It was our second last day at the Masa Ati school today. We got to experience and be part of their Chapel ceremony before spending much of the rest of the day with the students. Many of our students have formed great relationships with the Ati students and emotions were high as our students spent as much time as they could between classes with the Ati students today and get to witness the joy of the students actually being allowed on the playground that was finished today.
Here are reflections from three of our students about today.
“Today we had our going away ceremony. We sang and did the play towards the end, many photos were taken and we each received many handwritten cards from the students at the school afterwards, even though it was not our last time seeing the children. Renmarie believed it was the last time she’d see me so she was extremely upset and didn’t want me to go, it was so hard to leave her and I can not imagine what it will be like tomorrow when it is our final day at the Masa Ati school and I will have to say goodbye to her.”
– Courtney Trundle
“Today was probably the best yet worst day. The best because we were all celebrating our time together yet the worst because a lot of the sadder emotions came early. The going away ceremony was beautiful. The older year groups gave a demonstration of the traditional Ati Tribe tools and presented a dance about how the men proposed to the women. We sang (although horribly) and all the students got involved. At the end of the ceremony, many of the students had made thank you cards for us. We were given them and all of us received a shell necklace! Afterwards, many of the students (MASA and Swan) started to cry. We had realised that our time with the kids was running out and we didn’t want it to finish so fast. Many hugs were shared and we continued to play with the kids until we had to leave. It was a good way to end the day!”
– Erin Hall
“Today was a very emotional day. We woke up at 6:00 am to get ready for the day. We left the vista at 8:00 am to arrive at the Masa Ati School at 9:00 am. We spent the morning tutoring and playing with the kids and then after recess, the school held a ceremony where we performed a nativity play with the kids, sang ‘Joy to the World’ and gave them new sporting equipment. Afterwards, the kids from Masa Ati gave us thank you cards and shell necklaces. It was very emotional as everyone was upset that tomorrow is our last day with them and many tears were shed. After the ceremony it was lunchtime and after days of work the playground was finally ready, so the kids ran straight towards the slide. It was so cute seeing them all lining up and pushing to go on the slide, they were climbing all over the playground and pushing to get on. It was hard for the teachers to get them back into class because they were all so excited about the playground. When school was over all the kids rushed back onto the playground while we made them balloon swords, dogs and giraffes. When we got back to the vista we went for a swim, then went to ‘Station X’, a food hall, for dinner. After dinner, half of us went to get massages and the other half went to get our nails done before walking home along the beach”
– Alicia Patrick