The Parade

A couple of weeks ago, Cathy announced the school would have its first ever parade. This announcement was met with blank stares from the children and teachers alike, as no one had seen a parade before and didn’t actually know what one was. It was up to us to show them what it was all about.

The volunteers spent the next couple of days in school putting together parade paraphernalia with the children. This included brilliantly colours crowns made with craft paper and crayons, pipe cleaners, glitter and feathers, as well as ‘wands’ mounted on sticks that the kids could carry in their hands. Some of the kids even got craft paper necklaces, making some of them look real pimped out in a crown, necklace and wand.

We took turns with each class, bringing a group of about 8 kids out at a time, trying to get them hyped up about making their crowns. The older kids caught on immediately, while the babies had no concept of what was going on and ended up either with the nicest crowns (made by the oh so helpful volunteers themselves) or the least adorned crowns, because let’s face it, the little ones simply didn’t care much at that point.  

In addition to props, we taught the children to sing of ‘WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU’ with foot stomps, and ‘Na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye’ which we all figured were appropriate parade songs. In addition to ‘When the saints go marching in’ which they know from previous teaching.

For We Will Rock You, we were reminded by Dave's sister that lyrics like "You've got blood on your face, you big disgrace" are probably not appropriate for kids emerging from a war-ravaged country. Noted. We stuck to the chorus.

As we got closer to the day of the parade, we realized we were running short on items…what better way to make up for lost time than by getting the adult English class involved! After all, most of them had kids who would be in the parade and would be happy to help…we hoped. We divided the adult class up into 4 stations – this way 2 stations would be dedicated to arts and crafts and 2 would be dedicated to the actual teaching of English – and this way every student would get what they originally came for, and then some.

We did not anticipate the huge rush of excitement at being able to do the arts and crafts. I suppose perhaps the parents have such little time to be creative in day to day life, that the opportunity to be silly with crowns and pipe cleaners and glitter glue was a welcome change from the routine of day to day life. Most notable was Papa Sarah. Papa Sarah is so called because he is the ‘Papa of Sarah ‘ who is the oldest of his triplet girls. Papa Sarah also has 5 other children, so we can’t figure why he’s named for Sarah, but who are we to argue ?

Papa Sarah is the caretaker at the school. At over 6 feet tall, and the father of 8, he is one of the most gentle men I have ever come across – and he has the most brilliant smile. Papa Sarah doesn’t attend the English classes, but we called him into the arts and crafts station to see if he might have any interest. I was a bit concerned he might think it all very childish and silly…but once he saw what was going on, wow did that man go to town! I have never seen a grown man so enthralled by feathers and pipe cleaners before – it was amazing to see the dedication he put into each of the crowns he made, and the glow of pride as he handed in each one of his crowns. His smile alone would be enough to make your day.

Parade day dawned in a rush of excitement. The best student was chosen – a boy called Fils who secured a 97% score in his exams – and he was made the leader of the parade. As a special reward, Fils was gifted an extremely smart suit than had been donated by a kind soul back in Toronto. It fit him fairly well – he will grow into it – and we got a special thank you from his mum, which we weren’t expecting.

And off we went with the singing of children, the blowing of whistles, the waving of balloons, the banging of tambourines, the ting-ting of a glockenspiel and somewhere I swear I heard cowbell. I kept thinking ‘We need more cowbell’. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a slightly teary Cathy who claimed she was crying because the kids were so darn cute. I think - since she is the woman who made this all possible – it would be really hard to not get emotional seeing all these beautiful, well fed, well adjusted children making their way down the street, the pride and envy of the neighbourhood.

Parents, neighbours and passerbys lined up along the side to watch and cheer them on. And when we arrived back, we sat the kids down in a circle, gave them some lunch and watched them wolf it down. We keep expecting someone to throw up due to all the excitement, but it hasn’t happened yet-  very impressive.

There was some bread left over, and it was handed out to the parents who came to the school to watch the parade. A piece was given to Papa Ange (yes, the Papa of Ange who attends the school). I saw him break it into half, give one half to Ange, some to her friends sitting with her, and then he ate the rest himself.

That’s love. And this place seems full of it. 

- Dal

Adult Class making crowns

Papa Sarah

Cathy sheds a tear of joy

WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU

NAH NAH NAH, HEY HEY HEY
GOOOOD-BYE

Dal, David and Fils

Ron riling up the kids