DISASTER at the school function

Last night gave me sufficient material for a dramatic blog post! Every year the parents of San Andres students give a gift to the school, and this year it was a stage for use on the patio outside. It was a grand looking stage, all decorated in blue and white, and a programme of choir performances had been planned for yesterday evening. Our own school choirs and a few other choirs from schools and groups in Lima were invited to sing on the new stage as it was gifted to the school. I was there to help direct the other choirs to their rooms, etc.

At 5 o'clock, an hour before the programme was due to start (although it's always doubtful that Peruvian things will start on time), we were getting our San Andres children ready for a rehearsal on the stage. They climbed up onto the new stage and were standing on the risers for the next 45 minutes or so. As they started to descend, just before 6, to get properly lined up inside, a large section of this brand-new stage collapsed, taking children and risers with it. It was a rather panicked time, as people ran to get the children out and stop other instruments and large speakers from falling into the hole too.

Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt. A few of the little ones were very upset, understandably, but no one had more than grazes and bruises.

So much for the wonderful new school stage.

The whole thing had to be swiftly moved indoors to the auditorium. The school janitors and security men worked so well at extricating the risers and fallen drums and moving everything else to the much safer stage inside. It was mayhem for a while, and the concert started almost an hour late. But everyone was just so thankful that no one was badly injured and that it had happened during a rehearsal and not during the actual concert.

The programme went smoothly after that, and all the groups sang well. I was trying to keep a group of 2nd graders quiet at the back of the hall - not easy! They'd had a long day and were just simply not interested in the choirs... I was trying to encourage one little girl to listen to the music because it was really good, but she said, 'But Miss, there isn't any music; they're just singing.' Ummm...haha... I was really tired when I got in last night, after all that stress and a busy week. Hooray for the weekend!



Children climbing onto the stage for the rehearsal, just a little while before it collapsed



One of the 1st grade teachers, Silvana, and me

The San Andres Choir in its new performance location