Last year HIS (Harare International School) hosted the first annual ISSEA (International Schools of Southern and Eastern Africa) Band Festival. And yes, all the HIS string players played in the band (mostly covering the oboe part with the violins and the bassoon part on the cello). Abigail had a great time meeting kids from the other international schools (if you recall, we hosted a Canadian and a girl from India who were from the international school in Tanzania).
One of the hardest things about not sending Abigail to HIS was the fact that she wasn't going to be allowed to participate in this year's festival which was held in South Africa (I asked at about it in January 2014). Then in December when the plans were being made I finally had a chat with the HIS music director about the possibility of Abigail going. Originally they thought all the spots would be taken up by current HIS students but in the end there was a spot left on their maximum number of participants.
After much back and forth (emails to the school director, ISSEA director, etc.) it was finally decided that Abigail would be allowed to go! It was very exciting to have such a positive outcome and Abigail anticipated the event enthusiastically. She loves South Africa and had a blast seeing some of her friends from last year and just being around the kids for a few days. They kids all seemed to agree that the festival wasn't quite as good as when HIS hosted it but they all had a blast anyway! You can see some photos if you are on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ISSEA-2015-Band-and-Choir/348125352041802
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