Part 2: Some thoughts from the last weeks of school, and Sakeji’s 90th Anniversary Celebrations

First, the end of term. End of term is always a very busy time; the Monday and Tuesday are spent trying to wrap up loose ends, clean classrooms, and tie off the dozen or so loose ends that must be tied off before the kids can go home. We have our big end of term assembly where students receive certificates for things like academic excellence, neatness in the dorm, and for our merit system. The house results are also announced. Sadly, even though we won sports day, Fisher is in third place still! Bags are packed, papers are send up to the dorm, and my classroom disgorges a terms worth of clutter as they clean out their desks.

Wednesday is the day the parents arrive starting at 1pm; the kids are so excited that they can hardly eat their lunch! The afternoon is a whirl of parent teacher interviews for me, and this term there was also the AGM (Annual General Meeting) to attend before supper. I grabbed some supper before dashing over to the hall to help Jill tune the guitars to the piano. A quick change later and I was ready to start the program, “Safari.” While it was not what I was hoping for, the parents seemed to really enjoy the show. After that I collapsed into bed, a thoroughly exhausted teacher!

Here is a picture of the stage shortly before the program started.

Once the kids were gone we had a few days to collect ourselves before we had the big 90th anniversary weekend. People came from all over Zambia, and a few friends and former students of Sakeji just happened to be in the country and able to attend. There was a large group of young people in their early 20’s, and a good selection of students from the 40’s-80’s. There was a scavenger hunt so people could revisit favorite spots, an afternoon at the pool, and a trip to the cottage. I spent most of my time organizing the morning, afternoon, and evening teas so that Vickie could concentrate on getting the meals done. It was good to see people of all ages remembering, laughing, swapping stories, and enjoying being back at their old school. Many things have changed, but we still make ice cream and fudge, do early morning swims in the dam, and have marmite and rice cakes for breakfast! We pray that it was a refreshing time for our visitors, and that it was a real blessing to each and every one.