Monday, December 3, 2012

A Reason to Celebrate

Tanzanians hardly need a reason to party. They love to have a good time and show their legendary hospitality. A person coming to visit is cause for a celebration, with the soda being brought out and something special for dinner. And when there is something monumental, they go all out.

Saturday, November 30th, there was cause to celebrate indeed. Chacha Yusf and Kikwete Marwa Chacha graduated from nursery school and will be moving up to primary school in January. Their teachers made remarks that these two boys are both well behaved and at the top of their class at St. Michael's.

The ceremony started right on time, with songs from the church choir and  performances from the kids. Every child danced and sang in at least one performance. They did skits in English, songs in Swahili and traditional Kurian and Luo dances. They were so proud of themselves.

Halfway through the ceremony, parents and guests were invited to tour the school and see work done by the students. The school was very nice, with toys and games, boxes of crayons and coloring pages and lots of cut outs on the wall. The students could all point to their country on a map and knew their basic colors.

All students wore school uniforms and their caps and gowns. The gowns were blue and pink, and the caps were green. Kikwete was sure the cap, not in the traditional shape, made him look like a rhino.

There were speeches done by teachers and people in the Catholic church, and many of the students had a chance to give speeches and to share what they are grateful for. Finally, parents were invited to put sashes on their child and the children were called up to receive their diplomas. They also receive small backpacks, that they may use when they go on to primary school.

When diplomas were all handed out and final prayer was said, the students all got a piece of cake and everyone was invited to a lunch of meat, rice, potatoes, fruit and soda. There were enough soda that everyone could have three, and for sure some of the kids took full advantage.

The children line up to perform


Children and teacher sing a song to the audience

Kids listen to the speeches

Chacha accepts his diploma

Kikwete accepts his diploma

Kikwete, Chacha and a friend smile for the camera. 
Chacha and Kikwete are more than ready to head out on the next adventure: primary school. Both have worked hard to get there and are ready for additional challenges.  Many of the students are able to move up a class in January, because of hard work and dedication on their part. They are people to be admired always.

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