So much has been happening at Ricks over the last few weeks! Even though our 5th marking period has been filled with lots of holidays and days off from school, there has still been a lot going on.
A quick note: our internet at the school is down for the moment due to a broken router... we're working on getting a new one ASAP, but in the meantime my posts might be a little scarce!
I'll start with the biggest news first: the Ricks Olympics!! The Ricks Olympics used to be a grand tradition of Ricks Institute. I'm not sure exactly when it began, but I know the last year it happened was back in 1989 when the civil war started. Before the war, the Ricks Olympics was known throughout Liberia. Schools would come from all over the country to participate in the events. To win the Ricks Olympics was a big deal for any sports teams, and the Dragons worked hard to keep as many victories at home as they could.
The efforts to bring the Olympics back this year were not just about giving schools a chance to play sports - the Olympics represent the rebuilding that's happening in Liberia. The Olympics are intended not to breed competitiveness (although some healthy competition is certainly a part of it!) but to foster relationships and youth development. This year the Olympics brought together 15 schools representing, I believe, at least 6 of the 15 counties in Liberia. At the height of the games on Friday (games started Friday, were single elimination, and ended Saturday), I would say there were probably at least 1,000 people - both participants and spectators - on campus for the event. The Olympics received several major sponsorships: Lonestar Cell, a major cell phone company in Liberia, invested about $15,000 in the campus doing renovations of the courts, fields, and facilities in exchange for painting their logo in a few places... not a bad deal!; Coca-Cola had the exclusive right to sell beverages on campus, and all proceeds from their sales were donated to Ricks; LBDI, one of the biggest banks in Liberia; and others I'm sure I'm forgetting!
Overall, I think the Olympics were a definite success. There weren't any major disputes over the outcomes of games (we hired officials from various organizations around Liberia), the students all seemed to get along (even all the ones crammed in the dorms with Ricks students!), and the teams seemed to have fun competing. The games gave the students a chance to meet new friends from lots of different counties and learn a little bit more about life in the various schools in Liberia.
Oh - I guess I should talk about how all the teams did! The female kickball team and the male soccer team both won 1 game and lost their second. They all played well though, and at least won 1 game at home! The male basketball team finally played to their potential and won the Olympic plaque for male basketball! They were so excited, as were all the spectators! The girls basketball team had one game Friday and one game Saturday. We played fairly sloppy on Friday, but pulled together enough to win the game... the end was definitely better than the beginning! On Saturday, the Ricks kickball game was right before the basketball game, and 3 of our starting players are on the kickball team. So, by the time they finished that game, they barely had enough time to change uniforms before hitting the court for our game. Needless to say, they were rather exhausted. That, in addition to lots of missed layups and giving up a little bit at the end, the Lady Dragons suffered their first lost of the year on Saturday. However, the team we played, Nathaniel Gibson, was an excellent team and really did outplay us on the court. We're just hoping we can work hard and play them again before we leave!
In other Ricks news, this week also brought about the Miss Ricks Pageant. There were 6 contestants who have been working for months to prepare for the show. There was a kickoff the weekend of the Olympics I went to, and the girls all looked great and had obviously put a lot of work into preparing for the pageant. However, the night of the show was at the height of a week that had been long and frustrating for me for many reasons. When the show was 2 hours late to start, it conflicted with a phone call I had scheduled with a student at a graduate school, and I just couldn't hang around waiting for the show to start... so sadly, I did not see the pageant. I did, however, hear rave reviews the next day... it's clear the contestants and organizers put a lot of work in to the show! All in all, it was another major event at Ricks - one of two within the same week! - that showed the progress Ricks is making and the continued growth and rebuilding of the school and youth development in Liberia.
The excitement is calming down a bit over the next 2 weeks; we have today and Monday off for Easter, next Friday off for Liberian Fasting and Prayer Day, and then the following week we have our 5th period tests. It's amazing how quickly all of this is passing by... for now I'm just trying to make the most of every day I have left here in LIB!
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