Form 4 Graduation 2016

It’s that time of year again- Form 4 Graduation! Form 4 is equivalent to 12^th grade in America. These students are graduating after completing four years of secondary school. They get a certificate, similar to our diplomas, and then have about a week of review before they take their National Exams (the Malawi School Certificate Examinations-- MSCEs).

This year the graduation preparations started the day before, on Thursday. I was able to teach my double period of Form 3 Physical Science in the morning, but after 9:30am all classes were suspended. The Form 1s were sent to sweep and mop the hall where the ceremony would be held. The Form 2s were already on holiday break after the completion of their National Exams (the JCEs). The Form 3s were kind of milling about, and the Form 4s were rehearsing.

Then the food preparation began. The female teachers and a few of the female students prepared all of the food, for around 90 people.

The next day was Graduation Day, I was told that the festivities would start at 9am. But I remembered last year, so I showed up at school at 9:30am. And I was just in time for... the ongoing preparations. Food was still being cooked outside, and the staffroom was being decorated. I helped wrap the gifts for the student awards and set up the staffroom for the luncheon.

The ceremony started around 11:00am. This year’s Guest of Honour was the Chief of Robeni Village which is very close to my school. Mr. Ajussa, one of our hardworking teachers from school, was the MC. Towards the beginning of the ceremony there were speeches by the outgoing Head Boy(lamenting the lack of toilets at our school, as well as the lack of teacher housing) and the incoming Vice Head Girl. Her speech was one of encouragement for the Form 4s as they embark on their exams.

Our Head Teacher, Madam Kalunga

Outgoing Head Boy, Jimmy

Incoming Vice Head Girl, Evalet

Throughout the ceremony there were student performances, like a gospel choir song, a drama about how Camfed (a local NGO) helps girls to stay in school, poetry, and a choreographed dance to the Amarula song. My favorite had to be the song performed by the Malaria Awareness Club though. Even though the club has not been active this year, the Club President Chisomo wrote a really cool song about how malaria can be prevented, and he performed it with about 10 backup singers. I had only heard his solo version of singing the chorus, but for this version he started rapping facts about malaria in the middle of the song, like how it is spread by the female Anopheles mosquito and is caused by the Plasmodium protozoa. So cool! I tried to take a video, but my camera was not cooperating.

Then the Head Teacher and the Guest of Honour gave out the testimonials. Each student was called up individually to receive their award and pose for a photo. Then family members and friends would run to the other side of the stage to hug them and give them small gifts. The family members were so proud of their students, and it was a really heartwarming experience to watch.

Then came time to give student awards. The awards were chosen by teachers on the Graduation Committee. I had no input at all, but at the last minute I was selected to be the one to hand out the awards. There were awards for Best Overall Student in Academics, Best Behaved, Most Hardworking, Best Dressed (meaning they always adhered to our school dress code) and Most Entertaining/Charming. The students were really pleased to get their gifts, (sandals for the boys and chitenjes for the girls). One student's mother was so happy that her daughter received an award, that she came up as her daughter accepted and started dancing and tossing K20 bills at her to the beat of the music (which PCVs refer to as "chopping the kwatch").

There were speeches by the Head Teacher and Guest of Honor, but they were both in Chichewa so I only caught bits of them. Then we said a closing prayer, and the ceremony was finished. We returned to the school for the traditional luncheon, where we enjoyed the food that the female staff and students had been preparing since yesterday. They served it buffet-style. We had chicken, potatoes, cooked cabbage (my favorite Malawian side dish) and a banana. And Fanta, because it's not a party without Fanta!

Afterward the ceremony, we had lunch and then we took snaps, of course. ("Snaps" are what they call photos here). The kids go crazy when they see a camera. I love their funny poses. Lots of Form 4s were posing, but students from the other Form jumped in to join the fun too.

Me, Madam Phiri, and students from Forms 1-4 posing for our snaps

Form 4s: Elason, Justin, Vincent and (front row) Maxwell

Me with one of my favorite Form 2 students, Evance

Graduation deserves a party, so after the ceremony and food it was time for the disco! I skipped out on this last year, so I decided to check it out this year. I headed over with a group of Form 4 students, but when we got there I was the only teacher present. Kind of awkward. The girls wanted me to dance with them, but I couldn't quite shake my booty as well as them. We had fun though.

Bessie and Loveness, two of my Form 3 students at the disco

The students get their groove on, Malawi-style

Soon the other teachers showed up and quite a few more students came to dance and celebrate. I left around 4:30pm, since it was getting close to sunset. It was a fun day and I really enjoyed hanging out with the students and teachers. As I walked home, I couldn't stop smiling as I looked around at my village, my school, and greeted my neighbors. I'm definitely going to miss Malawi when I leave.

My Second Malawian Graduation

Thursday was the Form 4 Graduation Ceremony at the Secondary School where I teach. It was a fun day of speeches, dancing, food and of course, “snaps” (aka taking photographs). Bonus—this time I didn’t have to make a speech!

The preparations had been going on all week. Classes were mostly suspended, as the undergrads were sweeping, mopping, arranging chairs and cooking in preparation for the event. The Form 4s were mostly busy rehearsing and studying for their upcoming exams. The teachers were busy supervising the students and preparing the programs, awards and food. I was assigned to the Cleaning and Decorating Committee. Which basically consisted of supervising the cleaning done by the students, although I did get to decorate the chalkboard in the staff room with my usual kindergarten artistic flair.

The hall where the ceremony was held was decorated by some Form 3 students with a side decorating business. They did a really nice job. Be sure to check out the decorations in the photos below.

The event was supposed to start at 9:30 a.m., but actually started two hours later. Not too bad for Malawi. Around 11:30 a.m. the Head Teacher, Deputy Head Teacher, school staff, Guest of Honour,
School Management Committee, Parent Teacher Association members, Chiefs, parents and student guests were seated in the hall. Then the music started up and the Form 4 students made their entrance, with a choreographed dance they had been practicing all week. When they reached the entrance way, the Guest of Honour cut the ribbon in the archway and the event officially began.

The empty seats were for the Form 4 students, and were soon filled.

We started off with a prayer, as it is a Catholic School. Then the Master of Ceremonies took us through the ceremony. The order was basically speech, speech, performance, speech, speech, performance. There was an interesting theme to some of the speeches that I will discuss in a separate blog post, as I have lots of thoughts about it. Suffice to say there was lots of thanks and encouragement for the
graduating class and the incoming students.

The performances were prepared by the students. There were dances, a rap, a drama, an acapella gospel song, and two comedy acts. Here is a photo of one of the performances. 

These Form 4 students were dancing to an old Michael Jackson song. And let me tell you, they could really dance. Michael Jackson probably couldn't have done better.

During each performance there was the expected cheers and clapping, but also people came up and tossed money at the performers. And a few candies too. The dances got the most Kwacha.

Then it was time for the “testimonials”, which is when the Head Teacher and the Guest of Honour present the certificates to the students.

The Head Teacher is on the left, and the Guest of Honour in the middle.

After the testimonials, some students were given awards. Some of the categories were Most Punctual, Most Well-Dressed and Most Outstanding Student. Awards consisted of dress shirts for the boys and chitenjes for the girls. Plus they got a cute little canvas bag along with them.

Then we had a closing prayer and the ceremony was over. Which meant it was time for the food!

The teachers and students had been preparing the meal all week. I remember on Monday during a staff meeting I saw a group of students walking by holding squawking chickens by their feet. Then 20 minutes later the students walked back, and the chickens were still. When the meeting was over, the students were plucking and washing the headless
chickens. In Malawi, everyone knows where their meat comes from.

Around 100 people partook of the meal, which included chicken, cabbage and rice with your choice of Coca-Cola and Fanta. It was pretty good, and not just because I hadn’t eaten anything in seven hours. No silverware though—have you ever tried to eat rice with you hands? It's difficult. I should really start carrying a spoon with me again. It comes in handy.

After lunch, it was time for snaps. A few of the students asked me to pose with them, which was sweet.

Around half-three (3:30 pm to us Americans) people started making their way back to the hall for the
disco. Because you can’t have a big event in Malawi without a disco, after
all. I wanted to go, but I also knew that it gets dark around 5:30 pm now,
and it was really cold so I wanted to bathe before it got much later. So I ducked out and headed home. Just in time too—I barely had my dishes washed and my buckets emptied before the sun set.

So that was graduation. But it’s not over for the Form 4 students yet. They begin their national exams on the 17th of June. Their score on the Malawi School Certificate Examination (MSCE) affects whether they can go to a university or technical school, and whether they can get most jobs, so it is really important for their future..

Here’s to the Class of 2015!

My First Malawian Graduation... and a Surprise

When I took the Malaria Awareness Club to Mimosa for World Malaria Day, I ran into my friend Olive. She had attended GRS Training with me and was one of the Form 4 students at Camp Sky. She  invited me to her upcoming graduation. So today took a mini-bus over to Mimosa so I could celebrate with her.

I met my PCV friend Justin and we walked over to the ceremony together. On the way we passed this vendor selling goat meat. Check this out-- goat intestines wrapped around stomach. Yummy.

When we arrived, we found the ceremony had already started. Turns out we had the wrong start time. Also, their Guest of Honor had not shown up yet, so they needed a new one. And... they picked me. Um, what?!?! So all of a sudden I went from audience member to Guest of Honor. Oh yeah, and I would have to make a speech. Yikes-- in front of all these people!

We were ushered through the crowd to the stage and seated with the teachers, the Chief, and the committee members. Gifts were given out to some students, then there were speeches by the Head Teacher and the Head Boy. Then it was my turn.

I opened up with some Chichewa introductions, but my bilingual skills quickly petered out so I switched to English. I kept my remarks brief, something along the lines of how as teachers our job is to prepare the adults of the future, and that they are the future of Malawi and can make real change happen. I also encouraged them to study hard for their MSCE exams next month. Not too bad for an improv speech, I hope.

Then it was time to hand out certificates to each student. Guess who got to hand them their certificates-- me! So I shook hands with all 100+ students, have them each their certificate and then posed for their grad photo with them and their families. I felt like I photo-bombed every kids graduation photo!

Afterwards the Head Teacher invited Justin and I to eat lunch with him. We had chicken, rice and vegetables. It was a good meal. We talked about the upcoming MSCE and the education system in Malawi. He also told us about the tree plantings they have been doing at the school.

By the time we were finished, the students had all changed from their school uniforms into their fancy clothes because it was time for the disco. But it was getting late (cuz it gets dark at 5:30 now) so we decided to head out.

Here is a pic of me and Olive. Isn't her dress beautiful?

My school has their graduation scheduled for next month. That one should be a breeze cuz I'm a seasoned pro now.