After all that hard work, I still had no idea how the day would go. But it was BRILLIANT. The activities ran like clockwork. A small army of mums occupied the kitchen and science lab, showing the children how to cook vegetable stew and chapatis. By 12.45pm, every child in the school had done some cooking. Elsewhere, children were busy compiling project files on a particular African country (we looked at 8 different countries altogether), making masks, learning Swahili, singing songs, or listening to traditional stories in the 'grandmother's hut' - a corner of the library bedecked with blankets and all kinds of baskets and other artefacts, including a huge drum made out of wood and goatskin.
The fire alarm went off mid-morning - twice. It was the fault of the chapatis, which were busy burning. We had to evacuate the buildings each time before we could all go back and carry on. It all added to the excitement of the day.
Later, we covered a map of Africa with coins and then held the teacher auction, raising money for the Tumaini Fund. Over £800 was raised to help AIDS orphans and widows in this remote part of Tanzania. The highlight of the day was seeing my friend Candy and I throw water balloons at each other - two boys had won this privilege and we generously let them join in. The screams of delight every time we scored a hit were heard several streets away!
The children are still talking about it. The newspaper wrote it up. Me? I can't wait for next year!
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