American English Day - Mole Camp - July 4, 2015

The day finally arrived! I was a bit anxious as we headed out to the camp this morning. The sky was ominous and I thought for sure it was going to rain. I was hoping Teddy had recovered from his recent bout with malaria, and I had a new driver today, Jean Baptist who has been filing in or a colleague in the radio room this past month. I was hoping the roads had improved with a 12 hour break from the rain - they did, just a little. Jean Baptiste did a great job navigating the mud and we arrived early enough to help situate things. Teddy was feeling much better and the whole team had things going well. It was a great day and I couldn't have been prouder of them. As a matter of fact, it got a little too warm, but there was ample shade for the audience.  I spoke for three minutes of the two and a half hour celebration. I got to enjoy the rest of the show front and center as I took pictures. It was as better than I could have hoped for. A few moments from the day:

The kids were the stars today! The came early and helped set up, their skits and songs were great, and they hung around and helped haul all these heavy desks back into the classroom. Real troopers :)

The group did a great job setting up the amphitheater

Plan B until the action starts

The MC Teddy was fantastic as he kicked things off

We even had the national anthem!

Our first song was by the English Club Choir - Swing Low Sweet Chariot

They came a bit late, but we had more than 500 despite the very hot day

The adult students did a very humorous skit about the frustrations of teaching and learning English :)

The audience thoroughly enjoyed themselves

More songs

Mrs. Ursula, the head of post for UNHCR, made the perilous trip down for the celebration.

Circle Tag

Beating the heat

Limbo Time - A big hit!

Saint Fort detailing the design and success of the Primary School Program for the camp residents

The ten Student Leaders introducing themselves to the camp - These young people have really stepped up and are now teaching more than 150 children!

Juliet and Scholastique introducing the Girls Empowerment Club

They then did a powerful skit about the importance of education for young girls

The Student Leaders sang We Shall Overcome

Yvon did a wonderful job explaining the new Secondary School Program. He will start Monday, and for the first time, the camp will have a secondary school program and more importantly, those young people will get back to their education! 

Of course there was Red Rover and Buck Buck, crowd favorites

The Women's Group did a very poignant skit about the difficulties of being blind

Steve recited a poem

Musical Chairs, in this case, Musical Benches. Scholastique and Steve battled it out for first place with Steve barely prevailing 

Teddy bringing a wonderful program to an end

We had a nice post event party and the dancing continued :)

We had other activities, including a couple of songs by the children available on my Facebook page. The success of the day is a mirror for the hard work that has been happening in the camp for nearly two months. I am now fully confident that these programs will succeed and flourish long after I leave. I am already planning a check up trip for December :)