Ballyraine National School is located in Letterkenny, widely acknowledged as one of the fastest developing towns in Europe. In recent years it has also become home to many newcomer families from around the globe.

The ‘global village’ has also been reflected in school enrolments and in September ’07 half of our Junior infant class came from Africa. This represented many immediate challenges to ensure that these pupil and their families were given a ‘Céad Míle Fáilte’ to our school community.

Our first EAL teacher, Andy Hogg was appointed and before long these new challenges became new opportunities. We had 17 different nationalities in our school and we got to work designing a ‘welcome mural’ in our school entrance. The simple greeting ‘hello’ was painted in letters incorporating the national flag and colours. We established a ‘Failte Club’ for newcomer families and a programme of activities was drawn up. English language and computer classes were organised and a St Patrick’s Day Céilí gave parents a flavour of Irish culture and music.
The highlight of our activities was ‘Africa Day’ in May ’08. we transformed our school into a global village with market stalls set up in the school corridors with African crafts designed and crafted by the pupils. A commemorative tree was planted to celebrate the growth of world cultures and African mothers produced a feast of African food for all our visitors to sample. There was even a ‘South African’ bar-b-que lunch for 300 with traditional South African burgers. There was a celebration of African fashion in our Fashion show and the school choir ‘raised the roof’ in the open air with their African songs and dance.
A piece of artwork entitled ‘African Lady’ was unveiled by local artist Margaret Wilkie.

Our ‘Africa Day’ was such an outstanding success that we contacted Mr Eamon O’Murchú and invited him to come and talk to the senior classes about his travel to Zimbabwe. The pupils were spellbound by Eamon’s images capturing ‘the essence of Africa’.

Later that evening, we hosted our final celebration entitled ‘An evening in Zimbabwe’. Special invites were sent to parents, friends, and local community leaders. The exhibition of Eamon’s photographs was officially opened by Mayor of Letterkenny, Victor Fisher. Ms Sally Bonner was guest of honour representing Donegal Education Centre. In her address Sally acknowledged the changing face of local communities and congratulating the pupils and teachers on their celebration of cultural diversity.

Eamon in the best tradition of folklore unlocked the story behind each photo … stories of hardship, of survival, of death and of joy. The people of Zimbabwe were a proud people, resilient, strong and resolute in the face of hardship.

The Regional Cultural Centre, the venue of our ‘Evening in Zimbabwe’ reverberated to the rhythms of Africa provided by ‘Sambawara’.

Zimbabwe had been brought to us in a series of digital images, telling real life stories, reminding us of our precious nature of life and of the valuable contribution of our world family.

Cultural diversity is waiting to be embraced – let’s celebrate!