Celebrating 31 Years of Independence!

October 27th marks 31 years of independence for the lovely island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It has been a jam-packed few days as the students have been getting ready to celebrate. Last week all of the classes made Vincentian flags and rehearsed their national anthem. I am happy to report that I know all the words! On Monday of this week, the students had a game day where they played football, cricket and netball. On Tuesday, all of the students were asked to wear their Independence colors so that we could march through town. The video on the blog entry below is of the morning assembly where students were practicing their songs for the march. We marched right through town (and down some streets I had not visited yet!) and sang the whole way or at least gave a good effort to sing the whole way. After the march, the students were dismissed early except for 25 who had been selected to participate in the national student rally.

Miss John and I took 25 children to Victoria Park in Kingstown. We were met by hundreds of other students. At the rally, a variety of dignitaries gave speeches and some students from various schools performed old folk dances and songs. The highlight for most of the students was the Capoeira performance by a group from Brazil. We also enjoyed popcorn, Busta (fruit sodas most closely related to Fanta) and lots of sweeties. It was great to see these students get out of Layou and see what other kids are doing. I am also proud to say that the Layou Government School was very well behaved!

Wednesday was Independence Day and the town was abuzz. In the morning, most people watched the national parade on their TV (or their neighbor’s). I know this because I do not have a TV and could hear it all around me as I sat on my porch. In the afternoon, the school held its annual Independence Day Fair. It was wonderful! They had a bouncing castle, DJ, chicken, ice cream and pizza. The classrooms were set up like booths and the students could play darts, pin the tail on the donkey, bottle toss or get their face painted by Miss Smith. They also had games that I had never heard of though I figured out that we do have similar games in the US. Dips is a big bucket full of sawdust and for one dollar, the student gets to dip their hand in to find a prize. Punchboard is a large board with hundreds of holes stuffed with paper. The students pay a dollar to select a piece of paper. If the paper has a number on it, they get the corresponding prize. There were some awesome prizes including a huge cake decorated like the St. Vincent flag. The dance floor was the biggest hit. These kids can MOVE!!! Seriously, the dance floor looked like a hip dance club except no one was above 4’5”. After the fair, all of the adults get together and lime on the block (hang out). We have Thursday and Friday off from school so all the children can recover from the festivities! Happy Independence SVG!