Final Days in Gabs

Tomorrow morning at 5am we leave to get on the Intercape bus to leave Gaborone, Botswana. The past few days leading up to this have been filled with conflicting feelings and mixed emotions. Today was the final goodbye. We went to church in Old Naledi and picked up a group of kids that we have all come to know from Tlamelo/the Old Naledi Education Centre. Church wasn't outside today either, it was indoors in a trailer and it was a very nice service. The sermon was given by a man who was originally from the U.S. but has lived with his family in Africa for the past 10 years. It was also in English so it was easy for us to understand. During the walk to church and for most of the service I held my little girl Charity. It was a difficult realization that this would be the last time I would hold her and hug her. At the end of the church service the man who gave the sermon, his wife stood up and said a prayer for us. She prayed for us, what we have done here, and that with us going home would not be the end of our service. I lost it close after this. All the goodbyes began with people from the church and from Tlamelo.

Soon we walked the kids back home, played and all stood around not wanting to leave. When the subject of leaving finally came up, I think we all knew that we could never really be ready to leave or say goodbye. We just had to do it. The little kids, even though I wasn't as close to a lot of them because I worked with older kids, are still the hardest to say goodbye to. I think they understood that we were leaving, but it still hurts to go. Jack got asked by two of his little boys that hang on him, Tsaone and Tspiso, if they could come to America with him. I don't know how you say no to little 5 year olds that love you. I know it had to be very hard for Jack and for the others that worked in the preschool. These were their kids. They played, taught, laughed, and loved them. They are amazing kids, who couldn't love them?

This weekend I spent packing and tying up loose ends. We weren’t able to work at Tlamelo or the Old Naledi Education Centre all last week because of the student holiday, President's Day, and because Tlamelo gave the cooks the week off as well. We did go to Old Naledi a few days to help teachers that were at the school, say a final goodbye to them, type tests, and play with the kids we could. Not the ideal last week we wanted. It would have been great if we could have taught last week and worked at Tlamelo. I guess that is part of being flexible.

When I went in to help my teacher, Mma Julia, and the principle, Mmaphama, on Thursday with typing my teacher gave me a gift from her and Standard 5. It was so sweet. She gave me a beautiful glass coaster with an elephant on it and Botswana written on it. It was very thoughtful of her and the class. I wish the class could have been there to give me the gift as well, but I know that my goodbye with them was rushed due to the holiday. My poor teacher was is so sick too, she barely had a voice when she gave me the gift and told me that she has influenza. I don't know if it is the same as the flu back home, but she didn't sound or look too good. I hope she is better. Marinda also was given a gift by her class. It was a great moment and a sad one at the same time.

Earlier in the week we went to the Gaborone Museum and the Gaborone Damn to watch the sunset. The museum was wonderful. They had an art gallery and also the museum part with history about Botswana. It was nice to get some history and education - I guess with school I am used to it always being pushed on me. The Gaborone Damn was an amazing site. It was just water and land as far as you could see. Even though we couldn't do service work this past week - we tired to keep as busy as we could.

Friday we had a birthday here at UB for Pipiro - a little girl that we have all come to love - who turned 3. Meeka set it all up. It was a great party. They brought Pipiro, her brother Tsaone, and Charity all back to UB for the party. They watched Lady and the Tramp and Meeka made them lunch while we watched the movie and played with them. The party was great - they ate, had cake and ice cream, played at a park near by, and they even all got goody bags. Meeka gave Pipiro her gift - a doll - and because Tsaone (Jackson - his real name - coincidence) is Jack's little boy, Jack gave him a matching football jersey. It was the cutest thing.

Jack and Jackson (Tsaone) We learned his real name was Jackson - it is fate. Tootsi with her son Tsaone (Jackson). She is Pipiro's and Tsaone's mom.The Birthday Girl! Tsaone and Charity
It is really hard to leave here - it has become much more of a home then I could even imagine. One of my roommates told me this quote, "I left my family to live with strangers and now I am leaving my family to go back home." It couldn't be truer. It is a hard feeling to describe. I don't want to leave, I love teaching and I love the kids, but I am also excited for Cape Town and even more so, for home. My body is confused on whether to be happy or sad. Today I felt sad. It is never easy to say goodbye.

Tomorrow we will leave for Cape Town and finally arrive there on Tuesday afternoon. We will stay there for 5 nights. Hopefully we still won't be too sad and can enjoy it. We plan to go to Robben Island, Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. We want to climb Table Mountain but don't know if we can because we think it is closed for maintenance. Just seeing the beach will be amazing. Next Sunday night, the 3rd, we will be on an overnight bus ride back to Jo-burg and will fly towards home on August 4th. The next week will be quite the journey.