This week, Thomas participated in a musical for school entitled, "The Peace Child."
What a wonderful play! The kids absolutely had a ball practicing for the big night and performing it for their families. It was a script with an amazing message. Being at an international school, I wasn't surprised that they chose to perform "The Peace Child." It's about two rival tribes that live across a river from each other and who won't ever associate because they can't see past their differences. Then a movie production company discovers the tribes and wants to build a bridge over the river to be able to make a movie about both tribes. Because of this bridge, the tribes start talking about war. It's only when one of the tribal chief's offers his first-born to the chief of the other tribe, that peace is restored for everyone. For me, I couldn't help of course relating it to my own Christian beliefs and think of the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ and his life that was offered up for us, the world, to have peace in this life and in the eternities with our Father in Heaven. Being in Angola, I've come closer to seeing the impact of war than I ever have, with the Angolan civil war being in the somewhat recent past. I teach English to men that were literally dragged out of their elementary schools to fight in the civil war and never had the opportunity to even say good-bye to their families. Family, education and their childhoods were left behind. I also hear of current struggles in nearby countries like the Congo, where good people are still trying to find peace and safety for themselves and their children. It's heart wrenching. So with all of this in my heart, I appreciated the message of "The Peace Child" and I appreciated that my children have heard this message and have taken it to heart as well. It was also very fitting that after the play was finished, the school student council announced that they were collecting donations of food, water and clothing for the people in Lobito, a province here in Angola about 7-8 hours away from us. They were hit very hard last week by heavy rains and subsequent mudslides that destroyed hundreds of homes and took almost 70 lives, half of which were children. We experienced the rain here in Luanda as well, but it wasn't near the quantity that they received in Lobito. So the morning after the play, the kids ran around the house trying to find clothes, shoes, and food that they could give. They did it on their own too. It's a joy to witness the hearts of your own children expanding as they learn to think of others. :)
The music is actually very fun for energetic kids to sing. The songs have catchy tunes that I'm still singing in my head. Thomas did a great job! There were a lot of lyrics to learn, but he did it and had fun learning them. I'm very proud of him!
"My life, my love, my only son, the time has come for our goodbye. I've cried, I've prayed to find a way, but now I make this sacrifice. Peace child, listen. Love is given. Here is the promise of life to come. Peace child listen, bring us freedom. You are the promise, my chosen one."
Bri didn't get to come because he's the guy in charge right now with his boss away for training. After work he was going to go home and start working on our taxes, but ended up staying at work until well after we got home (midnight), to help with an American citizen services issue. I think he was just trying to get out of doing our taxes. :)
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