A Day of Birthdays

On the morning of May 11^th, during the last full week of Term 1, some representatives from the hospital on Tanna came to Loukatai School to give H1N1 vaccines to students who were at least 14 years old. Susan, one of my class 7 students, was talking with me at my house at the time. I should probably mention that during the last full week of school, in terms of academics, there isn’t much going on as this week is reserved for giving way too much time to the teachers so that they can fill out end-of-term reports. And yet the students are still expected to come to school…. I guess you could say Susan was making the most of her time, as she had come over to engage in conversation, in English, something every one of the students at Loukatai needs more practice in. After the crew from the hospital arrived on the school grounds, I asked Susan how old she was. She gave me the all too familiar blank expression, the most frequent response to this particular question. The next thing I asked her was when her birthday was. And after some thought, she told me “number 11 May.” I was shocked because she actually knew her birthday. But then I realized that not only was that very day the 11^th of May, but that Susan hadn’t yet realized this fact. I also had to double check this date with the Class 7 enrollment, and sure enough, there was Susan Iolu, birthday May 11. So it goes with birthdays among children here in Vanuatu. They generally don’t know their age (or they tell you the wrong age) and they also don’t generally know their birthday. On the morning of May 11^th, Susan knew only the day of her birthday, but clearly not in a way that was meaningful, since she almost missed the day entirely. Now she can tell you how old she is- she’s 15 (so lucky her, she got an H1N1 vaccine!). And she tells you her birthday with a confident smile on her face. But the simple fact is, knowing your age and birthday here in Vanuatu doesn’t have an inherent value like it does back home. In the US, a little kid, a big kid, an adult, everyone, knows when his or her birthday is. Because usually a birthday means at least something as simple as candles on a cake or at least a Happy Birthday card. But here? It usually doesn’t mean anything special at all. No cards. No cakes. No Happy Birthday wishes or songs. Why would a kid remember a day that doesn’t bring anything special with it? But I still think birthdays are important. Moreover, I think they are important in this place, on Tanna Island, in Loukatai. So I had to do something about the fact that Susan’s birthday almost went by without being acknowledged, and that 6 more of my students from class 7 had had wholly uneventful birthdays pass by this term. So I decided I’d give the kids what every kid needs to celebrate a birthday on Tanna. Birthday banana cake. That very next day all my class 7 students gathered at my house to make banana cakes. The boys made one and the girls made another, and we cooked them over a fire in the “local oven” inside my custom kitchen. While the cakes were cooking, some students played my guitar, some listened to my ipod, some copied lyrics off my computer, some learned how to play UNO, some looked at my photos, some read books. When the cakes were finished, we brought them inside my house and closed the door, so the other students at the school wouldn’t see us and envy our cake celebration. And for each of the 7 students whose birthdays had passed that term, we lit a candle, put it in the cake, and sang happy birthday to him or her. As we went from student to student, each one told the class their birthday and their age, and got a round of applause from everyone else in the class. And at the end, each student got a nice big piece of banana cake. And I’m confident that now they know their birthdays and their ages with confidence. It may seem something so small, but it’s something I think everyone has a right to claim as their own, something that makes everyone special, something that gives everyone a right to one day every year, have a fabulous excuse to celebrate themselves and be celebrated by others. And my Loukatai Class 7 students are definitely worth celebrating. They are also all now vaccinated against H1N1!