Almost the end!

It has been so long since I have posted anything here and now we have just 10 days until the end of tour! We have done so many things since I last posted...

The Edinburgh Festival - The children performed over 3 weeks and during that time had the opportunity to meet Annie Lennox and help unveil an aids stone in Edinburgh to commerate Edinburgh's close relationship with Mandela.

Northern Ireland - After the festival we moved on to Northern Ireland and were there for 6 weeks altogether doing mainly church performances. We had a big event at Stormont (the Irish Parliament) and a few shopping centre performances.

England - Then we headed onto England for the remainder of our church shows. As we were coming towards the end in England, 90% of the children and 4 of us adults got the flu. We spent a week in central accommodation and just rested. It was a long week but we got through it. The children got to help out Annie Lennox at her world aids day concert. We got to go and see The Lion King in London, it was amazing. The children had such good fun and I think it was the tour highlight. We got to go for free and we had front seats. We got to meet the cast before hand, a lot of them are from South Africa and during the performance they interacted with the children. Then after the show we got to go backstage and see them in costume. Then we went to Dublin as the children's UK visas had expired.

Germany - We went to Germany on the 9th of December as the children were performing on a TV show there. It was called Die grosse show des kleinen stars (The big show for little stars) They were 1 of 7 acts competing in a competition for different charities. We came in the top 3!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5H82DITDIfU

Now we are in Drogheda, Ireland just having a break before the children head home. We have 10 days here and we are going to have some good fun Christmas things to do. It is going to go so fast and before you know it I will be home!

See you soon. Love Lynsay

Cute

Dubai

We have just arrived home from Dubai. We were there for 2 weeks and it was a bit of a crazy time. The kids had so much fun though as the events company that invited us there organised lots of fun things for the kids to do. The first day we went to The Dubai Mall which is the largest mall in the world. Inside the mall is an aquarium and underwater zoo which we spent some time in. After this we went to a huge outdoor water park. It was so hot there that we couldn't really spend much time outside...it was like walking into a big sauna.

In Dubai over the summer months...June to August they have events all over and it is called Dubai Summer Surprises. It is a cultural event which is why the African Childrens Choir were invited to perform.

The children performed ever night we were there, doing 3 20 minute performances in various malls which wasn't so bad for the Aunties.

We also visited the Jumeirah Mosque which is the only mosque in Dubai that non-muslims can enter. All the Aunties had to wear head scarves and we were taught about the Muslim religion which is interesting.

One day the children performed at Modhesh World which is a big indoor theme park with lots of rides. We got to go on the rides for free because of the children performing there. They had a ball! After the kids performed there we had dinner there which was a traditional arabic meal.

Dubai is really nice but there is alot of construction work still going on. It is so hot that you can't really spend that much time outside. Walking from the wall to the bus, you are sweating all over!

Right now we are on camp for 4 days having a very well earned break. I have no idea were we are but it's the middle of no where. We arrived here last night at 1am so it was dark and I was asleep so all I know is we are in England and it took 2 and a half hours from Manchester airport to get here.

After camp, we head to Edinburgh for 4 weeks to the fringe festival which will be a busy month then onto Northern Ireland.

See you soon!

What's going on?

The children arrived just over a month ago and the time has flown by. In their first week, they perfomed for the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, peformed at the opening of the African Savannah in Dublin Zoo, performed at the community awards event at Belfast waterfront and laslty performed for the first and deputy ministers of Northern Ireland. The children have settled very well in to tour life.

On Sunday we head to Dubai for 2 weeks which is going to be a very busy time.

It is weird to be back on tour with different children. Some of the chaperones are the same. Some of you know Godfrey and I are touring together and right now it is a bit hard. It is hard to be so close to him but not be able to spend time together. We have our days off with each other but that is once a week. We know it's a short time and it will be well worth it after it. I am learning a whole new degree of patience on this tour with the children being alot younger and just out of the baby stage. They are good kids but they can have their moments.

I am teaching again on this tour which is alot easier than the last tour as there is not as many subjects to teach and it is a lower grade. I also help Godfrey with setting up the PA system for concerts. I seem to be gaining new skills.

I am having to depend alot on God right now. "He will give you the desires of your heart." I am pretty sure he is fulfilling at least some of that right now. Your prayers would be appreciated.

Auntie Lynsay

On the road again...

It feels like I have just got home, settled and back into a routine again...now it is only a week and a few days until the next choir arrive!
They are from the same area as the last choir but are alot younger. They are between 7 and 9 years and I can't wait to meet them all. They fly into Northern Ireland where we will have a few days to get to know each other.
I can't wait!

I have added some picture of the little ones. The bigger kids among them are some of my last kids so you can see how much smaller they are!

The end is near...

The children have their last concert tonight...it's weird that this time has come so fast. They are really looking forward to going home though. We have just come back from a week in the Canary Islands where we had 2 concerts and spent a week in a really nice hotel with a rooftop pool!
The children fly home on Wednesday and will go back to their families for Christmas and New Year then they will come into the Music for Life Primary School in January to start their new term.
Everyone is tired and looking forward to going home but saying goodbye is going to be really hard. I know I will see these children again next year when I go back to South Africa to meet the 3rd choir but some of the chaperones don't know when they will meet again.
Please remember us all in your prayers for this last part of our journey together.

Auntie Lynsay

Almost the end....

Italy was busy! We flew out on the Monday, arrived in Rome and drove to Naples. The next day we had a concert which was part of a peace camp with children from all over the world. We had a free day in Naples on the Wednesday which we spent at the beach with the children! It was really good for them to be able to have some free time and just play. On Thursday we drove back to Rome and had planned to spend a bit of time on Rome but it took us 5 hours to get there. So, we took the children out for pizza and ice cream. They each ate a 12" pizza each...these children can eat!
The next day we flew back to England and had a concert that night! It was a bit crazy but we made it and are still alive to tell the tale!

Guernsey

I send this update from the little island of Guernsey! We are here for one week and have 2 concerts during this time. The weather isn't that great and there isn't really alot to do here with 22 children! We are staying in a Christan Centre altogether so it's nice to have a little break from host families for a while. Next week we fly to Italy for 4 days to do one concert so we have a few days to do some exploring. I am excited about this as i've never been to Italy before and we are actually going to get some time to see Rome and Naples.

Our team of chaperones has changed once again. Agreeneth will not be back with us for the remainder of tour although the office are trying their hardest to get her back. Kyle and Ruth are not on tour in the states, Lucy and Mark have settled in very well and we now have Muzi with us from South Africa. He is here as the male chaperone and to help us out with some discipline issues that we had. He worked with these children from 2005 and trained them to come on tour so he knows them very well. I will post a photo of our new team when I get some more time.

I have a small idea of what I may be doing after this tour ends in December. The Music for Life staff in South Africa are going through the process of picking children for the 3rd Nkomazi choir which will again be a UK tour similar to this one. I have been asked to join this tour next May, if everything works out. Nothing is definite yet!!!!!! Angee will be going to South Africa in January to help train the children and will be the tour leader with the tour. We get on really well together so for us to be on another tour together would be really good. This means that I will be home in december for 4 or 5 months then back out on tour in May again.

Your prayers would be appreciated for this and for the continuing changes are team seem to be having as it does have a big effect on the children.

Thank you for reading! Lynsay