DCIM100MEDIA

It is down to the last days of school, and we are sitting in the Taj Pamodzi theater with the other parents watching our little munchkins on stage.  It’s at times like these that I must suppress thoughts of leaving, otherwise the sadness would be too much and block out the happy scene in front of me.  Today is the second grade drama production.  Jake is the Narrator with his friend Annie, and Eli is a bird.

We are taking pictures along with the other parents.  People that we now know well, having navigated our children’s first three years of school together, sharing the evolution of our toddlers into kids.  We’ve watched their babies grow up along side our own and see them blooming today on the stage.  There is self-control now where there used to be impulsive fidgeting and poorly suppressed giggles.

All our little kindergartners, with teddy bear backpacks and tantrums, are going to be third graders in a few days.

Big kids who play soccer, do the high jump in track and field, wear suits and Daddy’s ties to their teacher conferences, and take karate after school.

They will always have these memories.  Of school plays and friends and songs and lunchboxes, that I hope will one day remind them that this life we had in Africa was real.  That even as things fade and the places of old friends are taken by new ones, these years are still a building block in this story of their life that is just beginning.

Neel, Diego, Josh, Annie, Jonna, Aditya, Arjun, Gavin, Kalan, Chris, Noel, Lucas, Jack, Rosa, Emmeline, CJ, Corey, Devon, Lawrence, and our teachers Ms. Takawira, Ms. Esther, Ms. Mutwale, Ms. Rilke, Mr. Ben.

Jake and Ms. Emma

Eli and Ms. Ray

Thank you AISL for all the wonderful memories!