Living with Shalom Cultural Gala

Some highlights from the Living with Shalom cultural gala in Hoima:

The day started out with all the participants marching about 5km through Hoima town led by a marching band.  They carried banners promoting peace and picked up trash along the way.  The kids and I marched for about 3 of the 5 kilometers before Natalie got tired and we followed the rest of the march in a car.

After the march, there were about 2 hours before the show started.  Natalie had a great time playing in the dirt - here she is building a "dirtcastle."  I tried to prevent her from playing in the dirt for about 5 minutes before I realized it was futile - with 2 hours to kill in 95 degree heat, there wasn't much else for her to do.  But dirt and germs build the immune system, right??

And here's Nathan imitating his big sister and also playing in the dirt!

Once the cultural gala started, the youth each performed two different dances from their culture..it was a very entertaining show!

Two of the facilitators from Living with Shalom join in the fun!

Even the MP (member of parliament - the local government official who was the guest of honor) got out of her seat to join in one of the Ik dances.

The five Ik participants - we ended up getting to know them more than we expected when we hosted all of them in our house in Sat night, then had dinner with them on Sunday before they took the night bus back home.  More about the Ik in my next post...