Sports Day

Today was finally our sports day, and what a wonderful day! We’ve had a really busy few weeks, with interviews for new teachers, reports due, summer school planning, plus my normal training schedule with the teachers, and various admin and organisational issues which are constantly on everyone’s mind, so we were working flat out to get everything ready. But as we left for the school at 7am Sunday morning, we were as prepared as we could be.

(Of course, half way to the school, we suddenly realized we’d forgotten to bring the honey - a Lalibela specialty - the Parents Committee had requested. But in the scheme of things it wasn’t a disaster.)

When we got there, the school compound looked fantastic. The teachers had spent hours clearing the compound of stones etc, marking out a running track with white cooking ash, making a high jump stand out of wood, and putting up banners and balloons. The whole place looked amazing! Loads of students were already there, and their parents started to arrive about 8.30am. There were also political meetings going on in the area at the time (the local government office is next to our compound so they tend to come and sit under our trees or use our classrooms for meetings), so there were quite a few people milling around.

The parents committee had been working hard to make talla (local beer)and kollo (nuts and seeds) for the guests, and alternated manning the refreshment stall with doing crowd control for us!

Sports day started at around 9.30am (the plan was 8am – ha!) with a presentation from the music and dance club. Then we had

- wrestling, with some great skill, but also some seriously dodgy ‘grabbing’ tactics! I was concerned for the future child-creating ability of some of the boys

- The high jump – my God, these kids can jump! Everyone – farmers, government officials, parents, other children – were on the edge of their seat when M cleared the second highest level with ease. Sadly he didn’t quite manage the highest, but he won by a clear margin and there was a huge cheer anyway

- Gymanstics, using the mats kindly loaned to us by the Circus. There was walking on hands, backflips, handstands and the truly terrifying team activity where they built human pyramids. I couldn’t bring myself to watch – apparently I can watch the Circus do it, but not when our children are involved! – but it was apparently all very good and Am. and As. acted as ‘spotters’ to make sure nobody fell (they didn’t)

- Running – split into boys and girls, then again into ‘big ones’ and ‘little ones’, we had four separate races. They ran round a pre-arranged track either once or three times (depending on age groups). No sprints, please, we’re Ethiopian! This was another huge crowd pleaser, despite the few drops of rain

- Football: the big one! Our Project Team, the teachers and G, a local Government member, made up the Adults Team, and the majority of the bigger boys from both Grades made up the Students team. An exciting game, with everyone in proper football gear (including the referee, a volunteer from the local Farmer Training Centre) which was sent from the UK last year. Many new talents were discovered – for instance, who would have guessed that Ay., one of our female Grade 1 teachers, is such a demon in goal?! There were a few own goals scored, including one by As., a Grade 2 teacher! Understandably, he wasn’t very popular with his colleagues, although his students loved him! I didn’t count on S and Ab being so good – or so competitive! – so the adults team won easily, but it was a great way to finish the Sporting part of the day

After this we all moved over to ‘Tree’ which is our meeting/presentation place. It’s a huge old tree on the edge of the school compound, standing tall in the middle of a tumble down stone wall, and with a natural mud and stone ‘platform’ in the front of it. It’s an ideal place to hold meetings as the tree’s branches provide good shade, and the mud and stone provide a stage or a seating area. For this day, Tree had been decorated with balloons and a big fabric banner painted by S. Various shepherd boys had climbed into the branches to watch the action from a comfortable and privileged vantage point, and our Parents Day Helpers had put out lots of chairs for the audience.

The Parents Day was officially opened by the Head of the Kebele (like local council), who came out of a meeting to come and make a great speech about how the community need to look after their school, and how important it is for them to send their children to school regularly. There was more music and dancing from Asnko’s club, then we made the sports day presentations, giving tee shirts to 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each of the different disciplines, and baseball caps to the Adults Football team.

After those presentations, A and S gave a 10 minute Project Report, giving a summary of the last year of the school. One of the Parents Committee chose this particular moment to invite A. to come and have coffee with them … it was gently pointed out that he was actually a little busy, but it was fine for them to go ahead and have it without him.

After that it was a drama by the Child Rights Club which talked about the consequences of early marriage. I had no idea what was going on most of the time, but I could see the audience laughing and ‘oohing and ahhing’ at various points, so I’m guessing they got it!

I couldn’t get over how many people had come (many, many more than last year, apparently). There was everyone from mothers breast-feeding their toddlers, to farmers sipping talla, to government officials who should have been in a meeting, but were much more interested in watching what we were doing! A’s girlfriend and friend had come along, and our Guard from our compound in the town, Ato M., had also come. He caught sight of me taking pictures of the audience, and gave me a big grin, posing with his umbrella to shield him from the sun. I already have the picture up on my wall!

The final part of the day was to give out prizes for Semester Exam marks, participation in clubs, and just for general wonderfulness! We tried to reward as many people as possible with clothes, little bits we’ve had donated (colouring books etc) or even just with certificates, encouraging people who help, who get good marks, and who have made great progress by working hard

The 10 students who had volunteered to be ‘Parents Day Helpers’ for the whole day, lugging chairs and tables around, making sure everyone was in the right place at the right time, and generally helping Ab and I to ensure the day ran smoothly, all got Baseball caps and a huge round of applause. I also rewarded the teachers for their commitment and hard work, and gave them laminated photos we had taken of them all – the Grade 1 teachers were so happy I thought they were going to cry

When the students received their rewards, their parents often came out of the crowd and pressed 1 or 2 Birr into their children’s hands or onto their foreheads, as is the custom here. It was so lovely to see how proud they were, and that ended up making me a bit tearful

Lastly, Ab made a big announcement to everyone about summer school, and then it was all off to drink Talla and party into the night! Actually, we didn’t stay to party, we just went home as we were all knackered and I was running a full day training session the following day. Also, at least two of our party don’t drink alcohol anyway, and Ato M. was already a little bit tipsy!! However, most people stayed around the school and enjoyed a well earned celebration.

Everyone said the day was a huge success, including the Head Man of the Woreda, who is one of the local Government that I really like. He was amazed at how many people were there, and how well organised it was (apparently, I am much better at organising Sports Days than Music Gigs, which is why I leave the Hanna’s Gigs to the wonderful Maria!). He was also apparently surprised I was there and getting involved – I’m not sure if he thought I just sit at a desk all day?

It was honestly the most exhausting, most satisfying and most fun day I’ve spent since I’ve been here!