An Epic Ceremony

Tom up front and giving his speech

It was the final thing. Half of the team was leaving the very next morning. One final ceremony to give out certificates to our English students. But this was special for several reasons:

• This English center had decided to only give certificates once a year. So there was a year of students to celebrate— around 150 students.
• This was not just about certificates, this was also a goodbye to our team.
• The head of this center never likes to do things small— so it was in one of the nicest venues, there was drama, music and dance planned.
• Every single student was told to prepare a speech in English— that’s around 150 speeches.

So we got dressed in our best and headed to the venue around 4pm. Megan and the kids left around 7pm in the middle of all the student speeches. Tom wasn’t home until well after 8pm. Now it is hard to recreate this 4+ hr experience for you. First imagine a packed auditorium with a brightly lit stage. You are dressed in several layers and it is hot- every few minutes you wipe sweat away or attempt to fan yourself.

Our youngest poses on stage during the lip-syncing

Here are the highlights:

• Prayers to begin and end the ceremony with some recitation from their holy book thrown in.
• a speech in English by the mother of the school director (she’s also the head sponsor-- "when did this old island grandma learn any English?!")
• a long several-scene skit about the value of learning English (i.e. so you won’t be cheated in business deals with English speakers)
• singing the island national anthem and then the American “national anthem” (?)- “God bless America” - which all the islanders had practiced and belted out
• Tom giving a rousing speech in the island language
• a spunky 15 yr old student lip-syncing to an American pop song
• a scandalous dance performance by young teenage couples followed by some brake-dancing
• lots of speeches— including several people who got up and forgot what they were going to say, so the crowd would yell “Say, Thank You!” Many obediently said “thank you” and went to stand with the certificate holders
• flower necklaces for all the teachers and many of the students, often placed over the head mid-speech.
• a dramatic finish- the lights are dimmed, candles are brought out and everyone sings along with Michael Jackson’s “Heal the World”
• an extended photo session with about a million cameras and every permutation of students plus teachers imaginable.
  

  

  Another of the student speeches, they kept going & going...

Sound like fun?  Do you want to go?  It was certainly an unforgettable experience.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We made it safely to our debrief location and we made it through our team debrief (which we’ll probably write about next week). It was a really nice time of reflecting, affirming and bringing about closure for our team.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We have begun to say goodbye to our teammates. Everyone will be traveling this coming week, pray for safe travels and smooth transitions. By mid-week we will be back on Clove Island without our team. Pray for us and our kids as we transition into this new stage. We will be passing through a big city on the way to the islands and have the opportunity to have our youngest’s hearing and speech evaluated— some of the evaluations require “child compliance” so please pray with us that he will be a in good and cooperative mood so the evaluations will go well (the appointments are on Monday morning- Africa time). Please pray for good health— there have been some bugs going around and it is never to be sick or have sick kids as you travel. The election results are still being contested— pray that the final results could be settled soon and peacefully.