International food festival & parade at school

Last week the girls had International food festival at school and the next day we had the International parade.

The food festival was amazing, we had so many moms cooking from their home country. I represented Thailand and made 150 Thai Chicken Satay with sweet soy sauce and fried shallots. The kids loved it and I was almost out of my supply before the High scholars came. We fed 800 children from elementary to high school! Almost each country in our school, which are 69 were represented. That is a lot of different food which we all could sample. Delicious, fun and such an eye opening experience every year again!! I mean there are yummy dishes I have never seen, let alone taste!

The next day we had the International parade. Each child represented their own home country in their national dress, walking proudly behind their flag. I was so moved to see all these kids walking across the soccer field in their national costume being cheered on by all their peers and parents, it is just such a fun experience!!

I mean 69 countries, that is one third of the whole world represented at our school, isn't that cool or what! The only sad thing is that immediately after this parade we went on our Thanksgiving break and there they stole my camera, so I have no pictures of these 2 beautiful events to share with you. Such a shame!! I have only this one left that I took after the girls came home and we took off their Thai dresses before hopping into the car to go to the South Coast just below Durban.



We had a wonderful long weekend at the beautiful coast of the Indian Ocean, and we didn't let the fact that my camera, and most of Dirk's clothing got stolen ruin our weekend!

More about our weekend in another post.
Have a great week,
Mireille

Heritage Day in South Africa

Everyone is having a day of today, because September 24 is a Public Holiday on which South Africans across the spectrum are encouraged to celebrate their cultural heritage and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions, in the wider context of a nation that belongs to all its people. Formerly they used to call it: National Braai Day. (braai stands for BBQ)

In an address marking Heritage Day in 1996, (former) President Mandela stated:

"When our first democratically-elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation.

We did so knowing that the struggles against the injustice and inequities of the past are part of our national identity; they are part of our culture. We knew that, if indeed our nation has to rise like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes of division and conflict, we had to acknowledge those whose selfless efforts and talents were dedicated to this goal of non-racial democracy."

This year’s theme is “Celebrating Our Dance, Our Heritage.” Dance is a prime means of artistic expression, expanding and exploring new territory.

This year’s Heritage Day celebrations will be an expression of pride in multi-cultural dance; it will promote indigenous dance, and encourage new dancers, especially among the youth.

Since our girls are at an American International school, they don't have a day off, but are celebrating International Day and all the kids will wear there traditional clothing from their mother country and have a parade at school, so that's what we are off to this afternoon. On Friday all the children will represent their country and show pictures and items about their culture and heritage and serve food from each country. Fun, fun, fun!

PS: more about the safari tomorrow! I couldn't pass on Heritage day today!
Have a lovely day,
Mireille