So this past weekend was the “Chargel Basic-Cycle School’s Annual Inter-House Competition.”
It’s the schools annual track and field competition, and it was a blast!
Quick background:
The school in Chargel teaches grades 1-9 to about 400 students from a combination of Chargel and about 12 other surrounding communities. Some students travel up to 7 kilometers a day to and from school, and other students who live futher away than that will stay with families in Chargel during the week for school and then go back to their own families on the weekend. For example, in my family’s compound we have a boy named Marlang who is from a town about 12 k away. He is a student in grade 9, so he stays with us during the week but usually goes back home on the weekends and holidays.
In any case, the students at the school are split into 4 houses, or kundas, (Red, Green, Yellow and Blue). Each “kunda” has several faculty supervisors and a “prefect,” or student selected to basically lead the house. (kind of like the school system in “Harry Potter”) Then, from all that, there is a head boy and head girl selected from among the entire school to basically act as the liaison between faculty and students.
So, this past weekend, beginning Friday afternoon and continuing through Saturday, the four kundas had their annual “Inter-Kunda” track and field competition. This is really one of those experiences where a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some pictures from the various events.
Some of the events are typical to what we are used to seeing in the States.
Running
Relay
Long Jump
High Jump
But other events take on a distinctive West African twist and are, well, quite frankly, a lot of fun!
Potato Relay (Truly indescribable in words. I don’t even fully understand what was all involved myself, except that it involved getting potatoes into a bucket and running.)
Three Legged Race
Musical Chairs
And my personal favorite, the Water Bucket Race!
It’s a great time with tons of cheering…
Lots of community involvement...
A DJ blasting West African music…
Great food and fun snacks….(such as pop corn, fried crackers, pankets, fish-pies, and baobab juice!)
And even a Red Cross committee to handle heat and dehydration issues.
And what was I doing through all of this? Well, when I wasn’t strolling from kunda to kunda cheering students on or taking pictures, Taba and I were having a good time just hanging out and enjoying the great events (and the great snacks).
That evening the DJ kept the party going by playing dance music all night long at the school yard, as the school hosted a huge dance for everyone, free of charge. You can be sure it was a lively night!
Truly a good time had by all!
