PSHF Lighthouse Learning Center Inc.
United Nations Day 2023
U.N. Day is the second of five events in the school calendar. The theme of this year’s U.N. day was:
“ Peace, Equality, Freedom and Justice for all ”
It is an exciting day for the children (and their parents) as they get to represent a country of their choice and wear a traditional costume of their chosen nation.
Today’s event is being held in the Bulacao Talisay gym. The programme begins with a doxology sung by the children from our Satellite school in Naga followed by the singing of the Lupang Hinirang, the Philippine National Anthem.
School founder Richard Foster, gives his reflections on the event.
“ I enjoyed last year’s U.N. day immensely so was looking forward to this year’s event. The teachers have been using the Friday elective periods to prepare the children for the big day. The parents have been helping their children to learn their lines for the presentation of the country they will be representing.
The event kicks off with the parade of Nations; this was somewhat akin to the Olympics Opening ceremony! The children dressed in the costume of their chosen country, each accompanied by a parent or guardian, paraded round the gymnasium with their country’s flag in hand. I found myself caught up in the excitement and waving to them as they passed by. It was decided to have the parents involved as it had apparently been utter chaos during the rehearsal without them.
The parade was followed by a dance presentation by all the pupils and then separate dance routines by the children in their elective groups. The teacher was beneath the stage demonstrating all the dance moves. Some of the children clearly had mastery of all the moves and others were less sure of themselves. For a few of the children, dancing was simply not their ‘thing’ much to the chagrin of their parents.
Soon enough it was time for the little Ms. and Mr. United Nations contest. 11 boys and 11 girls had opted to participate. They would be judged on their introduction of their chosen country, their costume and their answers to a selection of questions posed to them on stage by Teacher Neressa. There were some most amusing answers to the question “ Which country would you like to visit and with whom” The most often pronounced answer to that one was ‘ the Philippines’ and of course Mama or Papa were most often cited as the favoured companion!
While the judges and I deliberated as to the winners of the little Ms. and Mr. United Nations contest, I was approached by Ms. Guatemala who wanted me to meet her mother. She led me to her mother who explained that Keira had been keen for her to meet Uncle Richard! I was touched and delighted that Keira remembered me from when I joined her Senior Prep class with Teacher April on a visit of mine to the school in mid September.
Back to the stage and it is five year old Zayne Dano representing Brazil singing the legendary song “ We are the world “ He sings it with great gusto and confidence. I noticed Miss Colombia singing along a few yards away; clearly knowing the lyrics off by heart! This song goes back to 1985 when a group of famous artists got together to sing the song in support and solidarity for the victims of the Ethiopian famine. I am sure Zayne’s dad who was proudly watching him sing the number will give him the background of the song when he gets a little older.
Just afterwards, the song is featured again in a dance presentation; it is one of those rare songs to have stood the test of time; the children clearly love it. Anyone interested in the story behind “ We are the world “ can go to: https://youtu.be/Glny4jSciVI?si=WLV-B_zToy3v0f3n
Next came something entirely different - the awards for the winners of LLC’s first ever Geography Quiz held in October. I was to learn that the quiz had required knowledge of the names of capital cities throughout the world and being able to recognise a couple of dozen national flags. I can imagine our teachers had to do plenty of homework of their own to be able to match the knowledge of the winners. It was the aforementioned Miss Colombia, namely Liliana Cardeño who picked up the senior prep winner’s prize, Donn Mendoza won in Junior Prep and Adrian Lapinid in Nursery. From what I hear, the event created a lot of excitement. Well done to all contestants and rest assured this will become an annual event in the school calendar.
It was now time for the announcement of the winners of the Ms. and Mr. little United Nations titles; Hope Bucao representing Venezuela was the winner of the female category and Caleb Lantana was the winner among the boys. As for the best national costumes, the winners are listed separately along with plenty of photos to give the reader a flavour of the wide variety of costumes on display.
Ms. Tiffany Bucao, our newly re-elected PTA President comes on stage next to make the closing remarks; it has been a successful event and everyone has enjoyed it.
Richard Foster
October 2023