Wednesday- Last day in the projects….. and the goodbye meals

Wednesday 26th July

Jubilee

From the minute we arrived at Jubilee we all knew that it was going to be an emotional day. We started the day like usual by teaching and continuing with the building work. However we then started to sort the massive pile of donated clothes to give to the children. Once sorted into the different sizes, we went into each classroom and gave every child a new piece of clothing. Their excited faces made the experience so rewarding as it was so eye opening that the simplest thing, like a vest, could make them so happy. After we had handed all of the clothing out, the teachers taught us all how to make chapattis by letting us help roll them out and watch how they are cooked. Once hundreds were made, we helped serve the children’s lunch which was followed by a goodbye performance from all of the children. This included songs, poems, dances and even a rap. It was so moving to see how much time and effort everyone had put in to say goodbye to us. After the performance all of the children started to individually come up to us to say bye. This was so much more difficult and emotional than any of us could have imagined. After we had a very emotional goodbye, we left for the hotel where we had a goodbye meal with the African Adventures team. This involved dancing and singing which was very funny and a perfect end to the trip.                  

        

Ronaken

After the emotional experience at the dumpsite the previous day, and purchasing the donations the group was very excited about the last day. The night before we packed all of our donations into separate suitcases ready for the following morning. We set off slightly early to the projects and arrived there for 8:00am. The minute we walked through the Ronaken school gate, knowing this was the last day we would get to spend with the children, we all knew that it was going to be a very emotional day. We carried the bags of donations into the staff room and started to sort out of a plan for the day. We tried to spread out our time – spending an equal amount of time with all the kids. Throughout the day we set up a variety of activities for the children, bringing out the skipping ropes, bubbles and beanbags. After lunch, we set out all our donations into one big room. We brought out the piles of clothes; medical, kitchen and sports equipment and visited each individual classroom delivering sweets and biscuits to all the children. 

 

The excitement and pure appreciation that one lolly brought to a child’s face is incredible. It really made us reflect on the impact we were having and brought tears to our eyes. After we gave all of our donations it was almost time to leave. The head teacher called all the students to the playground and held an assembly to thank us and wish us a safe journey. It was very emotional to have the conformation of saying goodbye and I’m sure there wasn’t a dry eye in the group. Hearing the students sing and thank us for everything we had done for them was an experience I will never forget. Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I’ve done and the children’s happiness, positive outlook and enthusiasm has definitely left us all with something to take home.    

    

The Walk

On our final project day we were feeling both excited for the day ahead and seeing the kids appreciate the donations we worked so hard for but also dreading saying goodbye to the people we had created a bond with.We took everything with us; clothes, sweets, paper, pens, balls, cricket set, paints etc and donated everything for the children. Lots of screams of excitement and jumping around as they received the donations, which showed how appreciative they were. We handed out clothes and sweets for the children at the Walk and also bigger clothes for the older children from Prisons Primary who come for lunch every day. Today was such a rewarding day for everybody, and finished off the amazing experience at The Walk very emotionally. We have had the most amazing time, and we donated personal shoe boxes to the children that we had grown a connection with, to take home for them and their families.  Many tears from us, the children and teachers showed the impact and memories made, and it was so sad to say goodbye, but so rewarding and humbling to see the appreciation from The Walk Centre.

                            

In the evening we had a goodbye celebration with some of the project teachers and African adventures team to reflect on the life changing experiences we had made. It involved some thoughtful and sometimes questionable speeches from teachers and students alike, with Tagger with the highlight of them all. After this we did a weird singing game with a local DJ for a bit of fun which pitted the boys against girls, the losers which ended up being the boys had to sing don’t stop believing in front of the whole room. To round it all off we watched a local dance group perform for us who we then had to dance with which was really energetic and a lively end to a great evening.