At this time from what we knew the performance would be outdoors like last year after assembly all the girls would simply sit down and the whole school and mothers would enjoy the performance. We are all excited about seeing the girls doing the hair dance and some of the Arabic teachers have some traditional songs the girls will be singing, how fun right? I am told there will be henna and it will be a lot of fun. Well then we are told on Monday no, the performance will be in the Theater. The theater is so small, how will we all fit? I am thinking well it will be close but we will all fit because of course all the mothers and children will get to see the performances! So we do a dry run of our act in the theater and it goes pretty well and looks pretty cute and we feel good. Then Tuesday morning rolls around, we come in and had told the girls to not wear their uniforms and to dress in UAE colors. They came in beautiful, some of them wearing princess dresses and make up and their hair in beautiful curls down their backs! Many were wearing flag colored Kandoras and face painted flags and one girl even had flags on her eye lids! All the mothers were here ready to see their girls performing and the show was set to start at 9 am....
So we line our girls up near the theater in the dingy dirty cement area covered in garbage and we wait.... Then I find out that we are waiting on these gentlemen from the Ministry of Education to come, there is a red carpet rolled out in front of the theater. Then I see angry mothers grabbing their daughters and leaving. I go to find out why? Turns out many mothers have been turned away and they are not allowed to see the performance, either are the students! The only people seeing this performance are these men, who are already over an hour late and the Arabic teachers and some of the more affluent mothers. So we wait unsure when we perform, no direction, waiting for these men so we can start the show, no chairs in this cement almost parking lot behind the theater. The girls are hot, the girls are hungry, the need the bathroom and we wait. Finally the show starts some time after eleven. I have sung every song I know, taught them hand clap games and even duck duck, goose, but we are still miserable! What kind of party is this? If you were to speak to almost any other teacher today from any other school they would share stories of jumping castles, amazing performances, the "hair dance", and they would share pictures of a wonderful day with you, but my girls were miserable!
So finally it is our turn to perform, we were very last, some time around 12! As we file what is left of our classes on to the stage hair ties are broken, make up is running, and dresses are torn but they are smiling. I look out to the audience and the men are leaving! The Arabic teachers are leaving! My faculty head proudly beams at my girls from the audience and a few of the women stay seated realizing there is one last performance. My girls begin and they nailed it! As they filed of the stage not a one of them seemed to notice the lack of audience and they all were smiling ear to ear as I gave them thumbs up, pats on the back, and told them how great they were. My faculty head was to tears as she shared that many of these girls would never see a stage if it were not for English teachers as the Arabic teachers only allow the pretty, smart, and outgoing girls to be in acts. So this makes me feel good. Then one of my darling girls says to me in broken English, "Miss Leah, I thought today be good day...today bad day, very bad day." I look at my sweet little Fatima, "today was very bad I am sorry honey, but you are so pretty and grade three did a great job," she forces a smile and saunters away in her tattered princess dress.
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