SUNDAY AFTERNOON CONCERT

This was the setting on the portico of CCR church for the string quintet

and some other musicians!  It was late Sunday afternoon and

a simply beautiful day with no rain!  

 Many folks that had come to hear the orchestra
returned for this concert.  Lots of little kids, too!

First, the quintet played.

 Then a clarinet solo by as very talented Senior from KICS School.

Then another superb solo by a home-schooling teen.  

 Then a Clarinet duet by a Senior and a Freshman...

Very nice!

 A Cello solo by, I think, a Sophomore from KICS.   

 Another home schooler and brother of the first violin soloist.

 The pianist is Korean and a local teacher.
She did a great job the whole concert. 

 This young French Horn player also did
a super job!

The older kids were getting into it but the younger
ones were a little restless.

 All the kids had such great poise and confidence in their
playing.. Some used music and others had their pieces memorized.

Then the cello and clarinet duet!

And the last solo was quite a difficult piece done by the oldest brother!!
It is pretty easy to tell with ones are brothers.... Each of these parents
should be very proud of their kids.. but the ones i know the best are
the 3 brothers in black...They are great young men--they work hard and
they obviously have much talent.  All the kids should be proud of the gifts
God has given them.  They are each developing those gifts! 

The last song of the concert.... 


My friend, Meg (the mom of the 3 guys) passing out some congratulatory flowers.

     It isn't every day and it usually isn't any day in Kigali 

that you would have a teen string quartet and other soloists that

know how to play serious classical music.  So, this was really a treat! 

These kids play well... and it is a joy to listen to them.  

Thanks for a great concert in a perfect setting! 

Keep making beautiful music!! 

love,

margie

  

Cards from Africa, Concert and CMU Mission Trip

Nalini asked me if I had ever been to Cards from Africa...

to see how they make the cards... No, I hadn't so off we went!  

This little building houses 70 employees! 

And Everything that is made here is from Scratch! 

These containers held the recyled paper... it looked just
like wet glue...

This lady would shake out all the water and then "plaster"
each sheet on big plates of glass! 

Like these...  There were several all around the room.

She fastened it just with the wetness of the paper to the glass.

This girl was very sweet...and a diligent worker. 

                               After the paper is totally dry... it is either left white
                                        or it is dyed one of these cool colors!

Looks like construction paper at school, huh?
 But it is a little bit heavier than that.

They even can texture it! 

Some beauty outside. 

These are large containers of dyes that
they use to tint the paper.

At every table there were several girls and guys
designing cards with pictures and making designs.

Here are several cards layed out for the glue to dry. 

Here's a close up of these animals!
Each color is a tiny piece of paper.

Examples of the monkeys.

This is what the floor looked like!

On the back of each card it explains how they are made and
the person who designed the card signs their name. 

These folks were making giraffe and hot air balloon cards.

These were cool argyle patterned birthday cards.

These girls were very proud of their work...

These were little bitty pieces of confetti on a birthday card.

Here's a close up of the hot air balloon....
"Heard you were moving" card!

This was the BIG room where many were working and designing!

And this is one of the racks with many of the cards for sale.

This was a new car design for a guy's birthday.
See all the little grey bumpers on the left?

This is the store room where all the extras are waiting to be sold to local
stores or shipped overseas!
Be on the lookout for these cards to be in your hands soon!



Later that same day.... the First Rwandan Orchestra had its
first evening concert at CCR, our church.

We got there a little early. 

Kids all in place.... people still pouring in.

In the center of this picture is Jung.... our Korean neighbor
who plays the flute.  Jung was one of the kids I was tutoring
last year.. but he's doing great on his own now. 

Jung surrounded by girls with some guys not too far away.  

Seats are almost full.

The first piece has just ended and you can see the seats are all full....

from any angle.  There must have been about 500 present.
Great encouragment for the students... to see so much support
for the arts!  They played a nice variety of music and it was all very well done!
They have started quite a stir around Kigali and many kids are
talking about what instruments they would like to play.
The concert ended right at 8 and we slipped out a side door
in time to get to the airport...

...where we met Mama Arlene as she was waiting for
the 18 CMU students and 2 teachers coming in from Pittsburgh, PA
from the first CMU campus.  They were coming to do a mission
trip to Urukundo Children's Home!  We went to welcome them, too.

All these folks and only 1 piece of lost luggage....Mama
looked so happy to have them. 

This is Mama Arlene and Prof. Bob Reid from CMU.  He takes
students on several mission trips throughout the year to
a different place most everytime!

This year they are coming to Kigali or Gitarama
to tear out and rebuild the basketball court for
the Urukundo Children's Home.
It will be such a wonderful new addition
and all the kids will love it.

And of course, while they are there they will fall in
love with the kids.

This was a FULL day----rich with creativity,
talent and
 youth on a mission.

love,
margie