David's Journey

Each spring, second grade classes all over Sioux Falls perform musicals. This year, the second graders at Leah's school performed a musical based on the book, David's Journey: The story of David Jal, one of the Lost Boys of the Sudan, by David Jal. David is a brave, brilliant, and compassionate man who now lives in Sioux Falls with his family (his son is a classmate of Bo's) while continuing to serve the people of his homeland through the Khor Wakow School Project that he started several years ago.

My children are so blessed to attend a school where the mission statement is, "Learning and Living to Impact the World," and to see how much bigger the world is than our family, our city or even our country. And they are beyond blessed to attend a school where the music teacher is willing to put in the kind of hours that are required to turn this book into a musical that will be performed in no fewer than three different languages.  I'm not actually sure what African language(s) the songs and dances were set to. The narration was done in both Spanish and English.

Leah chose to be part of a dance that required quite a bit of practice time outside of school and during recesses. It was pretty elaborate, considering the ages and abilities of the performers. :)

The kid on stage right would narrate in English, followed by the kid on stage left (in this case, Leah) in Spanish. And as a side note, they're blessed to have one of the best art teachers too (he made the back drop that you see).

So adorable, isn't she? My one regret with the pictures from this night is that I didn't think to take one of Leah with her music teacher, Mrs. Sander, or with David Jal, who was in the audience that night.