Yesterday was the last day of term 2 for our students. With International Youth Day officially during the holidays (on August 12th) we had an early celebration, organised by one of our volunteers, Violette, that neatly coincided with her leaving party.
International Youth Day is always around several themes and this year we chose health, education and the environment as these reflect what we have been doing in class.
The students divided into 3 groups and each prepared and presented a short drama on their allocated topic.
We had a play about a girl and boy being asked to leave school because they were more interested in each other than their lessons. We saw them a few years down the track where she was begging for money to feed her two children and one more on the way and he had turned to a life of crime to support himself. She pleads passionately to the audience to respect the educational opportunities they have.
We had a village chairperson organising an Environment Education event because of complaints she'd received from villagers about illegal charcoal making and rubbish disposal.
Last we had a young man fighting for acceptance among his friends and family after he'd tested positive for HIV.
There was some great acting! And some enterprising use of found materials as 'props' - a few pot plants suffered in the charcoal making enterprise! The circular 'stage' is actually the septic tank lid.
We had a range of speakers come in and talk to the students about the three themes and also about First Aid - they will all be doing a 4 hr First Responders course next term. The awards for the term, with certificates and small gifts, were announced. There was dancing and singing.
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| That's Violette on the far right of the stage |
And then there was party food! Many students (and teachers) had their first taste of pizza. A voucher from a local pizza shop that caters to wazungu was given as a raffle prize at a fund raising event earlier in the term. The winner had given it back to Umoja to use as a treat for the students. The pizza was definitely a hit.
There was also soda and nibbles paid for by Violette's father. We'll all miss Violette but wish her safe travels back to Belgium.
Now I'm on holidays for two weeks and eagerly awaiting Steve's arrival here on August 18th!
