Culture Night

 During the Kindy Conference all the participants got together at night to showcase their individual cultures and activities they do with their students.  This was a wonderful opportunity to learn about different islands because even though we are all within the same province, many Ni-Vanuatu people do not travel much outside of their villages.

Every evening began with singing praise and worship songs.



We get brownie points for being able to sing along!





Arleen is a VSA volunteer from New Zealand and she lives on the island of Santo.  She has lots of suggestions to share and loves to jump right in!  She danced with the one other woman from Santo to show a dance from there.

Then Arleen found two men to help her dance a traditional Maori dance that usually only men can do.  One was our Kindy Coordinator for Penama Province, Fred (white shirt) and the other a Kindy teacher from North Pentecost island.

North Pentecost was full of energy!  They did a mix of custom dances and some games they play with their students.

Next up...American culture.  We don't really have "custom" dances for the US so the girls and I showed them a few things we do for fun to make people laugh.  We lip sang the song "Shout" by the Temptations.  Rachel lip-synced the lead and Sheridan and I were the backup singers.  I think it was a bit too out there for the locals to appreciate.  We might have even made a few small children cry (just kidding).

Next on our part was the Cupid Shuffle.  This one was a fantastic hit and we even got a few other women to join us a few days later for an encore!

South Pentecost Kindy teachers showed us some of their rhymes and poems in local language.

Maewo Kindy teachers entertained us with rhyming songs and air band guitars made from stems of coconut leaves!

West and North Ambae Kindy teachers joined together for some custom dances.

It was such a memorable night for everyone with lots of laughing!