welcome to sail saturday school's 10th birthday party! thank you

Welcome  to  SAIL  Saturday  School’s  10th  birthday  party!  Thank  you  all  for  coming.    As  you  may  know,  my  name  is  Nik  and  I  am  the  Overseeing  Coordinator  of  SAIL.  This  is  Salwa,  and  her  daughter  Asya,  the  overseeing  interpreters  of  SAIL  Saturday  school.    Today  we  have  many  performances  from  SAIL  students  to  celebrate  10  years  since  the  SAIL  Program  was  born  in  name.    But  before  I  introduce  the  first  performance,  I  want  to  say  five  important  things  about  today.    Firstly,  toilets  in  our  party  hall  today  are  located  on  your  left.    Secondly,  we  apologise  that  today’s  celebration  falls  during  Ramadan  and  that  Muslim  SAILors  cannot  share  our  food  today.  We  hope  you  can  a  piece  of  cake  and  break  fast  with  it  this  evening.  If  we  could  have  changed  the  date,  we  would  have.    Thirdly,  we  wish  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  South  Sudan,  which  on  July  9  became  the  world’s  newest  nation.  We  realise  the  importance  of  the  birth  of  an  independent  South  to  many  SAIL  families,  and  thank  you  for  your  willingness  to  share  it  with  us.  At  the  same  time,  our  thoughts  are  with  SAIL  students  with  family  in  South  Kordofan  and  Abyei,  regions  still  facing  violent  conflict.    Fourthly,  I  would  like  to  acknowledge  the  presence  of  two  special  SAILors  at  today’s  celebration:  Matthew  and  Anna-­‐Grace.  Matthew  and  Anna-­‐Grace  are  the  founders  of  SAIL  Saturday  school.      As  we  mark  ten  years  of  SAIL,  we  would  like  to  thank  them  for  founding  a  Program  that  has  helped,  and  continues  to  help,  many  thousands  of  people  –  volunteers  and  students  –  alike.    Fifthly,  thank  you  for  being  part  of  SAIL.  I  recall  the  words  of  our  founders,  Matthew  and  Anna-­‐Grace.  To  my  mind,  it  applies  to  all  SAILors,  both  Sudanese  and  otherwise:    We  SAIL  in  the  hope  and  expectation  that  if,  through  no  fault  of  our  own,  we  were  made  to  leave  our  country,  our  family,  our  homes  and  our  community  that  we  too  would  be  cared  for  and  educated  in  the  place  that  received  us.      I  would  not  like  to  introduce  Eltayeb  and  Cassia  from  SAIL  Maidstone.