36 Years of Independence

An Event from September....

Shortly after arriving here in Papua New Guinea, I signed up to be a part of Ela Murray's Independence Day Committee.  Little did I know at the time what a massive undertaking I had just committed myself to.  Being the only expatriate on the committee I learned a lot not only about the history of Papua New Guinea and Independence Day traditions, but also more about the local culture how things are accomplished.  The end result was a nearly two hour assembly with every TEMIS student dressed in traditional bilas or costume from one of the four regions in Papua New Guinea - Momase, Southern, Highland, and the New Guinea Islands - as well as participating in a sing-sing, skit, and/or the opening flag parade.  A bamboo band from the New Guinea Islands, one that nearly caused me a panic attack on the day of for moving on PNG time and arriving late, performed with one sing-sing and at the end of the assembly.  The day went off without a hitch and the performances were fantastic.  It was definitely an event I was proud to be a part of and truly learned a lot from.

The weeks leading up to Independence Day were spent preparing costumes, rehearsing the sing-sings, flag parade, and skits (the last two blocks of every Thursday afternoons for Term 3 were dedicated to Independence Day preparations), and shopping, lots of shopping.  I think I went shopping for more materials for this bilas or that bilas every day for the two weeks leading up to Independence Day either during school or after.  

To say the week of the assembly was off schedule, would be an understatement.  With a walk through rehearsal on Monday and a full rehearsal on Wednesday taken completely over by the school captains and other seventh and eighth grade students a lot of "class time" was taken out of the weekly schedule.  Speckle that with completing PNG related artwork, polishing-up rehearsals, and my class preparing the PowerPoint presentations for the assembly - the majority of the week was dedicated to Independence Celebration preparation.  

The morning of the Independence Day celebrations was spent running around to double check that everything was set up and ready in the midst of sorting my students and getting their faces painted in traditional Highlands fashion.  With the kids dressed, the bamboo band ensuring me they were on their way, and a campus full of families, it was time to start...

Just standing on my soap box...

I mentioned before the amount of "instructional time" taken out of the day in preparation for this assembly - an hour and a half each Thursday afternoon for the nine weeks leading up to the assembly, a long walk-through rehearsal that brought the entire school to the Hall for two and half hours, and a full morning rehearsal the day before.  This all in addition to polishing rehearsals, creating artwork, and time taken out of costume measurements and creating.  It was a massive amount of "teaching time" taken out of the Term, something that would never happen back home.  Our days were planned to the minute based on academic minutes needed for each subject.  Assemblies were few and far between, as well as dreaded.  School-wide events like Seuss-a-Palooza, an event that was supposed to be a week-long fantasy reading frenzy, were whined and moaned about.  School productions were non-existant in elementary.  Student clubs like Student Council or Government were nearly pointless beyond the election.  Things like these have such an important place in schools and time during the day needs to be prioritized to include them.  I look at what great student leaders there are at TEMIS - these kids ran meetings with the School Review team during this hugely important process, they organize and run a weekly assembly, they completely facilitated and put on an entire musical on show nights without any adult input, these students are well rounded not just academically prepared.  The students gained so much from the "missed" academic time in preparation for Independence Day.  It was more than worth it.  It makes me sad that so many kids back home are missing out on such valuable experiences due to the push for every minute accounted for.