It is amazing to step back and look at just where life takes you- from singing for 30,000 people in Boston, to unloading bays of sound equiptment once again to set up for a concert and sleep over at a church for a couple nights on parts of a couch the next evening. A few days ago the choir was in Boston to open and close for a speech made by Desmund Tutu at an environmental conference. The morning that we sang I had to remove myself from that moment- from the hundreds of cable wires of sound equiptment, people a buzz in every direction escorting Desmund Tutu, and just think how amazing it is really that these children who walked confidently behind me to the dressing rooms were being treated as celebrities- given the nicest hotel on the waterfront, privately catered meals and snacks were now being beamed over by crowds of people wanting to have their picture with them and media cameras and crew teams praising them for how beautiful and talented they are. Women were crying when they found out that these kids- the ones they were so taken by, are some of the neediest in Africa - and in that moment to step back and see just how much bigger this experience is than I could ever imagine.
The children behaved very professionally and pushed aside weary eyes from our red eye flight to Boston and didn't complain as they poured out all their energy into soundcheck and the performance the following day. The couple of songs the choir performed was not only performed for 30,000 people, but as we found out when we arrived- broadcasted to 80 countires as well! There is also a clip of our kids (well one of the screens our kids were video streamed onto at the conference that is) on you tube- check this out!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciJlngh1fy4
...or if that doesn't work then just search Greenbuild 2008 and you'll see them!
I wish that I could have heard Desmund Tutu speak but unfortunately we had to be backstage and the echo of the room made it sound as though there were 10 Tutu's speaking- I know Steve caught more of the speech though- so I encourage you to check it out on his blog site if you want more than I could hear his voice backstage and walked by him...I'd say came close to brushing shoulders really:)
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