Rock Stars

I definitely felt like a rock star today - not that I don't feel like it everyday, it was just very obvious. Today was the day we went to visit the 3 libraries and do the official openings. We dressed up and hopped in our bus. When we arrived at the first school, the kids were so excited to see us. We got out of the bus and were shuffled out of the way. We locked our bags up and went to the library. The head masters, government officials, and teachers were there and we did a ribbon cutting. Then we headed around the corner and there were all 1200 kids lined up on both sides of a cement courtyard the size of 2 basketball courts. When we walked by they clapped for us. We sat under a tent and they served us water. Then the ceremony started. The scouts (girls and boys) raised the flags while the whole group sang the national anthem - one of the prettiest I've ever heard and of course the sound of children's voices make any song sound wonderful. We then heard many speeches from many officials thanking Libraries of Love for everything they've done. We were treated to some traditional African dances by the children and one group did a 15 minute recitation of a poem they rote and memorized - it was very impressive. At the end we did a fun kid song with them (you know the kind with hand symbols and silly motions). Then we left to the sounds of cheering. Many of the kids we had played with a couple days earlier shouted out our names and gave us sweet notes telling us how much they love us. Many ran up to hug us goodbye.
This continued at 2 more schools. We really didn't play with them today because we were in our dress up clothes but there were lots of hugs and holding hands. Some showed us their notebooks with their work. At the last school as we were leaving they wanted us to sign a piece of paper for them - I really got my autograph down good!
I keep trying to imagine our children in the similar situation. If a group of Ugandan adults came to visit our school and donate a playground for example, how would they react? I'm sure they would be nice and give an assembly but they wouldn't put their hearts out there like these kids. That's the Ugandan people - so sweet, so open, so inviting, so grateful, so BEAUTIFUL! It's very refreshing.