Day 7: Final day of Teaching and the anniversary concert

Today was our final day of teaching at balanta. I think I can speak for everyone that by this point we were quite tired and Orlando sadly couldn't teach drums today. Nevertheless me and Barnaby had the ambition to jam out "waiting in vain" by Bob Marley with our students. Unfortunately we couldn't because of the lack of amps in the building which were being used for the gig later this evening. This week has been full of these set backs but I think that this has helped me and our group of musicians to be very good at making decisions quickly and be very flexible. This paired with our extremely kind and attentive students made for an unforgettable week of teaching. I was so happy to see my students enjoy the songs I loved (yellow sounded sick). I know Milo wasn't pleased when all his students hit a top C and broke his ears. Later in the evening we headed to the opening night of the 30 years of balanta. It was a beautiful venue with a beautiful sunset and some beautiful music. Groovy colours performed another killer set to end our night. Tomorrow we head to our game of football at JTR. weitten by Lucas

My day started bright and early at the time of 1:30 to the sound of Orlando throwing up in the next room. After waking up for the second time and being reunited by the rest of our group who had just about recovered from the previous night we headed off for the last time to our respective places at either JTR or Ballanta for our final day of teaching. At JTR I taught the years 2’s the story of the 3 little pigs before myself and Alvin took them outside to introduce them to the game Duck Duck Goose which they absolutely loved. Oli and Linsey at this time told the older pupils the story of Hansel and greattle. During our lunchtime we went upstairs to the office to break before our after-lunch activities. However this was quickly cut short when we were bombarded by the kids who wanted to play with us, especially “Aunty Linsey”! After lunch Mr Ashton, Harry and Chris were asked to be interviewed on the radio about their time in Sierra Leone and what memories they would take back with them from Sierra Leone and working at JTR. The rest of us ran group activities with the children from reception all the way through to year 5. This consisted of the most popular songs and dances we had taught them throughout our week being: the wiggly worm song, heads, shoulders, knees and toes and particularly popular Macarena. After we said goodbye to the kids at JTR we travelled to Ballanta for lunch and saw how the few days of teaching had too made an impact on everyone there. We then returned to the hotel to relax by the pool and air conditioning for a few hours before we headed out once again to perform at the start of the 30th year celebrations. The venue was absolutely stunning at a Chinese hotel overlooking the sea. It was lovely to see not only us perform well but also other musicians and dancers perform. We are now resting up for the football match at JTR tomorrow! written by Noah