Dance Our Way to Christmas

Every year, we celebrate Christmas on our land in Buziika with the children in our Education Sponsorship Outreach and their guardians. This past Saturday, 1,200-1,600 children and guardians came to do just that… celebrate.

In Uganda, dance is almost always present in celebrations. So, it’s only fitting that the children in our sponsorship program performed a variety of traditional dances, creative songs, and even a skit. After their performances, we recognized students with outstanding academic achievement. We loved seeing the proud faces of parents and guardians as students accepted awards. After diving into a feast prepared by our incredible kitchen staff (it took them two days… talk about dedication!), we passed out gifts to all of the families represented in our sponsorship program. They all accepted their gifts of matoke (plantain), soda, flour, pineapple, royco (seasoning), sugar, cooking oil, ground g-nuts, tomatoes, salt, irish onions, and a basin.

Every part of the day was beautiful in its own way, but perhaps the most striking scene was seeing the children perform their songs, dances, and skit. Oftentimes it’s easy to get caught up in the stress and busyness of Christmas. And maybe their carefree, lighthearted performances could serve as a reminder to us... that we ought to dance, not hurry and stress, our way to Christmas and through Christmas. We pray the next couple of days are not a race to the finish line, but somewhat of a dance… a sweet aroma of praise and thanksgiving unto God, a celebration of Christ and the life we have through His life, death, and resurrection.