The Class 8 Graduation on January 27 was an extraordinary day! It didn't have the high-tech spectacular elements that accompany many US events, but the joy that pervaded the day and the whole school was palpable! Classes were cancelled that day, and the whole school community, many of whom had been working on preparations, were eager to rejoice and celebrate with the graduates!! Current students performed entertaining and meaningful poetry, songs and dances; the dining hall was transformed into a fancy auditorium, as students and staff had worked together blowing up balloons, hanging crepe paper, and making badges for our 'distinguished' guests. The day culminated with a special meal, which included the freshest chicken imaginable (see photos below)!
(In case you're confused, as I was, about a graduation ceremony being held at the beginning of the school year, here's the reason: After completing Grade 8 (end of November), the students take a huge national exam, covering all that they have learned in their 8 years of primary school; the scores aren't released until January, confirming who has graduated; the scores are then used to apply for admission to the selective boarding schools. Those students anxiously wait to see if they are admitted to their choice schools...like college applications in the US.)
Why such celebration?
* Graduating from Grade 8 in poor, rural Mbita is truly a big deal, perhaps a bigger deal (& less common) than high school graduation in the US;
* Graduating from Grade 8 is similar to US high school graduation in that most graduates apply to go on for further education... sometimes to a local school, but often going some distance away, to a boarding school where they live in a dorm.
Furthermore....
* Most of the CGA graduates have lost one or both parents, and are very fortunate to be able to attend CGA!!
* They came to CGA speaking only the Dhuluo language; the adults they live with do not speak English, yet these orphans have been taught and then tested on rigorous national exams in English; they also know Kiswahili well! How many of us can easily enter a conversation in any of three different languages!!! Imagine having been schooled in a language that you speak only at school, that your family does not even know! I am so impressed with how well these Grade 8 graduates have done, especially given all the obstacles they have had to face along the way!!
I honor these graduates, and all those who have taught and supported them along the way!! CGA continues to be 'family' to these students... helping them with their high school applications, then often paying their fees for their 4 years of high school!!
Pictures will continue telling the story....
These dancers patiently and eagerly await the time for their performance for the graduates and audience.
Each student was met by a parent or guardian who presented the Primary School Graduation certificate, along with a Bible.
To the left is Lillian, with her daughter. She is the staff member who provides ongoing contact, care and support to each orphan family.
Then came the 'banquet'... Early in the morning the chickens were brought, feather plucked off (see photo), and cooked, along with beef and other traditional African foods!
Celebration followed by grief...
2 days later a Grade One child, Jack, died. He had Sickle Cell Anemia, which results in childhood death (except now in the US there are enough interventions that some are now living into adulthood). This very sad occasion gave me the opportunity to further participate in, and learn about the Luo culture. The wake, funeral service and burial all happen at the family home. The Luo culture dictates where the family homes are to be built in relationship to one another, and where the grave for each person is to be placed. The designated place for Jack's grave was on left side of his home (when facing it). When I arrived, Jack's body was in the house, where his mother was intermittently wailing very loudly. The grave was being dug in the heat of the day, as people took turns breaking up the rocks to dig it.
Chairs had been brought for the wake/service... when I arrived this group of men had been joined by cows; I sat in the adjoining group of chairs.
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| Little Jack, in his custom-made coffin, paid for by CGA |
The service was long... in addition to the Pastor, siblings and friends speaking, both of Jack's parents spoke at length.
Then we gathered around the coffin to sing and pray.
Changing to a more mundane subject.... Jane, the nature-lover, is experiencing another side of nature...
* In the evenings occasional swarms of insects invade my home, my book, even my face and nose, attracted by the lights! The solution: turn off the lights, and light a candle, or read by 1 dim flashlight or some-such.
* The insect problem seemed to begin after the bats, who'd taken refuge in my house, were evicted. Previously, when I'd been awakened in the night by loud banging, I'd thought it was monkeys playing on my roof... I'm glad I didn't know then that it was the bats inside, trying to get out for their nightly feeding!!
* It's taken the bats a while to learn to not come back to my house in the morning, for their day of sleep... a number of times while I was having my early morning breakfast and devotions on my front porch, they flew up to me, then left! But one day I arrived home from school to find one bat soundly sleeping on the ceiling of my porch.... see photo!
Another day I arrived home to find these quickly-growing baby goats (whom I'd seen as infants only weeks earlier) enjoying my porch.... "How cute!" I thought. But then I decided that I didn't want them to eat any books that I leave on my table... and I certainly didn't want to add cleaning up their messes to my jobs, so I firmly shooed them away!!