Parties at Bana ba Metsi

It is almost two months now I have been at Bana ba Metsi and within this time we have had two parties at the school, both of which have been a lot of fun.

About a month ago now the standard 7 boys, who had been at Bana ba Metsi for 3 years, left the school after finishing their exams, with many of them hopefully going onto secondary education. The day before they left we had a prize giving ceremony where certain boys were given prizes for achievements in certain academic subjects, sports or skills from manual work. Then it was time for lunch which turned out to be a big and great surprise for me. There was a buffet of so much delicious food. We had a huge plate full of beef, fried chicken, rice, potato salad, pasta, butternut squash, beetroot, cabbage and so on. We even got peaches and custard as a dessert which just really did put the cherry on the cake. It was the first big treat we have had when it comes to food and we made the most of what was on offer.

The standard 7 leavers just before we headed off in the cabstar

The main activity of the day was an evening swim, with music being played on the side which was so much fun with the boys. After a chat around the pool, with the staff giving their advice and best wishes to the standard 7’s the director of the school, Peter Dow in a very nonchalant manner, slipped off his shoes and proceeded to do a front flip into the pool fully clothed. This naturally set the wheels in motion for everyone to get in the pool, which soon turned into a big wrestling match. It was so much fun and with the music and people out and dancing, everyone had a good time.

Thanks to 2 returned volunteers from 2012-13, Sam and Ben (who were visiting the school to see off the standard 7 boys who they had welcomed to the school when they came as standard 5’s) we also got kilos of popcorn poolside, which was eaten a lot faster than it took to make. It was a great send off to the boys leaving who we had gotten to know with our month with them.

Sam and Ben with some of the boys they taught when they first came to Bana ba Metsi

The second party was only yesterday. It was an orphans party for orphans from the villages on one side of the school, on our side of the river. We had to plan activities to keep anywhere up to 100 children entertained for a few hours in between their arrival and lunch, which we had been looking forward to since the previous gorge a month earlier. With TV watching and face painting being taken care of by Mr Sono and Mr Dow, the volunteers took 4 other stations. Nick and Tilmann (the 2 German volunteers) took swimming and races respectively, while Archie manned a whole in the net football shoot out game and I played knock the tins over, for a sweet and musical chairs. I was thankful to have boys helping to translate (although I'm sure I looked funny running around a circle of chairs explaining when to sit and when not to) and re stack cans and with the only potential downside being we are currently in a 40⁰C+ heat wave it was great fun. I found the girls to have a lot more success at winning sweets by knocking all the tins down, much to the disappointment of some boys. 

Androclas, Moagi and Thabiso - some of my helpers for the morning 

 Then after some marimba and chatting, Santa Clause made a special visit from “far north where it is -20⁰C so now it is too hot.. Eish” to give the children a present each. They undoubtedly loved this and soon there were barbies and cars being ripped out of plastic everywhere. We even got some snacks from Santa to keep us going until lunch.

Spot the odd one out?

Father Christmas in a less cold setting than usual but still with his presents

We volunteers had been almost dreaming about the lunch as we were told it was even better than the one at the prize giving ceremony and it didn’t disappoint! We played our hands in the preparation by buying a goat with Magwe (a builder at the school) which we then were able to help slaughter (sorry to those of you who aren’t keen on these things). Magwe as well as preparing the goat prepared 30kg of pork which he cooked for so long it turns into pulled pork and my gosh was it delicious. Along with these there was also lots of the same food as there was at the party a month previous. Again it was such a treat to have such great food and I had even learnt my lesson, eating just enough to be very full but not feel like I would explode.

Warning: any vegetarians or those who are squeamish you may want to avoid the next two pictures...

Bana ba Metsi sure does know how to throw a good party (and get to my heart through my stomach)!