Asssembly at CDC

Seth-9th July, Mae Sot

David note: we were up before 7am to cycle to Casa Mia for breakfast and then onto CDC where we planned to spend most of the day..

Singing to the Thai flag - very strange

We arrived at CDC at about 845ish, just before the start of the Thai National Anthem. We walked in and stood to the side of an open sheltered platform (which I'm going to refer to as 'thingy', because it would be to awkward to refer to it as a sheltered platform) in front of all the primary students.

We were quickly shuffled around to face the Thai Flag and the national anthem began playing. I expected some sort of orchestral music and an anthem similar to 'God Save The Queen'. Instead we heard loud drums and small primary kids shouting pretty loudly (not really what we expected). Listening to it, I found it a bit intimidating and strange, all these loud noisy drums and kids shouting all behind your back feels a bit weird. After the National Anthem, we turned round to face the children.

Sheila said a few words which were translated by Myoe Nyunt. She explained why we were here and that instead of bringing Campie teachers to CDC this year, she brought us. After Sheila's speech the children shuffled to the entrance of the thingy. They did this in a very odd looking way, the children held on to the child in fronts shoulders and they all side stepped along to the end, if I'm honest it reminded me of a sort of follow the leader/conga gone wrong.

Immy and Livvy taking part in the school assembly

After the shuffle, all the children stayed in their classes and were put into nice neat lines and faced the back of the thingy (towards us). Then Say Hei said a few words as so did the head teacher of CDC whose name I can't remember. (David: Man Shwe Nin).

Then Myoe Nyunt introduced some Karen dancers who had a dance they wanted to show us. The dance was excellent and very enjoyable. Myoe Nyunt then explained that some of the students were going to show us a traditional Burmese dance. The dancers lined up and then what sounded like a slow pop song was played. The Burmese dancing was good, however slightly bizarre. The students seemed to be shaking from side to side and moving their arms.

Karen dancers getting ready to perform

At the end of the assembly, we were all presented with tiny wooden Burmese dolls and lovely necklaces, which was very moving.