Sports day excitement
Our trustee, Esther Lindop, recently visited the school and her visit coincided with the excitement of sports day. Here is her account of what she found.
“Last month, and after a week in Sierra Leone on a work visit, and with a 24-hour window before my flight home, I made it up to Makeni to visit the staff and students at St. Joseph’s School. It is always a treat visiting the school whilst I am in Sierra Leone and this time was no exception. In my mind, I would be heading up for a quiet Saturday where I would have time to catch up with old friends and wander round the school grounds whilst enjoying the beautiful sunshine...
What I hadn’t realised in advance was that I was turning up on sports day!
It had been a long time since I had been to a school sports day, but as a keen athletics fan and sports enthusiast, this was very exciting. I arrived at the school and was met by the school’s Director, Sister Amala, and the school’s headteacher, Mr Samuel.
Sister Amala showed me round the school to see some of the changes and projects that had been recently happening, and that the Friends of St. Joseph’s charity had been a part of supporting. We saw the beautiful new guest house facilities, which had recently housed visitors from the UK who were running the Sierra Leone marathon. We brainstormed ideas for expanding the guest house business and the potential opportunities it could bring. This was coupled with grappling with the persisting challenges; including spiralling inflation, and the constant juggling of priorities.
At 3pm, and with temperatures hitting 35 degrees, Sister Amala and I headed across the road to where the sports day was taking place. It had been going since just after 12pm, but with about 50 events on the schedule, we delayed our entrance slightly! We arrived to see the 4x 400m relays. The ground was a sandy-type surface, and almost all the students were running in their socks. The talent was high, and their speed was genuinely impressive.
The students were split into four houses, or teams. There was the yellow “Cluny House” team, the blue “Jauvie House” team, the pink “Sister Paul House” team, and the mauve “St Joseph’s House” team. Each team was being looked after by teachers who were possibly even more competitive than the students.
I was ushered to the ‘top table’ where I sat alongside Sister Amala, Mr Samuel, and other teachers from the school. We thankfully had some shade, which I hugely appreciated in the hot sun, and I sat in awe, watching the students running and competing in a wide variety of events. A new event for me was the ‘balloon blow and bust’, whereby you blow up a balloon until it pops, then proceed to sprint 100m.
However, what impressed me the most was the high jump. When I saw them bring out the high jump pole, I couldn’t work out how it would work on the sandy ground, and without a mat. It was clear the typical backwards technique wouldn’t suffice. The students started out with a technique not dissimilar to hurdling, and they made it cleanly over the bar. And then the bar kept being raised, and they kept cleanly jumping over it. The final height was huge.
The standard across the whole day was so high, and it was a credit to everyone involved how smoothly the event ran. People from across the neighbourhood had heard the bustling and came in to watch and by the end of the day, Sister Amala and I had to stand up from our table because we could no longer see past the crowd! There was a brilliant M.C who narrated each event, signed to the students, made sure everyone was organised and kept the teachers in check when the competitiveness got too high! By 8pm, and in the dark, the day was finally drawn to a close. It was a close finish, but congratulations to the blue team!
I headed back to the school for a delicious dinner of chicken and rice, and to cool down under the fan. Grateful to Sister Amala and the whole team for a fabulous stay.”
