I feel very emotionally drained right now. Today was so much fun yet so sad at the same time. This morning we had a little ceremony for our ladies. We gave them certificates, a picture of Rachel and me with a letter written on the back, and a picture of the class. Afterwards we served some biscuits and juice and showed a PowerPoint of pictures we had taken in our time here. I didn’t think I was going to cry, but when Sarah came up to receive her certificate and hugged me tight and whispered in my ear, “I will miss you. Go with God,” I pretty much lost it. She was crying, Rachel was crying, and some other ladies started crying too. We hugged all the ladies and said we would see them later in the afternoon and then went with Dee to Kabwata again. It was so sweet of her to drive us all the way down there again – it’s through downtown, which means confusing round-a-bouts and tons of traffic. We had a really fun time shopping and bartering and then Dee offered to take us out to lunch. We went to Mint, this adorable restaurant in the mall, and had some very delicious, fresh, healthy food.
After returning home, packing up our new purchases, and changing clothes, we headed over to campus to see the kids. We walked over to Pastor Kawiliza’s house to give him a card. He wasn’t there, but we had spoken to him earlier in the day and had said our good-byes already, so that was okay. Then we walked down the street to the Mutetamis house. Pastor Mutentami, his wife, and his second-youngest daughter Margaret were there. Pastor invited us in and then thanked us profusely for our work here for a good ten minutes. I started tearing up when he said, “Say hello to the people in America for us. Some people we know, and others we do not yet know. Remember us and think of us.” He led us in prayer, which got me crying harder. I hugged his wife and daughter, who were also on the verge of tears, shook Pastor’s hand, and Rachel and I walked out the door completely sobbing. We must have looked absolutely ridiculous on our five minute walk back to campus.
We stopped by to give Regina her certificate and pictures since she wasn’t there this morning and then sat by the football field to wait for kids to come and play with us. Charity and Bridget came out with the preschoolers and we could tell something was going on. A littler after 4:00, they all came over with cards for us. The older kids (the ones who I taught) gave me their cards, shouting, “I love you!” and “I will miss you!” Then the younger ones came with theirs for Rachel. Charity handed us two of the LCAA chitenges, which was so sweet and exactly what we wanted. Charity then gathered the kids together and she sang us a song while they kind of swayed back and forth to it. The whole time I was continuously crying. During this time, Dave was getting the older kids ready to play kickball, so after we hugged all the preschoolers, I watched the kids play kickball until the ladies started congregating on the field. Charity said that they wanted to learn how to play, so I got Dave to come over and explain the rules, and after a while we started a game of ladies versus boys. We got absolutely crushed, but the ladies had so much fun. They’re so competitive and were so thrilled when they finally scored a home run or got some of the boys out. I wish I was able to videotape the boys when they were up to kick. They started doing cheers like Chipolopolo does (the Zambian national team who won the African cup).
Kickball got over at 5:30, and then Rachel and I knew the moment finally arrived when we had to say good-bye to everyone. We started with the ladies first. Rachel and I were sobbing and most of the ladies were too. Regina and Sarah asked for our addresses so they could write us, and the other ladies hugged us tightly and murmured things like, “God bless you,” “I will miss you,” or “Thank you for all you’ve done.” Then we started in on the line of kids. At first, they were all doing well – no crying from any of the younger ones yet. But then I got to the end of the line and I saw Barnabas N. and Given leave the line to go stand behind a tree. I walked around and they were both standing there crying. These were the two boys I feel like I had the closest relationship with and I knew these would be the hardest good-byes for me. I hugged them both tightly and we all stood there crying for a while. Given kept asking, “You are coming back, right? When will you be back?” Rachel and I both answered him several times, but he kept asking, not wanting to accept that we couldn’t give him a better answer. We wanted to wait around for the other kids coming back from school to show up, so we stood there while the kids one by one started bawling. Mwandida was crying hysterically. Mirriam, Samuel, and Bertha stood off to the side, crying continuously as well. Bismarck, Steward, and Sarah’s husband came over to say their good-byes. They expressed their gratitude and said that the campus has been changed by our presence.
The only student I didn’t get to see was Mildred, which is so sad for me. We couldn’t stick around long though because the missionaries were all leaving at six to get to dinner, and by this time it was already time to go and we were still in athletic clothes. We said good-bye to Dr. Wendland and made our last trip back over to the guest house. Our faces were streaked with tears and we could barely talk. We quickly changed into nicer clothes and met Dave and Dee to get to dinner. We joined the Birners, Sargents, and Hartmanns at Rhapsody’s, a very upscale restaurant at Arcades. Sue gave us a very funny present consisting of things that will remind us of our crazy Kafue trip together, as well as a malaria-testing kit since they’re difficult to come by in the states. The Hartmanns gave us some chocolate (inside joke – not funny if I try to explain it). We were then given LCCA chitenges as a thank you. It was a very nice evening and a good way to say good-bye.
Writing this right now is of course making me cry again. I will never forget Given’s heartbroken face staring at me, waiting to hear that I will be back in a couple weeks. Nor will I forget the feeling of Brian pulling on my leg, begging for a hug, Emily clutching to my hand and never wanting to let go, or Barnabas acting like a dork to make me laugh. I have to come back someday to see these people again. I just have to.
Now it’s late and I need to finish up some last minute packing and cleaning before going to bed. I can’t believe it’s over already!
No comments:
Post a Comment