karibuni

karibuni means welcome in swahili, something many people told us today. today was our first day to visit sud academy. we had all been looking forward to this day for a long time. when we first got to the school, the kids were already crowding around the gate to meet us. the headmaster unlocked the door in the gate and let us in. all the young children started shaking our hands and say 'hi, fine'. the older and secondary students looked almost mad. but when we asked kellee, she told us that the sudanese are very serious by nature, but the younger ones act more like kenyans because they have adopted that nature. we met the headmaster ojok bosco, who always wears a hat. he showed us his small office, then lead us to the staff room (also very small) to meet the staff.

they had an assembly to welcome us, their 'esteemed, most honoured guests'. we got to sit in seats of honour with the teachers. they sang a few songs with us, then their choir came out and sang a song something like 'we are so happy today, we are so happy to see you'. they wanted to show us some traditional sudanese culture, so they had some tribal dances for us. first only the older guys danced with drums, then the girls came too. they invited us to dance with them, but we can't even dance in church let alone tribal dancing. they all had 2 sticks, or metal pieces with they clapped together. one of the dances was supposed to symbolize the cow. the men lifted their arms over their heads, to become the horns, and stamped their feet. the girls put their arms straight behind their back and stamped their feet in a different pattern. it seemed to be kind of a competition because they would stomp faster and faster until one person quit.

they also presented a drama for us. the first was about a man who steals food from another man because he thinks he is blind (that's what i understood from it) and the second about 4 people who pretend to be blind, deaf, or missing a limb so that they can beg for money. in the end they mix it up and the people they are begging from find out. it was funny, even if we didn't understand everything. then kellee introduced us to the school and we all said our names. while we were talking, some students came out and gave us necklaces and bracelets as presents. we realized later that these were their own jewelry. we were so honoured!

after the assembly, they didn't have classes for the day. we had lunch (beans and rice) and talked and played volleyball. the students were so interested in canada and how it compares to africa and who we were. the most suprising thing to us was that they had never met white teenage girls before. each girl (except for mrs. boer) were proposed to at least a few times. they straight out asked us to marry them because we were beautiful and white and canadian.

they loved talking to us and shaking our hands. the little kids wanted to play with our hair. they all wanted our phone numbers and email addresses. they were all so friendly and welcoming. the only problem was that we met about a hundred kids in 4 hours and had a lot of trouble remembering their names. some of the seemed offenced, some did not. but when ever we were walking away, they all were scared we were leaving and wanted us to assure them that we would be back tomorrow.

it was an amazing day. we are all sunburnt, but cannot wait to be back tomorrow. we feel blessed to know these amazingly welcoming people.

Pics at: http://picasaweb.google.com/SUDtrip/MondayFirstDayAtSudAcademy#