Speech Day

Last Thursday I was invited to attend "Speech Day" held at the GSF school. At Speech Day all the classes present a song, dance, drama sketch or poem to the audience. Some of their parents come to watch and it is a celebration of the end of term, their achievements and an occasion where they are presented with their end of term reports. There was a big buzz in the air that day and I was excited and honoured to be included in the occasion and have another reason to wear my beautiful Gomez (Ugandan dress)!

Speech Day was also a particularly big day for K5 (the oldest Kindergarten class) who were graduating and will next year be in Primary 1!

The day was long starting at 10am (an hour late) and finishing at 4pm when lunch was served. However, I really enjoyed watching another cultural event and taking in the music, songs and traditions of this group. It was awesome to watch the spirit of celebration and some very proud parents and grandparents who were there supporting their babies! The teachers, children and parents danced and sang together throughout the event.

My two favourite parts of the day were the achievement awards and the children's presentations.

During the achievement awards certain pupils were called to the front because they had been the best in the school that year for punctuality, discipline, kindness etc. There were also awards for the top 3 positions in each class. As each child was called to the front they received a glass or china plate and a lolly as well as a certificate. I got choked up every time a very proud grandparent or mother ran to the front to congratulate their child and have their photo taken!

I also really enjoyed the children's presentations especially their dancing and singing. It is custom here that when there is a group on stage dancing those in the audience will go forward and give money to the one who is dancing/performing the best. This encouraged all the children to give 110% and also encouraged lots of hip swinging and bottom wiggling as that is the language of the dances here. I loved watching as more and more parents went forward giving money to children and the children got more and more energetic!!

At the end of the ceremony the children all received an end of year report with their test results in and the all important information of whether they were being promoted to the next class. In schools here in Uganda children do not progress through school by age but by ability. This means that each class will often have very mixed ages. There was a lot of excitement from the children who had performed well enough and after the summer holidays will return to school and be in a different year.

So, now it is the summer holidays! The compound here at GSF is quiet. The school is closed for 6 weeks so we will have around 250 less children and staff on site every day. I am looking forward to the pace slowing a little and getting some quality time to sit, chat and play and to enjoy December with those living here at GSF .