Children of HUMBLE School on a Mission

The Hope for Africa Children's Choir

HUMBLE School Uganda Africa

The "Hope for Africa Children's Choir" from HUMBLE School in Uganda Africa are on tour in the United States. They are on a mission to help raise awareness to Humble School and the impact of AIDS in Africa. They deliver a message of hope in their high energy performances filled with dance and songs of joy.

Crossroads United Methodist Church in Ashburn, Virginia has the pleasure of hosting the Hope for Africa Children's Choir from HUMBLE School this fall! This year a group of 11 students will perform concerts at several locations in New York, Virginia and in Washington D.C. to bring awareness to HUMBLE School. They have even been invited by UNAIDS to present at an event on Capitol Hill to raise awareness on the continued HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. They will also be performing at a World AIDS Day event on December 1st before they will return home to HUMBLE United Methodist School in Uganda Africa.

There are several events scheduled in multiple areas to help support the children of HUMBLE School. Discover how you can show your support by contacting the friendly people at Crossroads UMC:

Phone: (703) 729-5100
Email: information@ecrossroadsumc.org

HUMBLE School Students at Crossroads UMC

The "Hope for Africa Children's Choir" (children of HUMBLE School) share stories about their journey with families at Crossroads UMC Ashburn, Virginia.

HUMBLE School Mission Trip Overview

Volunteers from the Washington DC area and around the world have joined the Crossroads Uganda Mission team over the years to support the needs of the students, teachers, and staff at HUMBLE School in Uganda Africa. Information about the school and mission trips is available at "About Humble School and it's Students". This year's mission team strengthened relationships and worked with others on a new girl's dormitory. An overview of the mission trip is available in this video.

First Performance of Hope for Africa Children's Choir

The children of HUMBLE School had a few hours to rest after their long flight from Uganda Africa, but jumped right into their mission and gave a heartfelt performance at a local church in Virginia. The compassion and energy of these children can be witnessed in this video.



Find out where you can attend one of their free performances and information about other events supporting these children at Crossroads UMC.

Social Media Matters: Blogs, Facebook, & Twitter

Blogs, Facebook, & Twitter

A Social Media Strategy Story

A few weeks ago, I met with some people from a local organization to discuss how to use the web and social media to share some of their stories. The goal of phase 1 was to connect with others and obtain good placement in search engine results from Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Here is the situation:

• Little Time
• No Money
• Minimal Tech Skills

A quick analysis of the situation lead us to Google Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, and the creation of Children of Humble School Africa Blog. Most of the people in the organization were already familiar with these Social Networking Services. These Social Media tools are free and can be activated in minutes. These tools don’t require a Computer Science degree to use, in fact they are simple enough to be used by a child, grandparent, or anyone in-between.

Social Media Gets Results

Using Social Media to share stories and connect with others has a positive effect in top search engines. Here are the results after 14 days.

Google: Search Engine results for our site after 14 days was top four results out of 13.2 Million.

Google: Search Engine results for our site after 14 days was the top result out of 29.2 Million.



Bing: Search Engine results for our site after 14 days was two of the top four results out of 4.2 Million.


Yahoo: Search Engine results for our site after 14 days was two of the top four results out of 4.3 Million.

Social Media for Small Businesses & Non-Profits

The Social Business of Web 2.0

Once upon a time, the power to reach out and connect with others beyond your local community was reserved an exclusive group of people. Social Media extends this ability to all people and bursts open the door of new opportunities.

Google Blogger

I was not as familiar with Google Blogger compared to other types of Social Media tools, but was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get started. The ability to integrate other social media is also very simple.

Blogger is a web-based tool that helps you publish to the web instantly – whenever the urge strikes. It’s the leading tool in the rapidly growing area of web publishing known as weblogs, or “blogs.” Google Blogger gives you a way to automate (and greatly accelerate) the blog publishing process without writing any code or worrying about installing any sort of server software or scripts. And yet, it still gives you total control over the look and location of your blog. Details on how to get started are available in this video.

Web Gadgets, Widgets, & Apps

There are countless gadgets, widgets, and apps to support social media integration. Some of these for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other Social Networks can be found in these collections, “25 Great Blogger Widgets“, “Google Gadgets Directory, Collection of Google Blogger Plugins, and people can easily create their custom social gadgets with the Google Blogger API.

Mobile Device Support

The ability to support displaying your content in “app-like” format on multiple mobile devices at the flip of a switch is one of the main strengths of this free service.

Photo Walls

You can also add interactive photo walls to your blog, created with pictures from Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, YouTube, and RSS. You can share these photo walls on web sites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, WordPress, and more. You can create and share amazing photo walls for your web sites and blogs using Cooliris. You can see the Children of Humble School Photo Wall here.

Social Media Engagement

The Children of Humble School Africa Blog with Social Media integration is just a tiny example of the real possibilities. There are many great people that share helpful tips about how small businesses and non-profits can leverage the power of social media. Some of these very talented people include:

• @kanter: Let's talk about networked approaches & social media for training and capacity building for the nonprofit sector that leverage learning and impact.
• @2morrowknight: Co-Creator of the #TwitterPowerhouses Series, and #TwitterCharityFacts. Blogger for @Huffingtonpost & @Smedio. Marketer, Do-Gooder, conservationist, Surfer!
• @goodlaura: Twitter Junkie | All things Sacramento | SMCSac Exec Dir | SARTA.org Program Director | Good Friend | Dog Lover | SciFi enthusiast | Auntie | Love Jesus
• @rosettathurman: I help nonprofit leaders + passionate entrepreneurs change the world. Keynote speaker, author, career coach, social media trainer. Lover of happy hours. Vegan.
• @chrisbrogan: President, Human Business Works.
• @JessicaNorthey: Social Media, Broadcasting, Country & Music Blogger/Writer, Speaker, Daily Columnist AllAccess, #CMchat Host (Mon 6pPT), Online Correspondent, Sissy's Mom.
• @scedmonds: Speaker, author, senior consultant with @kenblanchard, author #CORPORATECULTUREtweet & Leading At A Higher Level,
• @Philanthropy: The Chronicle of Philanthropy's official Twitter page, updated by Peter Panepento
• @briansolis: Author of Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web

Sharing Stories of Hope & Joy in New Ways

The Power of Social Media

People over Platforms

The power of Social Media enables us with the ability to share stories in new ways. Social Networks have eliminated the degrees of separation and continues to bridge gaps between communities and cultures around the world. Social Networking Tools and Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, & Blogs empower people with new abilities to participate in meaningful engagement. These new forms of communication are transforming old "broadcasting" models of media into new "conversation" models of Social Media.

New Communication Strategies

Bridges Connecting Communities

Have you ever met someone and felt you have known them forever? Last year I met Grace Nakajje during my travels in Uganda Africa. She amazed me with her compassion for others. She is the communications director for East Africa Annual Conference United Methodist Church. She travels around Uganda Africa and surrounding communities with her camera, a beautiful smile, and a listening ear to discover real stories about real change. Last year she talked about her ideas about using Social Media to share stories while connecting with others in meaningful ways. Now she is using web sites, blogs, facebook, and twitter to share stories of hope and joy around the globe. She publishes a newsletter people can get delivered to their inbox by an easy email subscription. Grace is also experimenting with a web-based radio show. Her creativity and willingness to try new things shows us the power of community does fuel real change. You can discover more at http://eaac-umc.org

People at Local Airport Defy the Laws of Physics

Relationships Matter

Ordinary People Defy Laws of Physics

Children, Women, and Men seemed to defy the laws of physics during reunions filled with tearful smiles of joy. While waiting at the International Gate at Dulles Airport, I was astonished at how people seemed to defy gravity as they leaped into each others arms. Many magical moments transformed the average person into an athlete with world class gymnastic skills . Everyone witnessed a little girl break free from her mother's grip and fly through the air into her father's arms. Couples reunited in a beautiful silence that the crowd could not miss hearing. The International Gate at the local airport is an amazing place. Anyone feeling cynical about life should spend a few minutes near the international gate of their local airport.

"Relationships Matter" was defined a thousand times in each of these moments.

Relationships are the core value of the Crossroads UMC Mission Team. Establishing relationships with others is the key to helping the team understand what needs done and the collaborative efforts of everyone is what makes real change possible. Purposeful interaction gives people the opportunity to learn about each other and each others' culture. These type of activities provide the building blocks for creating more than dormitories or school rooms.

Thank You
Thank you to all the children, sisters, brothers, moms, dads, friends, communities, and organizations for making these type of mission opportunities possible.

What's Next?
The children of Humble School in Uganda Africa have written a ton of letters and some desire to have pen pals. Contact Dave Norman at Crossroads United Methodist Church, if you are interested in the Pen Pal opportunity. He can be reached at (703) 477-7427 or dnorman@crossroadsnova.org for additional information.

People in Brambleton, Virginia U.S. area have joined others from Ashburn, VA, Loudoun County, Virginia, and the Washington DC area to prepare for the next Humble School Family Day 10k walk/race.

We also have an endless collection of stories, photos, and video to process and share.

U.S. Volunteers Returning From Uganda Africa

Humble School Mission Team's Journey Home

Volunteers of Crossroads UMC Mission Team to Reunite with Families

The volunteers of Crossroads UMC Mission Team for Humble School Uganda Africa met with the students before embarking on their 25 hour journey back to the United States of America.

The team is doing well and their are on their final leg of their journey back to Dulles Airport, Washington DC, U.S. with expected arrival time of 2:32pm.

Family and friends can see the mission team's current location in the flight map below.

UPDATE JULY 11, 2011 - 2:32pm
I just got back from Dulles Airport a few minutes ago.
The mission team arrived safe-n-sound. Some of the mission team members from other parts of the United States will spend the night in the Washington DC area before their journey home.

Mission Team Flight Map

Uganda Africa to Washington DC U.S.


The Mission Team's flight from Heathrow Airport departed 24 minutes late, but they are expected to arrive at Dulles Airport at 2:32pm.

W = Dulles Airport
F = flight
L = London
U = Ugnada
Red = Where they have been
Green = Where they are going

You can get more details about their current flight here.

This map was created using Google's API. You can quickly and easily create all kinds of maps for your blog or web site using Google's map and charts APIs.

Acts of Random Kindness

Good Gifts

How Children Remind Us of Good Things

So today I arrived at Humble School and one of the girls walked up to me to greet me.. and went to shake my hand... which was weird for her.... then i realized she was secretly giving me something. I looked down and it was a necklace with a cross on it. Before i could thank her she was walking away.. turned back and smiled. awesome day.

- Jen Schoenmann

This story has challenged me to perform Acts of Random Kindness every day.

 

Children of Humble School & Volunteers Share Gifts of Connection

Children in Africa Share Gifts with Volunteers from U.S.

Celebrating Presence at Humble School Uganda Africa

The volunteers of the Humble School Mission Team (Crossroads UMC) returned to Humble School to find workers mixing and pouring cement to strengthen the foundation of the dormitory for the girls of Humble School.  The workers and other volunteers were doing such a great job with the cement, the Mission Team was able to spend more time with the children.

Some of the mission team volunteers had the privilege of spending time with students and teachers in the Humble School classrooms. Other volunteers & students spent time learning more about each other between classes.  The volunteers and teachers of the kindergarten class had fun teaching the kids how to sing, "You are my Sunshine".  "It was a true gift to hear these beautiful children sing songs with such angelic voices".

The volunteers and children gathered for a celebration after the school day was over.  The volunteers and teachers handed out scarves that Geraldine's group (back in the States) made for each child here at Humble School.  The kids were very excited to get one of these colorful hand-made scarves. The mission team then gave each child one of the crosses that were hand-made by volunteers in Ashburn, Virginia USA.  The children were so happy to have something that was made just for them.  The children shared a few more stories before we attended fellowship time together.

Students of Humble UM School Uganda Africa

Volunteers Making Gifts for Children at Humble School Africa

The scarves people made for the kids at Humble School are beautiful.  Volunteers all around the Northern Virginia area donate their skills making these scarves every day.  The scarves are also sold in the United States and all the proceeds are donated to Humble School.

Volunteers created the crosses from planks of wood from trees that are native to North America.  I learned new things about myself, my family, and my friends while volunteering with others on creating these crosses for the children in Africa.  Its pretty amazing what can happen when you take a break from the normal routine and share a few simple stories.