & Sarah from Canada. I’ve got the Canadians’ suitcases and will, in fact, be packing their extra suitcases. I’ll give those packed suitcases to Colin (who will be driving to Seattle in late December to catch the plane) and he will give them to Alex & Sarah when we all meet up at the airport on December 28.
- Oh yes…..On our return trip from Rwanda, there will just be 6 of us, as Amon & Erica will stay another month, while Laura is staying for six months to work with the choir. So during the homeward journey, Erica has made me team leader. It actually shouldn’t be too big of a deal, since we will all have had the same travel experiences on the trip to Africa. But how I got all of these duties is beyond me.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, so will try to get you all updated now. Last July a team from the Tri-Cities, including two of our pastors, went to Rwanda and auditioned 150 children for the Rwandan Children’s Choir. They narrowed it down to 12 boys and 12 girls. These 24 children (ages 8-13) will be moving into a house (called the Choir Academy) while we are there in January. We get to help them move in!!!! How cool is that? These kids will live together in the Academy, learn English, have choir rehearsal, and be home-schooled. Apparently the only time they leave will be on Sundays for church.
Next July another team will go to Rwanda and will bring these 24 children home with them to the Tri-Cities. The children will stay here for one month before beginning a concert tour of the US & Canada. After they "rest" in the Tri-Cities, their first official stop will be at a recording studio in Los Angeles, where they will record an album. They will be on tour for 9 months and then they will return to their homeland.
This is actually to be a long-term process. Next summer (2009) there will be another set of auditions, then in January 2010 the new group of choir members will move into the Academy. Then in July 2010 the second choir will make their way to the USA to repeat the process all over again.
.................On another note, next weekend my niece is getting married. So it's a trip to Spokane on Friday, with the wedding Sunday afternoon. Should be a fun time for all and a great family bonding moment. I can hardly wait. And with any luck, I'll have pictures to share!
Until next time.
2 comments:
You do have a lot to get prepared for. But I think it's a compliment that they gave you so much responsibility. They must have known you'd be up to the task.
Those little kids in Rwanda have no idea what they're in for!
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