Goodbye Bagamoyo!

My last day (rather, morning) in Bagamoyo was really nice. I went to the house with the triplets with Charles and other UKUN volunteers for about an hour. We just played and I cuddled with Kennedy – the triplet that has warmed up to me the most! They are all just adorable though. Saying goodbye is never easy for me – I teared up saying goodbye to the staff.

Really one of the most amazing things about the program was the staff. I know so many of the volunteers felt that way. They really are a family and you become part of that family when you are there. Especially staying for 12 weeks I really got to know them and spend time with them. Some days if I had my afternoons free I’d hang out with the kitchen staff – Chiku, Robert, and Edda and help cook (I was the resident chapatti expert haha). Every day Edna and Paulina, the housekeepers, are so cheery and sweet they make you smile. And Mama C is just everyone’s second mom over here, she is so calm and relaxed despite how stressed she must get managing the houses and all the volunteers! Didase is so silly and always makes you laugh with his unique perspective on everything. And Mama Thea is an inspiration – her story of focusing on education and working her way up and now the work she is doing to bring volunteers into the community, she is a great leader by example.

It wasn’t easy to say goodbye. I already miss them and my life there – waking up and biking to school, teaching, running errands, having lunch, spending my afternoons making home visits to HIV/AIDS patients, dinner then a drink with friends. It was wonderful – and I have a renewed conviction in what I want to do in life to work directly with and for people who seem to have so little but are truthfully some of the happiest people in the world.

Picture: Me and Elias, one of our drivers, saying goodbye before I left!