Hand Washing Day

A couple weeks ago I attended a Hand Washing Ceremony. Sounds interesting I know. Well to begin, everyone in my school lined up fairly nicely I would say. It was the first time I had really seen Ethiopian children line up so to speak. We then began marching out of the compound and before I knew it the lines became a cluster and the children went crazy. We walked quite a few kilometers to what is known as Injibara Stadium. Kosober Primary school wasn’t the only school in attendance; there were two other schools, Injibara and Bahunk Primary. An American ceremony would then consist of the children sitting in nice, mannerly order with plenty of room form a stage so to speak. Well not this ceremony. The children became what do say, overwhelming to me. Every one of them wanted to up front for the speaker(s). I couldn’t even see the speaker(s), because the children were surrounding them like crazy. I sat in a stage/blechers and was surrounded by children and adults (teachers I’m assuming). The whole thing seems ridiculous to me. There was no discipline except for a few students and teachers with sticks pretending and sometimes hitting the students. I understand that is how they get the students to behave and follow directions, but it does seem crazy and like child abuse at times. There is nothing I can do about it, so I just let it happen. I feel like the teachers and students need a training/seminar on how to properly sit for a ceremony. Maybe I’ll have to attempt to show a short clip of students behaving properly during a ceremony/assembly. I don’t even know what Hand Washing Day was all about, something about how washing your hands is very important and to prevent from getting sick. I think that’s what I got out of it. It was all in Amharic, even the brochure I received. So that is my rant on ceremony/assemblies with Ethiopian children.