A Feast for the eyes and the ears

On the 21^st September, GEMS had very special visitors that came all the way from Uganda, The Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir. In the morning, the phenomenal Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir gave our whole school a taste of Uganda as they performed a stunning singing, dancing and drumming show. During the rest of the day they ran exclusive workshops for sixty lucky pupils. The activities were, singing, dancing and drumming.

 A Taste of Uganda at GEMS

The drumming was really fun because we played some tunes (on drums of many different shapes and sizes) and we found out how African drums are made. To make a drum, it takes around 12-15 days and it is made out of wood, strings, python skin or cow skin.

In one of the activities there was dancing. It was really fun; we learnt a fantastic dance, which was a celebration dance. The boys and girls were split in half and we both did different dances. Once we were really confident with the dances, we put both of them together and had lots of fun. After half an hour of tiring dancing, we moved on to the next activity.

After dance we did some singing. The song was written on the white board behind the lady teaching us.  We all sang the song and had a lot of fun. We sang every verse 2 or 3 times and when we had learnt the song we sang it a final time.

Spreading the Joy

In the evening family, friends and people from the local community got the chance to share in the fun when they attended an evening concert

The choir entered the stage looking  very professional and ready to perform - and not to mention the stunning eye-catching costumes. They mostly sung in African but they did a phenomenal job singing in English! The choir also had an exclusive chance to sing with the GEMS choir. They sung an African song with us and a part English part African song.

The Pearl of Africa enjoyed the day, GEMS pupils and especially the choir enjoyed the day and the staff loved the Pearl of Africa and the amazing opportunity of having them perform live in our hall. We will finish with a quote from Mrs Bullock who said the choir was ‘absolutely amazing one of the best things I have ever seen’.                            

Pearl of Africa Craft

We all also enjoyed looking at the crafts the Pearl of Africa choir brought with them from Uganda.

At break time in school and at the evening concert they sold the different arts and crafts. They had brought many things: bracelets with different coloured beads, bracelets with different rows of beads, hats, handbags wooden statues and lots more. Here are some pictures of them. I’m sure they raised lots of money with fantastic crafts like these! 

By Tasha and Tarika Year  6

Modelling the merchandise