Birthday Antics etc

Hello again! Crikey, we’ve only got 2 and a half weeks left. Let’s not think about that.

Our latest news is our last CAD, which was a very successful ‘Leader Engagement Meeting’. Each placement group invited as many community leaders from the communities in which they work as they could to SAWAKA on Saturday 18^th for a meeting with all of us volunteers and our supervisors. Our aim was to give out as much information as we could about our objectives here, how we’ve been working and how the next cycles will work, as well as giving plenty of opportunity for feedback and suggestions on how we could improve what we’re doing. It was a really positive afternoon and we were given plenty of feedback and advice for our last few weeks. A common piece of advice was to prepare the schools and communities more for our arrival. As we are the first cycle of volunteers, we had to introduce the whole VSO – ICS/SAWAKA/Million Hours Fund to our communities. Personally, I feel quite proud of the fact that we’re the first representatives of the programme and we have, I think we’d all agree, made an awesome impression… Good luck next cycle!?!

The sodas and various treats from the market went down a treat at the meeting but, unfortunately, the only food that was left over for us to eat was the pre-meeting coffee beans that no one likes.

In other news – it was my birthday on Friday! Yay! It was a day of very mixed emotions. It started with stress, as it was my group’s GCD and tension was high as we were running late and full taxi after full taxi to Kayanga beeped past us. Next was nervousness, as our awesome fellow volunteers who’d all delivered amazing GCDs before us filed in for the session. It actually went really well, so relief and enjoyment ensued.

Unfortunately my Baba’s cousin died at the beginning of last week, so his funeral was on Friday. Jackie and I left our GCD in the more than capable hands of Helen and Bonavitha and went to the funeral. It was an amazing sight; there were hundreds and hundreds of people there, all the women in kangas and, as the service was held in his garden, everyone was gathered wherever there was space. It was difficult to see if you were at the edges of the crowd, so most people were chatting quietly, napping on the grass or wandering around the peripheries. We ate some delicious pilau rice under the banana trees about half way through the service then rejoined the congregation for the burial. That was when sadness joined the list of emotions! We were told that Baba’s cousin had dug his own grave a few months earlier, which is interesting! Apparently that’s the kind of man he was. Unfortunately we had to leave as they were throwing confetti into the grave, so we didn’t see the conclusion of the service, but I’m so glad I saw what I saw.

I was feeling pretty low after that, but as soon as I rejoined the rest of the legends that are my fellow volunteers I was cheered up no end. I walked into the bar to them singing Happy Birthday and then was presented with two BEAUTIFUL kangas and an awesome card signed by everyone. It’s SO exciting to have kangas now; I can’t wait to get one of them tailored into a skirt and to wrap the rest around me like an African mama. Felix, one of our German mates, also gave me a wicked assortment of bizarre presents, including a toothbrush head, a M23 Congo Rebel Group calendar and an X Ray of his tooth. Highlight! So, my birthday concluded with us all in excellent spirits.

My party was on Sunday! My baba very kindly offered us his hotel/bar as a venue, so all the volunteers, our supervisors and our German mates convened at Africana Safari Lodge for drinks, food, chats and general fun times. It was such a nice afternoon/evening. The Hannahs and Helen made me a lemon drizzle cake, too, which was AWESOME! I feel seriously lucky and greedy to have had a 3 day birthday celebration, but it’s been great. It’s taken the edge of the fact that I’m now 19, which is the worst age ever.

My birthday’s all over now, so now we have to concentrate on making the next couple of weeks’ teaching as productive as possible and leaving as much information and advice for the next cycle of volunteers as we can. I hope I can blog again before we leave! Until then, baadae!