Back Where I Started

I just checked into the exact same hotel room I had on my first night in Dar es Salaam, though this time its a little less scary. I'm sitting at the same computer in the same internet cafe where I wrote home to my family to tell them I had been in Tanzania for only 4 hours and had just got mugged on the street. I feel like I'm exactly where I left off here, although nothing is the same at all. This has been an incredible, amazing, life-altering experience for me and I feel like I haven't processed it, nor have I written down half of the things I've seen or felt in the last 3 months. I have so much more to write about but I still need to sort it all out.

Yesterday was really hard. I knew that it would be, but even so, saying goodbye to my life in Tanga was a painful experience. In the morning I taught my 20 students for the last time and took some videos of them dancing and doing their morning routines. We went through the usual motions and the usual routines for the day in hopes that they wouldn't be too upset about me leaving. At the end of the day I gave each kid a little plastic bag with 2 pencils, a pencil sharpener, a notepad, a couple stickers and some little packets of powder to mix with water to make juice. It was more exciting than Christmas. I had also made a bunch of very simple little friendship bracelets to give them and I explained that in Canada, children make bracelets to give their friends and that I wanted to give them a bracelet so they would remember I was their friend. Again, they were SO grateful and so excited to wear these little bits of colored string. At the very end of our school day they students stood up and sang me a song in Kiswahili about leaving on a plane and how they'd miss me. From there on I was a wreck. We spent the last few minutes of class time playing follow the leader and dancing outside and then that was it - they all have me a hug (the boys tried to play it tough and would only shake my hand, save for Riziki, who has always been very affectionate) and walked home.

From there I picked up last minute things, made photocopies of my reports and went to the girls orphanage for the last time. I sat in on a meeting with the chairperson and the matrons of the house and was so happy to hear everyone voicing their concerns about the way things operate there. The word orphanage really doesn't match up with the environment there and they really have a great program going - if I go back to Tanga I'd probably just volunteer there! I stayed to play with all the girls and had dinner in the massive dining room with all 30 girls and the Mamas. The worst part of the day was saying goodbye to Saumu, who I've fallen in love with. My good friend Midoli had taken care of her when she was living on the streets in Tanga 2 years ago and the orphanage took her in while I was in Tanga. I met her soon after she arrived there and tried my best to help her settle in to her new home, though she was so thin and had a hard time adjusting for a while. I felt terrible leaving her, knowing that so many others have come into her life and left already, but I gave her stamps and some pencils and told her that we'll write and that seemed to make things easier... but it was still a horribly difficult goodbye.

My Askari, Bonifis (who is shorter than me and is missing his 2 front teeth) brought me a Dafu - a young coconut - and was eagerly awaiting my arrival back home. He had been helping me with my kiswahili when I was all alone at the hostel and we had a lot of conversations about the differences between Canada and Tanzania. I told him that we can't grow coconuts in Vancouver because it's too cold and he was appalled and saddened to hear such information. I tried to explain that we can still buy coconuts at the grocery store, but they have been sent to Vancouver from other countries so they are very expensive in comparison to the Tanzanian price. He said he'd bring me coconuts to take home and sure enough, he showed up with 2 coconuts for me and my family. I then had to explain in Kiswahili how I can't bring fruit on the plane and so we ended up eating them there and shooting the shit in limited Kiswahili until I finally dragged myself inside to start packing.

And here I am now, after an easy bus ride to Dar, back where I started from. I hope that I can keep writing about Africa as I process my thoughts and I hope people will still take interest. This has been awesome and I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences with friends and family once I'm home.