Songs of Joy: We Are Family!!!

For the past two years since I've been here teaching at PROMESA, we have done a Mother's Day program at school in May. Mother's Day is a big day here! There are signs all over the place in stores and in streets: "Felíz Dia Mami" they say with red and pink hearts. You had better remember your mama here in Peru because she's a very, very, VERY important person. Every school does a special program with dances, singing and more. Every year PROMESA has done the same thing until this year. This year the teachers got it into their heads to make the focus more on family and less on just the mama. One of the problems here in society is the lack of strong father figures. Many are not around or drunk or not responsible. Unfortunately many have mistresses and affairs and do not represent a good face in their families. This is an extremely sad fact of Peruvian society but it doesn't mean we need to ignore the fathers altogether!!! PROMESA wants to model something different: a family where every part is important! We decided to include fathers in our program this year.

So, our program this year was called the Family Day program and the focus of the special numbers was the family. Instead of singing "Thank you God for my mother" it was "Thank you God for my parents." There were special dances, poems, dramas and songs. In between each number a Bible verse about the family was shared. My 4 year old kids did a dance to the song "We are Family." You know that Sister Sledge number... "We are family...I got all my sisters with me"... This was a Dora version with "I got all my amigos with me" and was very fun. (did you know that even Pat Boone sang a version of this song!!) The moves were simple and we incorporated signs that said "I love my mother", "I love my Father" and "I love my family". I was very nervous about how it would all turn out because you never know with four year old what's gonna happen. I had a horrible experience with a devotional that my 4 year olds prepared last year. We practiced and practiced but when it came time to perform in front of their classmates something unhinged. They went crazy, ran all over the front, threw themselves on the stage and created general disorder right up there in front of the rest of the school....Augh!!!!! horrible memory!

Here are some of the culprits from last year's fiasco just making themselves at home on the steps of the stage in the middle of the program!!

Three of my 4 yr. olds ready to do their dance: Neomi, Josue and Natali

The four yr. old dance: "We are Family"

The five year old class presented a typical "huaino" dance

Here are the girls! Aren't they precious?

Thankfully, that was not repeated for this program! My kids did a wonderful job and held up their signs and got applauses from their parents and it was incredibly adorable!!! Yay! I didn't get to see too much of the rest of the program because I was making candy cars in the classroom and eating them with my 4 year old class but I think history was made. We stepped out and did something different as a school and it was successful. Yes, the mother is important in the culture here but God calls us to family standards that are different then whatever culture we are in. It was time to stand up and create a new standard. Bravo, PROMESA! "We really are a family!"