Graduation Day

Today was the preschool graduation for the school where several of our BG children attend school. We have 2 boys who graduated this year and we took 8 of the preschoolers along with us to their graduation. There was much celebration in the little building we were all sitting in as the kids sang, acted out a play, danced and recited poems. One of the perks is that it is an English medium school so much was done in English.
One of my favorite parts is when each graduate does a little speech called "myself, myself." The child says their name, age, parents' name, teachers' names, school name and what they want to be when they grow up. They practice a lot during the year and for the BG kids, they say the names of all 4 of their house mothers, along with volunteers in their house and sometimes even Bryan or I. They often include the maintenance men as their fathers which is sweet, but it is also sad. They have so many people who love them and who care for them each day, but moments like today are a harsh reality that our kids do not really have a "normal" living situation.
The celebration took 4 hours (once again they really know how to celebrate in Africa and this was only preschool!!!) and then the kids came home and had a big celebration with their peers and house mothers. They ate cake, cookies, marshmallows, and chips and were super happy. Then there was dancing and balloon fun to end the celebration. I am so proud of these boys and really hope that one day they will get to celebrate their high school graduation with a family of their own. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy of our awesome day.