Sitting writing this at the end of a long but good day. Linda had a wheezy night so she and i were
sitting up drinking tea and coffee at 2 am and then Dobbo had woken up with a
head ache – it felt a bit like we were living in a hospital! Us girls were up and ready to go into the
playgroup at just after 8, and the boys headed off to the office. We managed to
get Linda on the nebuliser before the nurse went off for the day with a child
and then I got involved in all sorts of things like washing, giving out gifts
and sorting out the clothes we had brought with us.
Before we knew what was happening it was 10.30 and time for
the adoption ceremony to take place of two siblings who were going to be
heading off to Canada. We were so pleased to have an adoption ceremony to join
in with and it was quite emotional for everyone to experience. The ceremony was lovely and the children will
be heading off to Canada early next week.
Steve, Linda and I headed to the new shopping mall to source
a changing mat which we successfully did in Game. This was the last purchase
with the money that the St Nics children had raised and Mme Mamatela was
delighted with is as hers was just looking very sad and worn out. We got back in time for lunch which was a
matter of eating leftovers and preparing for our left overs party for 13 later
on. At 3 pm having done lots of packing
and chores we went to our last playtime but sadly it was pouring with rain (we
have had a lot of rain this time). I
took two of the older children into a separate room to do some colouring and all they wanted to
do was sharpen the pencils! We spent a
happy half hour sharpening all the pencils!
Who knew it could be so exciting.
We had bought the children Magic Stars from England which due to the
fact that we had kept them in the fridge they had amazingly not melted and we
shared them out at snack time. I
demonstrated how to eat them and they sat there completely absorbed in their
chocolate! The staff were so impressed
they sent them back to their houses carrying their little bags of stars to show
their house mothers and all the bags i picked up were completely empty! They were a hit. The children do not normally eat chocolate so
it was a real treat for us.
I set about to say goodbyes to people while Stephanie and
Linda did lots of feeding and cuddling. It
was hard as having only been there a week I didn’t feel that i had done all
that i had wanted to do. My priority has been my team and the fact I think they
have all enjoyed themselves has been the most important thing for me. Two of the housemothers had made up a lovely
little song for me which they sang to me and then another housemother had
cooked a huge loaf of bread which she wanted to share with me. There were lots of hugs and some tearful
farewells, especially as there were a few children who I knew i would not be
seeing again, they will be adopted next time i am out here.
Fortunately Anita and Terp were sitting outside their houses
so we were able to have a good old girlie natter to take away some of the pain.
We came back to the house and prepared a pretty good supper
which was all our leftovers from the week and all the things from the fridge
that we hadn’t managed to eat. 13 of us (5 British and 8 Americans) sat round our
tables in our house and shared a lovely meal and had a good time or sharing our
high and low spots of the week. The low
spots were few and the high spots varied from holding lion cubs to a child
smiling and even Terp getting excited about being able to print from her
computer. We are still sitting chatting
as I am writing this and it is hard to believe that this time tomorrow we will
be on a plane heading home. We are all
checked in and have plans for an early start tomorrow to have breakfast at
Living Life and then hopefully driving home through the Golden Gate National
Park which is beautiful.
It has been a great week – 3 more people have fallen in love
with Beautiful Gate and have seen a different world and i look forward to their
continued interest in Beautiful Gate. I have not really met anyone who, after
visiting Lesotho, does not fall in love with it. It’s beauty and it’s people are
just lovely. It is a country that has
frustrations and problems which make it a difficult place to live but it is the
kind of place that captures your heart.
When i leave tomorrow another part of my heart will be left behind as
always but i will be taking the love of the people here home with me too and
each time i return i know my life never stays the same.
This is my last blog from Lesotho, next time I type I will
be sitting in my own house! I will let you know that we will all be home. Our
long drive will be followed by an 11 hour flight ........we arrive home at
about 6.40 am and then back to work for us all on Monday. It will be a culture
shock! I will look forward to sharing our adventures with family and friends
who want to know and i look forward to coming back here again in the future
both on my own and with a team. It will have to be on my own next time, it is
a very different experience bringing
others but very worthwhile. I hope and
pray that everyone who has shared this time together this year has taken
something home with them.
From Lesotho from the last time this
year.....................Jenny x
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