I hate saying goodbye, so my way of dealing it is that I
imagine I will see everyone again soon.
I would like to think that I will come back to Rwanda at some
point. I just can’t quite believe that
my time here is over. I am looking
around my bare room and the two cases ready to head for home. It feels a little strange.
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It has been a busy week.
Last weekend featured the VSO Rwanda Family Dinner to welcome new
volunteers. This was held in Kigali and
for some of us it was also a nice opportunity to say goodbye. The VSO community is a very special one and I
have met many wonderful people here.
People are kind and supportive and I feel privileged to have known and
worked with such a great group of people.
The week rolled on. I
had job interviews and final preparations for departure, such as my VSO exit
interview. Then on Wednesday I did my
last day in school and had a really nice visit with the English teachers. We spent a long time making visual aids and
chatting as we did so.
On Thursday, there was an important meeting at the District
Office and then Amy (my replacement) arrived.
It was nice to have some company in the house and we have spent the few
days together doing a handover. On
Friday we went to visit GS Gashanda – the first school I went to when I
arrived. We had a lovely morning meeting
with teachers and visiting lessons and I got to say goodbye to all of the staff
and students. People said very nice
things and there were many speeches. I
hope Amy keeps me informed of all the news from there!
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| Safari |
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| Kibungo friends |
Finally, today, I had a chance to say goodbye to some of the
people who have been so kind to me whilst I have been here. I invited my friends for lunch and we had a
bit of a fanta party. I spent the
morning talking through things with Amy as we chopped vegetables and then we
cooked a thai curry together on the charcoal stove. Then the rain arrived and we knew the event
would be a little delayed. But people
began to arrive. First was Safari – he
has been an excellent driver and always stops to greet me if we pass on the
road. I have bumped into him in Kigali
too and he always makes sure I am well looked after and has been a good
friend. After this, Mama Blaire and Papa
Blaire and Fabiola and Blaire arrived.
They are a lovely family and Mama Blaire has been a good friend to
me. We have laughed a lot – mostly at my
attempts to communicate with her – and we have hugged a lot. She is expecting a baby soon and I hope he
arrives healthy and well. Once everyone
arrived, we had Elie (my Kinyarwanda teacher) and his wife, Pacifique; Patrick
(my guard) – who is also Elie’s cousin (and an excellent catcher and killer of
snakes and rats!); Justin, Emelline, David, Delphine and Phillippe. It is sad to say goodbye to them and I hope
we manage to keep in contact. The
children are growing up and are very lovely.
Delphine is hillarious and we spent a lot of time running around the
garden.
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| the giant back-pack |
Once these goodbyes were complete, Amy, Moses and I went to
the home of Judith. She had prepared us
a beautiful meal and we got to meet her two children. We had a lot of conversation and laughed and
took yet more photographs.
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| final goodbyes |
I will miss all of these people who have been a very big
part of my life for some time and one day I would like to come back and see how
they all are. They have looked
after me and kept me company and encouraged me and made me smile a lot whilst I
have been here and I am very thankful to all of them for that.
