Monday 30 October 2017

Day 8: Goodnight, it’s (nearly) time to go

Back to our normal routine... so today our groups went to JTR  and we all taught JSS 1,2 and 3- the equivalent of Y7 to roughly Y9,  and Prep 3 ( 6 or 7 year’s old) and Prep 6, our Y6. They all did great at solving Sudoku, Countdown and other word games. At around 11.30, after having had our daily ice cold pop, we left and went to Ballanta for lunch. 
After lunch, we went to the American international school (AISF) where our musicians were doing an outreach concert. The only reason why we went there was to allow me to see my old school, from before my time at Wells, when I still lived in Freetown. It felt good being back at what had been my school for three years and to see how much it had changed. The headteacher made a big fuss of me and used me as a potential inspiration for other students in her school. From there we went to the British High Commissioner’s house, Mr G Warrington and his wife, Karen and had 'high tea' with various guests from ISATS, the BC and other British organisations in Freetown, and the musicians performed their second concert of the day. It was a relaxed occasion and a good evening.

Alex- JTR

Day 8 at the BAM, and after a relaxing week-end of visiting monkeys and going to church, it was back to normal for the music team. The team arrived at Ballanta early in the morning to find a lot of the students already hard at work, practising the pieces we had given to them the previous week.
One of the first students through the door of the Library (Piano) room was Moses who had made a lot of progress on his piece. The teaching session was enjoyable and ended with him playing it both hands together from beginning to end. The morning continued in much the same vein with lots of hard but enjoyable piano work.
The Music Team all had a morning filled with musical exchange and it was rounded off with Chloe, Annie, Katie and Connie dancing with Musa (the man who can do it all) and Will on the djembe, showing off their new African hip dance moves in the process.
Following a quick lunch, the team headed off to the American International School to perform the Outreach programme. The AISF proved a great audience and enjoyed the Music Team’s Performance, especially ‘Misty’ sung by Katie and accompanied by Will and myself.
The evening was similarly enjoyable with a visit to the High Commission of Sierra Leone where we provided background music before performing our usual programme to the gathering there, who were enjoying a tea party.
The day was rounded off with the team playing a shortened version of the programme for the staff at the LACS VILLA, where we have stayed for the past week. It was only a little payback for the incredible stay we have had at the villa but we hoped that they enjoyed it.

Xavier - BAM 







Today felt like an incredibly long day as it was very hot... it was a good mixture of audiences for our musicians, and an awful lot of teaching going on in both schools. Our students are truly inspirational and once again today, have really made me proud to be their teacher! There was a lot of praise for their commitment and dedication, as well as the very positive way they spoke about their experience here. Tomorrow is our farewell day, as we shall say goodbye to both schools, students and staff.... there will be tears! 

Over and out for now! JDA