When I was Guest of Honour.

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On Friday 18 October I had the privilege to be Chief Guest or Guest of Honour at Mutake Primary School Prize Giving Day. When the school extended the invitation to me, I quickly consulted my dictionary and the internet on, ‘what is a Guest of Honour or Chief Guest’. I wanted to find out more about what would be my duties for the day, what is expected of me, how I should carry myself and how to dress for the occasion.

 

This is what I found out. Guest of Honour is an extremely important guest at a meeting, party, or other event or a distinguished person invited to a dinner, meeting, etc., especially on some unique occasion. In other words, chief guest is a guest attending a festivity or ceremony by special invitation. For example, suppose the minister of Education is invited to a prize-giving of a certain school. In this event, the minister is considered as the chief guest of the event.

Chief guests are usually required to give a speech to the audience/ other guests at the gathering. People who are invited as chief guests usually have a high status in the society.
Information is power.

• I am important, or they regard me as an important person. I realised how the School regards me in terms of importance.

• I was unique and possess a special skill or talent that the school deem useful or necessary. In this case Tree planting and the ability to raise awareness and educate on the need to preserve, protect, and repair the natural environment.

• I was expected to give a speech worth listening to and that should be life changing to the Domboshava Community and school children. A speech that will encourage both parents and students to want to be better people academically and socially.

• I had a duty to entertain them and keep them glued to the activities of the day.

• I also had to wear my University academic graduation gown. This is done as a way to encourage students to further their studies beyond Primary School.

Traditionally the hosts always write the Guest of Honour Speech, and all the Guest of Honour has to do is to edit and add a little bit of information. When the Headmaster informed me that they will draft the speech and send it to me, I told them they should not worry. I was going to send them what I have already come up with and they will then tell me what I had missed and I will add it. I did this because I had a special message to deliver to the Domboshava Community. From what I had put together, the Headmistress said I should only add an encouragement to parents to pay school timely for the smooth running of school activities.

I was honoured to be Guest of Honour for the day. It was a task I took seriously and I would be happy to do it all over again.

Environmental Buddies Zimbabwe Trust for the 2nd time had the opportunity to present every Prize winner with a ‘Gift That Grow’ a tree and also plant a tree with all the invited Guests.

To read the speech kindly visit:

1. http://www.ebztrust.org/mutake-prize-giving-day-2019-guest…/
2. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=780933739017023&id=306955643081504