Twas the day before Thanksgiving and all through the nation, there was great sorrow because Chanel was saying farewell to four great men of the school. Today was the farewell program for Father Kevin, Father Sione, Father Mika and myself – it was basically a half day event. While I had some idea of what the program was for today's festivities, I didn't know the details of what was going to happen – there are so few surprises in life, why ruin this one.
The event started at around 9am with the students gathered in the FaleSamoa and the four of us waiting outside to be called into the fale. It's funny, after 2 years of seeing guests of the school go through this waiting process it was kind of strange to be on the other end of it. Before the ceremony began, a student handed each of us a green/red shirt that we were suppose to wear for the occasion – so we were all matching today. When they handed me the shirt, my first thought was 'How did they figure out my shirt size' and the answer is – they didn't. The shirt was kind of tight, thank goodness I'm trim otherwise I would have been busting out of the thing like the Hulk. Anyway, when the time arrived the four of us were called up to the fale Samoa and took our seats at the front of the students. While I was sitting there I had a flash back to my first day of school 2 years ago, when I was introduced to the school during an assembly…then it was simply a 'Hi, I'm Marques – nice to meet you' but saying goodbye is so much harder then being introduced. Once we took our seats, the students sang a song, read a word from the bible, said a prayer and then the Head Girl – Agnes – gave a small speech which basically was a word of thanks for teaching the kids over these past years and for being their heroes. At this point, the Year 13 students walked down the center aisle with banners thanking each of us by name. The most amazing thing was the fact that they spelled my name correctly – even Kevin gets it wrong sometimes. From the very beginning you could tell that a lot of thought and effort went into this special occasion and I would like to think that a part of it was because I was leaving but I'm pretty sure about 99% of the effort had to do with the fact that Kevin (the current principal) is leaving and I'm just reaping some of the reward of that. Once the banners were set, a few of the classes came up to say a speech for each of us, perform a skit and then present gifts. The skits were pretty funny because they were suppose to be flashbacks on how the kids remember us/basically what we are most famous for at the school. For Kevin, his skit was about morning assembly and how funny he is when he gives out awards at assembly. For Sione, it was about his extravagant teaching style. For Mika, his skit was about his upbeat personality and how it's reflected in his teaching. For myself, my skit was about my strict teaching style and the fact that I sometimes wear headphones when I'm working around the school (believe me, working on computers can be boring sometimes). After each of the skits, the students presented gifts to each of us. Kevin, since he's the principal, was just overrun with gifts – a majority of it he (and the other Fathers) won't be able to take with them when they leave the school within the next week. One of the great things about leaving with the 3 Fathers is that I won't be inundated with gifts, but the bad thing is that the quality of the gifts take a steep decline because the kids are providing stuff for 4 people instead of the usual one. So a lot of my gifts revolved around 3 items: lavalava's (serongs), shirts and soap – don't know what kind of message is being sent there.
Once all the gifts and skits were done, each of us had an opportunity to speak to the school. Kevin went first and chronicled all the changes that have occurred at the school during his 6 years here and charged the students with maintaining the things that have been built for them. After him – Sione, Mika and myself gave short speeches. My speech mainly consisted of thanking Chanel for giving me the opportunity to come here and do what I do best – work with computer hardware. So as we head into Thanksgiving tomorrow, I thought I would just say that I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to work at a school and with a principal that were not only open to having computer studies at the school but had a great desire to expand the program beyond what it was when I first arrived. When I first got to Chanel College, my main concern was just getting the computers up and running. After that job was done, it was about building the 3rd computer lab. Once that was done, I had the hair brain scheme to create an internet room – and Kevin fully supported it, so that happened (although we have not been connected to the internet yet, there's hope that within the next year Chanel will be included in a nation wide school-based internet program. So we're already setup for it – all they have to do is plug us in). After that, it was all about building up the 4th computer lab. So I'm so thankful that this job kept being a challenge over the 2 years instead of just being a flat experience for me. I've definitely grown thanks to the many opportunities and challenges that have presented themselves over the past 2 years and I could not have picked a better place to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer. I also told the kids that 2 years ago, they were just a piece of paper that stated 'Work with students ages 13-18 in regards to computers' and now they are forever a part of my life and experience. My last message to them was to take care of the computers they have – I emphasized that we are the only school in Samoa who has enough computers to take care of all our students, don't take that for granted. I almost cried – almost – but I was able to hold it in.
Once the official ceremony was done, we gathered around the front of the main office and each of us (Kevin, Sione, Mika, Myself) were presented with a coconut tree to plant. In the Samoan culture, the coconut tree represents life – so there will always be a physical reminder of our time here in Samoa. So each of us go to plant a coconut tree in front of the school and when we return to Samoa, we'll be able to see how much the tree has grown. That was quite a cool idea to me – allowing us to plant a tree on the school grounds as a reminder of our time here. Now it will be interesting to see if the coconut trees are able to grow to their full stature or if they will be cut down before our returns.
After the planting, there was a big gap of time because the Year 13 students all had to rush home and prepare a lunch for the staff and us at 2pm. They had originally scheduled the meal at 4pm but the Marist community had a function at 5:30pm, so the start time for the meal was bumped up to 2pm. At about 1pm, the Year 13 students slowly began to come back to the school. They were all dressed in their best outfits, it was quite a change from their normal school attire and the casual clothes I usually see them in. I guess it was suppose to be a semi-formal affair. Before the start of the meal, there was a prayer and then Denise – a Year 13 student – stood up and gave a thank you to the four of us on behalf of the Year 13 class. The best part – at least for me – was when she said that I was be the best computer teacher she's had (granted, I'm her ONLY computer teacher but there's no need to nitpick) – it really made me feel like I had impacted at least one child, and one child can make all the difference. After her speech, we were able to chow down on the food and boy was there a lot of food. It was just an overwhelming mix of food, cake and ice cream – I think my stomach was going to explode at one point. But it was fun just being able to sit down with these year 13 students and have a bit of fun conversation with them. For me, this is the class that I started out with when I started at Chanel 2 years ago so they have a very special place in my heart and it's going to be hard to say goodbye to some of them. Our last day of school is Friday, so I'll have at least 2 more days of enjoying their presence before the scatter to the wind for the holidays.
Overall, it was a long tiring day but definitely an enjoyable one. For the past 2 years, I've been very fortunate to have my big occasions at the same time as some big person is around to celebrate the same occasion. In 2006, a former PCV (Mary) was here to celebrate my first birthday in country and in 2007, since Kevin is leaving at the same time as me I get to participate in this big hoopla to say goodbye.
As I say goodbye to the folks here, I realized a while ago that this is a different sort of goodbye from the one I said to my family and friends when I came to Samoa in 2005. The goodbyes I said in the states were more of a 'See you later' type – I knew deep down that eventually I was coming back home and I would see these folks again. When I say goodbye to people in Samoa, there's that hint of uncertainty in when I will be back. Of course I want to come back relatively soon – within 5 years would be nice – but we all know how life can sometimes get in the way. So there's a chance that I could return here relatively quickly or it could be 40 years before I head back here again (as occurred with Peace Corps Group 1 and 2 who came back last month). So every time I say goodbye, that could really be it for the rest of my natural life – it's a scary thought really. But – as of today – after serving 27 months in the Peace Corps we are down to only 27 days in country…the clock is ticking and the deluge of goodbye is right around the corner. This is going to be a touch stretch, I can tell you that. But I will enjoy my last few weeks in Samoa – at Chanel College – and know that I could not have asked for a better country, assignment and community to serve in.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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