Canada Day in Kailahun

This is a bit late being posted but I believe it is the thought that counts.

Canada Day this year brought no long weekend or fireworks for us this year but it was a lovely celebration nevertheless!

To celebrate the sort of birth of our fair nation (yes it seems VERY fair from this vantage point), Matt, me and our housemate (THE other Canadian in Kailahun) threw a party for our colleagues. We decided not to try to be culturally appropriate, and just throw a party like we would at home. This meant no mountains of rice, no opening prayer, no agenda and a serve-yourself policy – all things that are unknown to the Sierra Leonean work function. We served the only foods that we could think of that use local ingredients but that you still might find at Canadian table – guacamole, bread, banana pancakes, and doughnuts (courtesy of our neighbour). Incidentally doughnuts are one of the few food items that straddle our two cultures and in Mende (the local language) are known as “doughnutty” - ha!

In addition to providing a rather strange collection of food, we decided to submit our colleagues to some party games including a special “how much do you know about Canada/Canadians” quiz. We broke the fifteen or so guests into three groups and had them answer a range of general knowledge questions about Canada and their Canadian colleagues. The results were pretty funny. None of the teams knew that Canada is the second largest country in the world nor could they identify what to do with snowshoes; but they all knew that Canada was a British colony and they knew which one of their Canadian colleagues most likes the local food (definitely not Matt or I). The best answer of the evening was in response to the question “what is Canada’s favourite sport?” One team was vehement that the answer was “snowball”. We had to break their hearts and tell them they were wrong but this has definitely gotten me thinking about our sporting priorities. Why isn’t snowball a recognized sport?

After a very animated and competitive quiz won by the team that drew the best Canadian flag, we played a round of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. You would not believe how much people LOVED this game! Absolutely everyone took a turn and many of them spent significant time devising their strategies. Days later people are still talking about it and wondering when we are going to play again. I think that PTTOTD might very well become a key component of all future office meetings.      

Between the games we enjoyed music and a lot of dancing. Even Matt danced without having to be coerced.

While things are generally very quiet here in Kailahun, Canada Day was a nice change from the usual and hosting a party is definitely something we will do again.

The winning team concentrating hard on their answers during the Canada Quiz.

A competitive round of Pin the Tail on the Donkey

Group shot of us and our guests (all the people we work with)