A special event

         Over the last couple of weeks I have been volunteering a great deal more at the Likii special education school. Last Thursday the principal invited me to participate in what she called "Education day." I asked her what "Education day" was and she described it to me, yet I was still unable to figure out exactly what  it really was about. A miscommunication like this occurs almost daily for me. So I showed up to the school early the next morning to find several of the kids singing and dancing in the courtyard outside of the classroom blocks. I immediately joined in, and participated as well as I could. About twenty students stood around in a circle with three of the teachers, and we were singing and dancing a Kenyan version of the hokey pokey. This was followed by choreographed marching and the occasional pointing to the sky and praising of the Lord. I facilitated the process when necissary. After about fifteen minutes of this, we gathered up and hiked to the nearby Catholic church. The Church grounds were enormous and littered with statues of Jesus and well-kempt bush hedges that lined sturdy concrete buildings. As we walked behind the Churches' main building there appeared a rather large stadium made of wood and tin. It was oval shaped and looked like a soccer pitch surrounded by tiered benches for sitting. As our group entered a woman approached me and pinned a ribbon on my chest that read "guest." I guess it was easy for the women to assume that I was in fact a guest, because I was the only white person, in a crowd of attendees of about three to four thousand people. I felt the entire crowd watch and stare at our group as we entered through the mouth of the stadium. I heard mutterings of the word "mizungu" (white person) throughout the crowd as we walked the entirety of the field. After our group found our seating amongst the audience, we watched performances provided by different local schools. Each group dressed in their unique school uniforms. The entertainment was mostly military marches and praises for the Lord and president of Kenya. Several political dignitaries and bank managers were perched above the field in order to spectate. They received the performances that were directed towards them. 

After about thirty minutes there was an announcement in Kiswahili over the loudspeaker followed by applause. Suddenly my group of students marched down onto the field with me in tow. It dawned on me that we were performing the dances and marches that were practiced in the school yard earlier that morning. So there we were, in front of thousands of Kenyans, singing and dancing the hokey pokey. We were putting our right hands in and then taking them out, followed shortly by shaking it all about. Meanwhile we were making sure the audience knew that "that's what it's all about." The crowd thundered with approval. I was no longer confused about what "Education day" was. It's about showing off what the kids are capable of. It was one of the most surreal things I have ever experienced. The kids were marvelous and as happy as anyone could be.  Afterwards the church provided meat pilau for the children. We sat and ate as rain clouds rolled over head and began pouring on us. Nobody seemed to mind and continued to eat. 

Bennett