Saying Goodbyes & Licking Stamps

October 26^th-28^th: Monday-Wednesday

This last week at school was great. I love all the little kids here. I enjoy playing and teaching them so much. It turned out to be pretty hard to say goodbye. I helped Gladness in her class the last week. On Wednesday o brought a bag of Jolly Ranchers (given to me by someone in my church, I can’t remember who though) to share with the kids, as a going away present. At the end of his day they all sat down and said goodbye to me. They sing a little song they know

“A long, long time

we are together

but the time is over

we say bye bye”

pretty cute and kinda cheesy. I thanked them and then handed out the Jolly Ranchers. They were really happy with them and liked them a lot. I gave the rest of the candy to the teachers.

I went running again Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday I went on my longest run. About 8 miles I think. It combines all of my routes and does a loop throughout most of Moshi. kind me saying goodbye. Monday I ran across another speaker, I think this one was political again.

Monday brought rains, on and off all day. Tuesday more of the same. Massive amounts of water fell, creating miles and miles of mud. Every road and footpath was turned into a river and a then into a muddy swamp. Tuesday I went to the choir practice. It was dark and rainy that night. I played with a couple of the little kids in the church. The choir sounded amazing as usual. After they had practiced a bit they were goofing off on the keyboard, playing with the beats. They found and started impersonating rappers. It was hilarious. They were really good. Then they made up a rap about the church. I couldn’t really understand what they were saying but they all had the swagger and the dance moves down. It was almost dark by the time we left. We had waited for a break in the rain. Neema, Lighty and I decided to make a break for home. We couldn’t take a shortcut though because of the mud so we had to take the long way. Only just out of the church gate it began to drizzle, the drops increased to a light rain, it began to rain heavily and soon had turned into a torrent. We slipped and slid in the mud. I learned how to say “nina chukia matope!” which means “I hat mud!” Once I was soaked through I took great joy in the experience. It reminded me of running in Karamoja.

Wednesday my mom was able to wire money to me so I could pay Unity for housing me and be able to buy a visa back into Uganda. I went out to eat at my favorite restaurant in Moshi. Inditalianos. I had amazing paneer and cheesy Nan. I had bought postcards in Zanzibar and Moshi and wrote17 to various friends. It took me several hours. After lunch I mailed them. That evening my foot swelled enormously after I notice a small bump on top of my foot. I assumed I had been bitten by a spider, little did I know what lay in store for me.

Wednesday night Unity organized a going away celebration for me. He invited all the young guys in the church to come over. Most of them were able to come. Unity made me get pictures with everyone and then he down loaded them on my computer. He asked everyone to say something about me and most replied in Kiswahili and he translated. It meant so much to me to hear everything they had to say. Then he presented me with a certificate for volunteering at the school. He also bought me a t-shirt of Tanzania that he had picked out. Then I got a chance to say something. I said basically that I was very thankful for all of them. For being my family while I was here and I would miss them. I almost started to cry. I love them so much and I may never see them again.

Then we ate a snack of g-nuts, tea, cake and I shared some skittles with them. Unity then had us all go out and take a bunch of pictures in the bed of his truck. After that everyone left except for Unity’s family. Before we ate I gave them their gifts. I had gotten kangas for all the girls. Kangas are thin 3 ft by 5ft cloths that women in east Africa use for everything. I gave the guys some of my movies, Gladiator, Count of Monte Cristo, and K-19. We ate dinner all together that night. I stayed up until nearly 2 packing. It’s funny because I didn’t want to pack. If I packed that it would be acknowledging the fact that I was leaving.