Visiting Ugandan students inspired local schools with their recent 2008 Suubi tour of the Seattle area.

The tour consists of song and dance that is a reflection of the African culture. It is a part of a follow up presentation by the Sister Schools organization.

"This tour is a way for the children of Uganda to say thank you to students in Washington personally for the help that Sister Schools has given them over the years," said Terry McGill, founder of Sister Schools.

Sister Schools is a program that partners schools in Washington State with schools in Uganda, East Africa. Each fall the Seattle-based non-profit visits local schools to educate Washington State children about life in Uganda and the challenges children face there.

Each school then donates school supplies, books, and clothing, which Sister Schools ships and distributes each spring to the schools and orphanages in Uganda. This year Sister Schools collected 899 boxes of supplies from the area, McGill said.

The program then returns to the Seattle schools each May and June with a follow up presentation showing the school's actual donated items being distributed to the African children.

"It's fabulous for us to have the Ugandan students here because our kids in Seattle get to see the impact they have made first hand," said Christine Segat, the development director for Sister Schools. "The slides come to life, and it gives our kids a more personal connection with them. It's powerful."

St. Alphonsus students Lucy Kelly, Katie Knigge, and Zoe Snyder were just a few of the many inspired by the presentation.

"It made feel so proud that we had helped them," Kelly said. "I want to do this kind of thing when I'm older."

"It was life changing," Knigge said.

The Ugandan students, six girls and four boys, come from the Mukono Boarding School. They are all between the ages of 12 and 14. Each student was selected based on criteria of character, financial need, academic promise, leadership potential, and of course musical ability.

"I was so surprised, they are only our age, but they are fabulous at what they do," Snyder said of their performance.

The local students are not the only ones gaining from the experience.

"It has given them a lot of exposure," Mukono Boarding School principal Susan Serunkuuma said of her students. "They have been able to experience a different life, and they are now able to realize that life can get better."

Suubi is appropriately translated as hope, McGill said.

"The inspiration and hope this experience brings transforms the whole community. Parents get more involved, they do more, they work together, and they begin looking to the future."

Sister Schools works with a range of six to 12 rural schools and orphanages in Africa until they become more self sufficient. This is the third year Sister School has brought Ugandan students over for the tour.

Normally about 10 to 15 local schools participate in the program, but this school year there were 18.

"But we're always trying to expand and grow," Segat said. "We're already starting to recruit sponsors for next year."

For sponsor information and tour dates and times visit www.sistershools.org.

Camille Villanueva may be reached at camillev@robinsonnews.com