Week 1: Youth Booth

Welcome to the youth booth where each week until I close my service I have decided to share the story of one of the youth I work with and am inspired by.

Let’s start.

Meet Frank.

17 years old.

Secondary 2.  Essentially the equivalent of a freshman in high school.

Dancer.

Born and raised in Kigali, Rwanda, he now considers himself a Ugandan since he has been living in Kampala for the past five years.

Frank is a familiar face at In Movement.  He graduated from In Movement’s program last year but that does not stop him from continuing to pursue his dreams and passion through his favorite mean of dance.

When Frank talks about his family he mentions his mom, dad, 94-year old grandmother and his 11 brothers a sisters. His grandmother is still in Rwanda but everyone else made the move to Uganda in order to pursue a higher level of education.

His dreams include seeing himself as a good businessman and a professional dancer.

If he could travel anywhere in the world it would be Jamaica because he continues to hear things about the country but has yet to see it.

In his free time he enjoys listening to reggae music, which he just added a ton of to my iTunes and taking pictures on the computer with his favorite muzungus.

The happiest moment of his life was on his 16^th birthday in 2013 when he was surrounded by people the whole day who genuinely cared about him.

On the contrary, the hardest moment of his life was when he could not go to Poland for a dance festival he was invited to because of complications with his passport.

For people reading this blog and may not ever have the chance to meet Frank he wants you all to know that he is someone who loves learning, works hard, and cares deeply about his friends and do not want to see them suffer.

His words of advice to the youth of the world are, “Never let anything bring you down.  If you have a disappointment consider it as a starting point.  Be strong!”

Below are some videos that showcase Frank’s dance moves…

Here I Stand was showcased at the End of Year Performance.  Frank is the one in the front with his hands extended at 0:35 seconds.

In Happy Kampala he is wearing the red Mickey Mouse sweatshirt

They performed Imagine at a Peace Corps fundraiser for Fred and Frank is the one in the back in the first dance count.