AMANO CHRISTMAS CONCERT 3rd December 2010
The end of the school year at Amano was marked by a new beginning. This was the moment when the new multi-purpose hall made its debut as a venue for the Christmas concert which took place on the last day of term, enabling both primary and secondary students to join together with families and friends to celebrate this point in the life of the school.
It has to be said that the hall is not yet finished, which we were reminded of when the dress rehearsal was taking place on the previous day and the rain came through the open windows. However, it was a significant moment to see the hall filling up with so many people and to realise what has been achieved over the last year or two as this hall has gradually taken shape. There were a lot of technical difficulties to sort out along the way, which is inevitable when something like this is used for the very first time, but these were all overcome by the time the concert began.
The first part of the concert included a performance by the lower primary classes of a musical play called ‘Tinsel and Teatowels’. It told the story of a school which was preparing a Christmas nativity play while the school inspectors were in to check on how the school was getting on (something I have often experienced when teaching at schools in England). The grade 4 & 5 students took on the roles of the inspectors, teachers, and even headmaster, as they organised the younger students ready for their performance for Christmas. As the title suggests, there was a lot of time given to the ‘wrapping paper’ of Christmas which many get caught up in at this time of year, but the play in the end pointed clearly towards the more important part of Christmas, the birth of Jesus.
The older primary students performed a musical play called ‘Papa Panov’, which some of you might know as ‘Martin the Shoe Maker’. Papa Panov, in the story, is a shoe maker who had his own shop. On Christmas Eve, Papa Panov read some of the Christmas story from the Bible and then dreamt that night that Jesus would come to visit him in his shop on Christmas Day. We then saw how his Christmas day unfolded as Papa Panov tried to get ready for the visit of Jesus but kept on being interrupted by various visitors who were coming past his shop that day. So we saw the gentle woman and her two children, one of whom had no shoes to wear. Well, Papa felt he had to do something to help them and gave the child a pair of shoes which he had made earlier and which he had had in mind to give to Jesus, when he arrived. He also gave them a room to sleep in rather than send them back onto the street on such a cold day. Then a group of street children came visiting, glad of Papa Panov’s welcome and even more excited when he offered them some sweets and cakes. He made them work, though, as they struggled to pronounce his name and he played a game with them (in the form of a funny song) to help them learn how to say it. I don’t think they ever managed it, but they still got their sweets anyway! Once they had gone, a group of three road sweepers knocked on his door hoping for some warm refreshments. They also did their best to cheer up a rather disappointed Papa Panov, performing a lively dance complete with brooms to attempt to lighten his mood.
All of which led up to the final scene in which Papa Panov first of all expressed his great sadness that Jesus had not visited him on Christmas Day, as he had promised, and then the voice of Jesus explains that he had visited after all, in the form of the visitors which he had welcomed into his shop. ‘Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me’.
The last performance came from the secondary drama group. This looked at the overall Bible message and challenged some of the arguments people have for rejecting the Gospel. It also included a performance of a song made famous by Casting Crowns, called ‘While you are sleeping’ which highlights the world’s tendency to become complacent even though time is running out.
As well as these pieces of drama, the flautists played several pieces, some of the secondary students performed ‘Mary, did you know?’ and the audience were encouraged to join in with a number of Christmas carols. Everyone was also invited to sing along to the new school song, ‘Wisdom Seekers’.
With that concert and its clear reminder of what Christmas should really be about, the school year for 2010 came to an end. There were a number of primary students for whom it was their last day at Amano, as they are transferring to other schools in South Africa, so I would like to think that the concert and the preparations for it have left them with some happy memories of their last days at Amano. It has done so for me, as I also take my leave after two years of teaching there.
As I write my final entry for the Amano blog, I would like to encourage you to keep on praying for the school, its staffing and financial needs, the clarity of vision that is so vital if the school is to achieve its purpose, and that the students may welcome the opportunity they have there to both hear about Jesus and to get to know Him for themselves. One of my happiest memories of the last week of term is when the primary students in assembly sang a rousing version of ‘The greatest day in history’ by Tim Hughes. It is one which we have often sung together and there is something quite uplifting when we join together on the chorus:
‘Oh, happy day, happy day, you washed my sins away!
Oh, happy day, happy day, I’ll never be the same-
Forever I am changed!’

Have a joyful Christmas and a blessed New Year!
Written by Martin Smith