Beats of Africa reach local school

Sunday 03 June 2018

The Little Dragons at St. George's Preparatory School joined in the celebrations for Africa Day with the help of Friends Of Africa Jersey CI and African dance group Flame Lily.

Flame Lily presented a dance show and children and teachers joined in as part of a traditional African gumboot dance.

Ahead of African Awareness Week, St. George’s pupils created a lot of African inspired arts and crafts. Those included willow masai shields, sound shakers, masks, African jewelry and kente cloth paper weaving. They also painted African clothes with mud, wrote their own version of 'Handa’s Surprise' and learned African songs.

The children wrote application letter to become Game rangers and read "Akimbo,' by Alexander McCall Smith, the story of an African boy and his adventures in the bush.  

Pictured: Flame Lily at the Friend of Africa Gala Dinner at the Pomme d'Or. 

On 25 May, International Africa Day, the school's chef cooked a Moroccan themed lunch. The children enjoyed an assembly where they learnt about Africa. They heard about the different countries in Africa, what these countries produce, as well as the many wildlife parks and the animals that live there and why it is important to protect them.

Flame Lily, an African Dance Group with six people from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia and Malawi, visited St George’s and performed a dance show for all the children. They all gathered in the school sports hall to take part in the dancing. The school hoped for the dance show to be both fun and educational for the children. Flame Lily then walked around the school to see the children’s displays.