When Shakira Made Me Cry

I had my final swan song, and it included a life size cardboard bus, mini Michael Jackson wannabes, and Chinese fans. Confusing I know, but stay with me. I am talking about the Africa Umoja Concert at the school where I teach dance. "Umoja" means spirit of togetherness, and that's exactly what the concert was about! Over a period of 4 months, I taught the kids how to do zumba, jazz, lyrical, hip-hop, how to dance with props and acting. All of this was within the influence of dance throughout African history. The director of the show, and also my favorite counterpart because she gets me, based the concert of the popular African show titled by the same name as ours, Africa Umoja. The show takes you through African culture over the years by song and dance. Starting with the traditional dances, gospel songs, gumboot dancing, jive dancing that was found in the clubs in Metropolitan areas, and so on.

Our concert consisted of over 13 songs, combined with the senior school. I was in charge of choreographing the junior school. Since I don't have the capability to post a video of the hour long concert, I'll have to just tell you the play list. 

           1. Waka Waka- the dance group of the school, did a routine to the popular song by Shakira that was the theme song of the World Cup in 2010. FIFA World Cup South Africa may have been over four years ago, but the pride the continent felt for hosting such a big events is still as big as ever. This song, Waka Waka was the opening song of the concert. The girls were dressed in bright neon colors with sequins belt and wrist bands that moved when they shook their bodies. This song now has a special meaning to me, as I cried in the middle of the airport when I heard it weeks after the show.

          2. Flag Parade- I'm not sure who the composer of this instrumental song was, but it was such a cool jazzy number where we did a lot of things. In this song, we had 19 flags of Africa represented on big glittery cardboard, we had 7 drummers, 8 ribbon girls, and 5 dancers. We filled the auditorium with this dance, coming in from all 4 wings, the 3 aisles in the back, and movement throughout the stage. The highlight was when the Swazi flag came down the center of the aisle and everyone cheered!

          3. Africa Sunrise- This was such a powerful song by Helmut Lotti. It talks about the beauty of Africa. I had 20 grade 2 girls come on in a weaving pattern on stage, carrying giant 1 meter fans. At certain cues in the song, the girls opened the fans. Because the fans were so big and the musical cues where drastic, the movement, while not difficult, was very dramatic. In the midst of the moving fans, was "mother Africa", she came on the stage and danced here lyrical dance with ribbons across the stage. Such a beautiful piece

           4. Jika- This is a very popular song by South African group Mi Casa. I would consider this song the crowd favorite of the concert. Not because the song, ok well maybe because of the song, but mostly because of the grade two boys who came on stage in a suit and tie with gold hats in tow. These little boys can move! I'm talking like "make you blush" kind of moves! 

            5. In the Jungle- this of course is the classic expected that song we wish to see performed by any little tyke. For the grade 1 girls, we had them dressed up a birds who were the main dancers. The cheeky little boys were the lions, and the rest were village people who walked on stage and conveniently got scared by a lion. Yes it was cliche, but its so cute when you see a six year old dressing in a big lion mane, carrying a stuffed animal lion on stage.

            6. Penny whistle-  this song by Mango Groove was the back drop to our "taxi scene". Our set director constructed a life size bus that the kids pushed on stage. We were acting out the comical and chaotic scene that is of the infamous  bus ranks of Africa. We had bus conductors shouting, people dancing through the rank, girls on their cellphone, businessmen, mothers with babies on their backs, someone selling fruit, boys playing with toys, and of course one little white girl with a backpack on walking through confused with a map. There was a lot of activity going on, but it pulled off well!

            

Those were the big numbers that I choreographed, there rest were all choir songs, or just ones were the kids walked on and off stage. Overall though I am so happy with how the concert went. It truly was the highlight of my service. 

Have a Mandela Kind of Mindset

My final month of work couldn't have been more stressful, yet more rewarding if I had wanted it to be. I saw a lot of things come into fruition, and I also saw a lot of things come to pass. Some relationships ended on a bad note, others were mended, and most were strengthened. Expectations where met, and disappointments were minimal. Overall I am 100% satisfied how things ended and if given another chance, I would do the whole thing over in a heartbeat. The PC saying is true, it is " the toughest job you'll ever love". 

 The weeks counting up to my departure, I was pressed with making sure I got all my life skill lessons taught. My class had to work at a fast pace which was the opposite of what they were doing with all their other classes. Instead of taking a break during their exam weeks, we kept working and made up classes throughout the term. I wanted to do more activities with them, but realized that it would just be too much. Thankfully, the English teacher saw that we were working on job skills and writing resumes. I wanted to take the classes into the computer lab to type them out, but time did not permit us with that luxury. So instead of using the limited amount of classes I had left, the English teacher is going to continue with the writing if the resumes in her class.... At least that is the plan. I am proud of my Grade 11 class through. Sure there could have been a lot of improvements with that class, but they have been dealt a bad hand; however they are handling it as best they can without much help. For example, my class didn't receive books, so everyday I had to print out pages of their book from my one copy (which yes I know is also a privilege that my school even has a copier). The students weren't given folders or anything else to secure their papers. Knowing that these students are still young, I didn't expect them to keep perfectly a years worth of information in their bags, but to my delight maybe only one or two ever lost their stuff. We also crammed  three terms of curriculum in two. Now typically I normally bash teachers who just rush through the syllabus to get it done, because I feel the students don't really learn the information. This was not the case for my kids. The national standards say that students only need a 60 to pass and be on track, well my students had a class average of 89% with no one below a 60! There were only two lessons that I did not get to with the students, but once I met the new PCV replacing me I knew that she would be a perfect fit to teach those last sessions and it would be a good way for her to warm up with the students. Wishing the best for her! 

I was a little bit nervous about leaving because I thought everything I did might just fall (and it still might, only time will tell), but again I am so thankful that my site was replaced by a new PCV. The library I started at the primary school was still far from being finished and the new PCV was willing to continue it when I left. In the beginning of this blog I said I had some stressful and disappointing times, well this was one if them. If there was one thing I could change about my service, it would have been to have spent more time at the primary school. The library project was probably the biggest thing that needed to be done, but for many reasons it was a hassle to get started. My final months, literally down to my final days, I was held up in the library for hours a day trying to get it done. Personal feelings aside, I didn't want to complete it for my own glory; never once was this one of those " look what I did" situations. My sole purpose for being so stubborn and wanting to get this library done was because this is the one thing that the kids wanted. Everyday the kids would come up to me and ask me if they can have library class, or if they could check out a book. I so much wanted them to tell them yes! If anything, the biggest lesson I've learned here, development wise, is how important literacy is. The kids at the primary school, eventually will be kids at my high school. If we could improve their literacy when they are in grades 3, imagine how well they will test in Form 3!  Nelson Mandela said that "education is the most important factor of sustainable development",oh how I wish this concept would resonate! My mind will always be on those kids and that library; I pray for the new PCV as she is walking into this big challenge. I also pray for the teachers  that they catch on, and for the students that they hang on.

So Much to Do, Not Enough Time

I am left with 5 days in Swaziland, somebody pinch me! I can't believe it is time to go. There is still so much I have to do. My biggest obstacle I am left with is writing my Description of Service (DOS). This is hard, because I haven't even had time to think! There has also been so much that has happened in the past month that I haven't had time to blog about.

So I just wanted to send out a hey there to all my readers. I will be absent the next couple weeks, but I promise to fill you all in on what's been happening. I'll be blogging about my last days in SD probably when I am sitting in the comfort of my own bed or a Starbucks. But before I get there, I am going to spend 2.5 weeks traveling through Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Until then...

...Sala Kahle.