Nyasha of Zimbabwe

My daughter was INCREDIBLE last week in her play. I truly had no idea that her role was so big! We are incredibly blessed to be a part of an amazing arts community, out of which a school was created. This is the saddest part of our move for me, as a mother. This school is amazing in so many ways, and I'm so sad to leave it! I know we'll find another great community, but this is truly special and should serve as a model for ALL public schools. Sigh. Hopefully schools like this are leading the charge in our education reform... because all I know is this... it's WORKING! And watching these little kids perform like this is proof! Anyway, I'm stepping off my soapbox now to show you some photos from this amazing performance...

Leah was Nyasha, Zimbabwe's version of Cinderella. The kids did three versions of Cinderella in order to study the story from different cultural perspectives. Leah's class did Zimbabwe's version, one class did Italy's version, and the third class did India's version. They were all so well done and I was sooo proud of each and every little performer!

Leah in her costume:

We did braids... if I'd had more time that morning I would've braided her whole head, but that proved impossible, so a few worked just fine!
Leah was singing here, all by herself on stage! She was growing her garden... (I'll try here not to show other kids' faces out of respect for their parents and not publicly showing them!)
She's singing, still watering and growing her garden...

Reflecting on being the kind sister and doing the right thing (as opposed to the sister who would rather be a mean queen than a nice princess...)

A few scenes later, the prince sees that Nyasha has proven her kindness through all kinds of tests, so he asks for her hand in marriage...
Then they do ceremonial dances to celebrate the wedding!
We were so proud :).

Way to go sweet girl! We're all so proud of you!!!