Today was one of the saddest. It was our last day of school. The day started off with our usual tea break and Chipo was so happy to see us wearing the skirts she got us. Danielle, her, Dr. Barber and I all matched. We also got to give our teachers their gifts; we got Chipo some pretty fabric and Gift a really nice notebook and Danielle also gave them a radio and cassettes of her reading the English books she gave them so that way the students can read along and reinforce their English. Dr. Barber also gave us a huge bag of tooth brushes that we got to give each student in our class.
In class, Danielle and I did a mini review quiz on everything we taught them and if they got the question right Danielle gave them a rice crispy treat. After that the school put on a performance for Danielle, Dr. Barber, Tom, and I. It was so great! I felt like a proud mom whenever I saw one of my students in the performance. I didn’t realize that some of them liked to dance so much, especially this one student named Ishmael. I really enjoyed the whole thing and a touch of sadness came over me when I realized that I’m never going to see any of them again.
After the show, the teachers had us stand up and they put the clothes they had made for us on us. It was so sweet of them and it really surprised me. I really loved the fabric.
After the whole thing was over we took class pictures and then we took a bunch of pictures with our students. When it was all done and we had to wave goodbye to them our tears got the best of us and Chipo had to hug both of us and try to get us to stop crying. I was surprised by how close I’ve gotten to some of them and I’m going to really miss them.
We all walked to M.I.E. to see the rest of our group. Apparently all the schools decided to make us outfits because Radford University students and Virginia Tech students all had on Malawian dresses. I liked how the 3 different universities had their own different color outfits.
So we all sat around for hours until it got real late for the big dinner that was going to be held at M.I.E. All the teachers came from 4 different schools we worked with this past month. We had dinner and then we introduce everyone and then our group sang them a song that one of the teachers taught us. The whole thing was in Chichewa and it was about saying goodbye and I’ll see you soon again. All the teachers really enjoyed it especially since it was in Chichewa. I got to meet Chipo’s older daughter who is the same age as me. I wish Gift could have been there but he was gone for three weeks because he has to help mark the standard 8 exams.
This day was bitter, sweet. I’m happy that we had a nice day, but I’m sad because this is the last day I will ever see any of these people.
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