I arrived a bit before 3, when the kids are supposed to be released from class and get their sports on. They soon began pouring out of their classrooms and into the courtyard of the school. Soon teacher Heather became Jungle-gym Heather and I was covered in children, all limbs with 3+ children attached, kids piling on my back. It was great.
I look around for teacher Jakob who I thought I'd be helping run Sports Day with. Of course he is no where to be found so I sort of just stand there for a few minutes talking to the kids about their days and finally, Jakob shows up.
"Okay, get to the pitch!"
"What pitch?" I say, wondering if he really means, "Let's go/I'm coming with you/Won't this be FUN! .........
"Teacher Jakob? Hello? Bueller!?" One of the kids pointed back into the headmaster's office. Sounds about right.
So I asked one (of my favorite kids..shhhh) what pitch they usually go to, and as soon as she pointed, 160 kids take off in every which direction. I still have about a dozen around me, offering to hold my water, carry my backpack or just hold my hand.
So here we are, one happy family: one wide eyed mzungu and 160 little African children running, jumping, screaming, cartwheeling, piggybacking through the fields of Ndejje towards who-knows-what-pitch. Some kids are half naked at this point as they are taking off their uniforms and socks and kicking their shoes off. Well, seems fine to me, I guess. It is hot out! After walking for a bit, we arrive (it seems like all the kids made it) at a large open space surrounded by trees. MANGO trees at that. SWEET, right? Until I noticed like 14 kids climbing in the trees and another dozen or so on the ground hacking at the branches and swinging from the lower limbs. It was insane, but also secretly awesome. I wanted to jump up there with them but figured that wouldn't be the best example to set... I'm not too sure how comfortable I am eating an unwashed mango either-call me a diva.
Eventually I was able to break the kids up into a boys group and a girls group - it's just how it's done here... not something I support, but hey, we got to choose our battles! Thankfully they understand "Stop" and "No sports day" and after a little explanation, each group was playing something that resembled tag. Everyone seemed to be having a grand ol time, if I do say so myself. About 30 minutes in Jakob and a few other teachers came by to join the fun.
All in all, it was a great afternoon and I felt really good with the kids. As crazy as it was, they are really disciplined, most of them, and so respectful. They just wanna have some fun, who can blame them! They sit in those classrooms everyday from 7:30 to 5, often later. That'd make anyone go crazy! Thankfully, everyone had fun and no one got hurt! I'm already looking forward to next time :)
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