Sports Days....

We are all aware of Fathers and Mothers Day in Australia but India goes one better, having a Childrens day in which children are celebrated as well. At the Farm they have a special day at school similar to our sports days. We were asked to organize the senior school events with kids ranging from 9-17 years. Considering the lack of equipment for events such as high-jump, javelin etc.. we decided to have the following activities – Boot Throwing, Frisbee Bulls-eye, 10-pin bowling, table-tennis, badminton and my favourite – an obstacle course.

At stake were a swathe of prizes, purchased in the nearby town of Khatima, using some money given to me by my uncle for the orphanage – this took almost an entire day to organize (nothing ever is easy over here). The kids were very excited at the prospect of so many prizes and equally in awe of these strange new games they had never heard of. All the staff reported back at the end of the day how much fun they and the children had and almost all of the kids got involved, having 2 or even 3 goes at each event!

Memories of my sports days came flooding back – whilst being a fairly ambitious and coordinated kid, throwing myself at almost every event, being half the size of almost every other competitor really made it tough. This desire to get a ribbon was nearly the end of me in year 9 when I jubilantly realized only 2 others had volunteered for the 50m butterfly event – my cherished ribbon a certainty…until I was disqualified for incorrect technique and a subsequent near-drowning. Miriam on the other hand has fond memories of sports days, every time we move house it bugs me that we have to lug such a large box full of her childhood trophies, plaques and ribbons around with us. I really think it’s high time she let go of such unimportant things……