John and Daesha in Africa: Anti-Bullying Week and International Day

This past week we had a school-wide anti-bullying campaign. Surveys, a poster contest, Bible lessons, essays, a focused chapel, skits from the student drama team, and lots of discussion made this one of the best anti-bullying strategies I’ve seen.

January 27th was probably one of my (Daesha) favorite days at AIS so far: International Day. Students were invited to wear the traditional clothing of their nation. When they came to school, each student was given a passport and then “traveled” to different countries throughout the school. Teachers, parents, and students presented different cultures through video clips, food, Tai-Kwan-Do, power points, crafts, pictures, artifacts, and anything else you can imagine. I (Daesha) led the presentation on Spain because John and I will be taking the seniors there in May for their senior trip. They helped me create a video for the presentation (for a grade, of course :-)). I taught some Spanish words. We also watched some YouTube flamenco, cranked up the volume, and danced along. We all gathered to eat lunch off of tables piled high with things I couldn’t pronounce. We watched a Korean drum performance and Ghanian dancing. Then the name of each country represented at our school was called out while anyone who claimed the country marched, skipped, or danced across the stage while carrying their flag. Below are just a few of the flags waved during this ceremony. I was awestruck by the privilege I have to be in this place and see so many beautiful people. I don’t know how I’ll go back to sameness after this. I LOVE the diversity of God’s world.