In primary school, the last day of school every term was known as Our Day.
Every kid loved this day. We were totally done with exams. All you had to do was show up and have fun. If you need further reasons why we loved this day to bits, here are ten.
1. Because it was REALLY “Our Day”
Let’s face the hard truth – most of us will never be Martin Luther King and have a whole entire holiday in our honour. But that’s okay. We had the next best thing. We had Our Day back in primary school. It was our very own. We were in charge of things, no matter what the teachers thought. We could just put our name on the day and call it even. MLK’s had nothing on us.
2. Soloku
This was pretty much the entire reason some of the boys showed up for the day. At the end of the day, the boys in the brass band would bang out a beat, and the boys and girls so inclined would bust out their wildest moves. Where did our innocence go?
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3. Wearing your coolest swagged-out clothes to school – ‘new release’ shoes and all
Wearing school uniforms all the time got really old. During Our Day, you got the chance to show everyone that new Tommy Hilfiger top-and-down your uncle sent you from the States.
Image: Oversabi Republic
This quickly led to…
4. Asking your crush out
Hey, if you weren’t going to tell that pretty girl in your class that she was the only bulb in your lantern, on this most auspicious of days when you were swagged out to the max, then forget it because it was never going to happen. Our Day made dreams come true.
5. Jollof and chicken outside of Christmas
Times were hard back in the day, and chicken and fizzy drinks were a luxury. Parents made an exception for us on this day. After all, it was Our Day.
Image: FoodInstantly.com
6. Not to mention Fanta and biscuit
Just like the Jollof and chicken, this was the only day some of us had a full bottle of Fanta and pack of biscuit to ourselves.
Image: Niger Biscuit Co
7. Extra pocket money
The parents must have been really proud of us on Our Day because they just kept the good stuff coming. Our Day was a welcome change from the usual primary school economic situation, which saw us being broke pretty much any time after the first break. On Our Day, we could actually take some pocket money back home.
8. New toys
Hey, we had to spend some of that extra money on something, right? The market women knew this, so they brought a selection of toys purposely to encourage us part with our money for some new playthings. Of course, we were only too glad to comply.
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9. Hugs all round
Hugging used to be a pretty big deal back then. Unless you were in a really elite school, it was quite out of place to hug someone just because you wanted to. Hugging was an event, worthy of discussion. Our Day was a day you could hug people just because you felt like it. There was an automatic hugging carte blanche.
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10. Teacher bonanza
Even though the day was Our Day, never think the teachers left themselves out. They definitely helped themselves to some of the fine dishes and portions abounding in the classrooms on these days. If you thought taking the lion’s share was a big deal, wait till you hear about the Ananse system of sharing, which was the teachers’ preferred method – take just a little from everyone, and you’ll have more than anyone!
11. The decorations
All you needed were paper, scissors, rice or glue. We just couldn’t wait to hang them up, especially the Christmas decorations.
12. Holidays!
As much as we loved having fun in school on Our Day, the best part was saying goodbye to everybody and going home, to start weeks of vacation. Was Our Day not simply the most awesome thing ever? You know it was.
Images: standardmedia.co.ke
13. But before that the going away songs
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