USA trip’s first anniversary ;)
Monday, April 26th, 2010
On the 8th of March 2010 the Choir had a gathering where all the kids, musicians and adult helpers were invited to celebrate the first anniversary of the USA trip at the Lady of Damascus Church hall.
The celebration started with a list of photos presenting the moments of joy and success in every stage of the trip starting with the flight, going to Washington DC and the great performances there “Arabesque festival opening ceremony, the Millennium stage and the Duke Ellington School of art performances“, then Detroit’s and Jacksonville’s performances, Orlando’s open stage performance and the great time we all had in Disney world before going back to Syria.
Those were the “happy” moments, but unfortunately not all the moments were “HAPPY” ones, so the Choir prepared another set of photos that showed some of the anxiety, stress, fatigue and mostly the hard working moments where a lot of “behind the scene” effort was done, in preparation for the “on stage” show.
Then Father Zihlawi gave a quick speech thanking God first of all, the Kennedy Center for putting their faith in us and thanking everybody who helped in the success of this trip.
NOW, it was the time for a surprise that everybody was waiting for. It was a recording of the ceremony of honor the First Lady of Syria granted the Choir… The First Lady chose a very important date which was the 5th of July 2009 to celebrate Father Zihlawi’s 50th year in priesthood, and to thank the Choir that was the result of his long and persistent work. During this ceremony the First Lady took the time to present a very special and valuable pin with the word “فخر بلدي “which means “my country’s pride” to each and every participant in this trip. It was an honor that none of us had even dreamed of.
Here is a link with some photos of this event (please excuse the quality)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLrYRbOdLPE
After all this, it was celebration time. Each group with its responsible had prepared a cake for this event and they gathered around a table and cut it together hand in hand.
Hopping we’ll have more trips to celebrate soon 