Even the Best Dancer Must Leave the Floor

Hope Academy!

Friday 7/27 (excerpt from my journal):

“I am so incredibly nervous! It’s 6:45am and today is our last day at school with the students and it’s only a half day too. L It’s going to be so hard to say goodbye. My stomach is in knots right now. I printed individual pictures and class pictures for each student and wrote them each a long letter. It was hard to even end Ronald’s letter because I had so much to say. I have biscuits, silly bands, and soda for the students today. Ahhh I’m lying in bed freaking out right now!”

Hellos are so easy to say, but goodbyes are the hardest thing ever, especially with children. We sat with these kids Monday- Friday for 2 months, we’ve created amazing relationships. This morning was such an emotional roller coaster. My students loved their gifts and soda. All of the student teachers preformed a song and dance for the school since the kids are constantly singing to us, it was horrible but they got a kick out of it! We also passed out report grades.

It's so easy to fall in love
with these students

Some of my students cried a lot. I told myself to stay strong for them, but I knew from the beginning I would be an emotional wreck. It’s so different from saying goodbye to people back home, because I know unfortunately there is a good chance that I may never see my students again and that is a harsh reality. I just love them so much; they are incredibly precious and loving.

Cooking

Saturday we had our big party in our front yard. We all woke up early that morning knowing that we had a lot of preparation to do before our 4pm party. We invited people from the community that we worked with during our time here. It was our way of saying thank you by serving them. We had a guest list of about 80 people! Malena and I were on cake patrol, and by cake I mean banana nut bread. We had to go to Faith’s house early to bake it that morning. We thought there would be a recipe for us, but instead it turned out to just be an ingredient list so we just had to go for it. We had much needed help from some of our friends at Faith’s and the bread turned out extremely delicious! At the party we had chapatti, mashed potatoes, spaghetti with tomato sauce, minced meat, chicken, pork, and watermelon.

Serving our guest

Dancing all night long

The party was phenomenal! The food was delicious, the company was great, and we danced for what seemed like all night long. We had a couple random visitors, but for the most part it was all of our friends. Did I mention that we danced and danced and danced? The party went from 4pm to about 8:30-9pm, 4 ½ hours of partying! We were all pretty exhausted afterwards and by the way we were acting you would have thought it was 4am haha. We had about a million dishes and decided to wake up at 7am to wash them. Everyone really enjoyed themselves. Africans love to party and dance, that’s for sure!

Sunday all of us teachers went to the nearby city Kyenjojo for a farewell lunch.  We went around the table and each made little speeches. It’s hard to keep saying bye; I never know when it will officially be the last goodbye. We have all become a Hope Academy family. When I see my students around the village it’s exciting and confusing because I never know if it’s the last time. I keep trying to deny it, like if I don’t talk about leaving then it won’t happen. Goodbye is so hard and I can’t in good conscious say “see you later” because I don’t know if that’s even true.

At the end of the night

On Monday we went to our last staff meeting and back to the farm for the last time to paint their new dormitories and say our final goodbyes. Staff meeting was a bit weird because they had all of these new visitors and it almost felt like we were being replaced. It is completely selfish, but I hate the thought of our roles being replaced. I also can’t help but think about the people before us and how they may have felt that way about us.

Teacher's lunch

We got alarming news that night about the Ebola outbreak in Uganda. What was even more alarming was that it was in the district directly above us. About 15 people died from it. Ebola is a very dangerous virus disease that is extremely fatal. Duke Engage called our professor immediately and wanted to know exactly what we would be doing up until we left Uganda. It’s recommended not the shake hands or hug people! Now that is just horrible timing, because this was a time when all I wanted to do was hug people bye. I stayed on my knees to keep us all safe with God’s help!

Though I would love to dance a couple more songs, it’s almost time for this dancer to leave to floor.

Until Next Time,
*Nicole