I can't believe how fast it's gone.

Our last day of school with the teachers and a few of the older students.

Some of my Standard 6 class that I enjoyed teaching in when I got the chance.

This is just one picture of Naledi, the village we spent every day teaching in. This is only a very small idea of what the whole place looks like.



Nicole and I with our babies.

My favorite picture of all time.

Where did all the time go? It feels like we have only been here a month and yet Friday was already our last day at school. It's bittersweet ya know. On one hand I miss home terribly and I am ready to come back and eat cheeseburgers and chipotle. On the other hand it's hard to tell people you have built these relationships with that you are going home and the reality is that you are probably never coming back. We have continuously been asked when we are coming back. The hardest part is with the younger ones because they don't understand. I told one of my favorite kids at the feeding project that it was my last day and I was going home. He just smiled and shock his head yes when I asked him if he understood. He didn't. I think all of us have just tried to brush off our goodbyes and the fact that we are leaving. I just acted like it was another day and tried to enjoy it. It's much easier to just not say goodbye.

Saturday Nicole and I spent the day out at Gamadubu with Teacher Shirley. She is one of the best people I have ever met. The lady works out at Naledi during the week with 40 some preschoolers in her class that she teachers by herself. Then Saturday she goes out to Gamadubu and takes all the food that she has collected from donations and counsels and cooks for these kids. All she ever does is spend her time helping people. I've honestly never met someone with such a big heart. She just takes these kids under her wing and cares for them as if they were her own. She is wonderful and it will be hard to say goodbye to her. Anyway, we went out there and helped cook all this food peeling carrots and potatoes and what not. It was a good time. We are going back out there Wednesday for a big party that is going down so I think we are all really excited for that.

Today we went to church for the last time. We went to the Naledi Baptist Church. It was nice to be able to say goodbye but I am also VERY glad to be done with 3 hour church services for a while. Haha. The kids at school are on holiday so we are doing random things this week. Visiting some organizations about guest speakers and stuff at the school, doing final paperwork at the school, going to Gamadubu for a big party, and then PACKING. It's surreal we are leaving Botswana on Friday. But you ask "Elizabeth, you aren't coming home until August 1st, where are you going to be if you are leaving Botswana on Friday?" We will be heading for a short adventure in MOZAMBIQUE. Originally we were going to spend the last little bit of time in Cape Town. Well after talking to some locals from down there and being reminded of the cold weather...we decided why not try something different and head to the glorious beaches of Mozambique. After freezing all winter here warm weather just sounded so much nicer.

So Saturday Nicole and I were standing outside of the fence at the project at Gamadubu and this car stops and turns around to talk to us. They said they saw "lighter people" and wondered what we were doing clear out there in the bush. We just told them we were out there helping out and told them what we had done all summer. Then then asked us what we learned while in Botswana. I laughed. There is so much I could not even pick out one thing. Pick a broader question would ya. I don't think I will really understand the impact of everything on me until I get back and readjust to life and process everything.

Random:

I never realized how big of a luxury running water is. Many people in Gabs don't have running water in their house and use outhouses. Also, I am so blessed that I have never had to know what it feels like to be hungry. I thought things were dismal at Tlamelo, but then we went to Gamadubu. I left about 1/3 of my food and the kids took it, ran, and it was licked clean in 3 seconds. I kid you not. I felt guilty for eating any of it. Most people here live in a house the size of my family room, and 5 people live in that little space. Having a car means you have done well and are mature and responsible. Life is much simpler and you do not need a lot to be happy.

I am going to miss:

-The little kids shouting my name from the fence when we get to school. It turned into a chant. E-Liz-A-Beth. No, I did not tell them to do that

-Being pulled on from every angle, people jumping onto me, being tackled to the ground, and people constantly crawling through my legs.

-Tabo pelvic thrusting through every class I ever taught in Standard 6 while he was supposed to be writing notes.

-All of our wonderful friends we have made.

-Combi rides. You never know what interesting thing is going to happen.

-Bogamoso.

-Life in Botswana.

-How having food is reason enough to be happy.

-I can't begin to explain everything else.

So I wrote this post on Sunday night....today is Tuesday. There is so much I could say and I wanted to say so I just kept waiting to post it. I finally decided I'm just leaving it at this for now :)

It just keeps getting better

Me and the twinies.

I was trying to take a picture of Mpho and his little sister, but everyone jumped in.

Such a pretty girl. (I'm talking about Bogamoso)

:)

Some of our Face the Nation friends. LOVE them and will miss them terribly.

So you know how we made those zillions of copies of tests? Well then we graded (by hand) those zillions of bubble sheets. What would you do after you have 180 tests in 7 subjects graded and separated? By golly you would put them into a spreadsheet so every student has all of their grades together. Who is putting this spreadsheet together you ask? Me. And I am ALMOST done with it! It was a little difficult putting the names in at first, seeing as it was difficult to read some handwriting and it’s not like I know how to spell these names anyway. We have been keeping very busy this week. End of term tests are also beginning for every class so we have been typing those up for the teachers as well. They have also been coming into the computer room to receive lessons on working the computers, so that has been exciting. In between plugging in my numbers I have been going in to see my babies in the preschool. I have also been in some of the classes teaching, and writing notes on the board. Let me tell you, my penmanship looks fabulous across all those boards.

Thursday we got to go to the SOS Children’s Village with our flying mission friends. I believe it is the only actual orphanage in Gaborone. It is a nice place with good people working there. There are different houses all throughout. Each house has a “mother” and holds 12 kids and there are about 15 houses. We got there and wandered around and found kids to play with. Naturally I was attracted to the little ones and picked up this little boy. He was such a sweetheart and just clung to me. I never put him down. We all played for a while and then sang songs and did bible study which was led by the flying mission guys. I still was holding my little boy and he fell asleep midway through the singing. By the end of everything it was time to go and he was still sleeping. I couldn’t get him to wake up until some kid finally shook him and then pulled him out of my arms. It broke my heart and I can’t tell you how easy it would have been to just leave and never let go of him. This place was a little different than anything we had seen yet. There were kids that were handicapped and had all sorts of disabilities. The kids also noticed the “things” that we had. Some were trying to get into my bag, pull of my bracelets, or run off with my headband. I don’t think any of them own anything that’s actually “theirs”. I am so glad that we were able to get out there. It’s one place I have wanted to go to all summer and I could see myself working there if we had any more time.

Speaking of time, we are down to our last week at Naledi. I cannot believe it and I have no idea how I’m going to say goodbye. We technically have 2 weeks left of service but the school goes on holiday the last week we are planning on working so we are going to have to find something else to do that week. Oh, Paul has also recently joined the school soccer team. They played 2 games last week one at Naledi, and the other at the rich private school. Paul and I bought them a new ball to play with, but I wish there was more we could do. The balls they did have were so used and worn that the only had about ½ the air in them that they should have. The kids are actually all really good individually they just don’t have any guidance or knowledge to play as a team. Oh and Paul has never played soccer before in his life, so I think everyone enjoys watching him. Haha.

Our Face the Nation friends from Zambia and Zimbabwe are back. We were really excited to see them. They taught classes at schools all over Botswana about HIV/AIDS and Christ and were also around for counseling. Itai said at his school there were about 2,200 students. In the first semester of school 800 of them had been treated at the clinic for STD’s. How outrageous. It sounds like they all did a tremendous amount of counseling as well. From what I have gathered there isn’t really a lot of counseling around here and it is very needed. I mean all sorts of students talking about their dad beating their mom, or their friend having sex with the teachers, and just their lives in general. If I had another summer to give, it’s something I would love to be a part of. But don’t worry mom and dad, I’ll be around next summer. Anyway, I love these guys and it will be hard to say our farewells on Tuesday. Such wonderful people.

-Itai and I were talking and he said this “I don’t mean to be racist but white guys just can’t handle anything. I mean have you ever heard a black guy say that he had indigestion or that he was constipated? No. We have bigger things to worry about like cholera, AIDS, and yellow fever.” It was pretty funny and we all got a good laugh, but unfortunately it’s the truth.
-Oh also, I don’t think I’ve pointed out just how gosh darn cold it is here. I only brought a sweatshirt and a fleece jacket. Aaaand I usually wear about 3 shirts including one of those, every day. Somebody said they thought the weather said it had been getting down to freezing at night time. Yeah I would definitely believe that one. I will be GLAD to get home to the warm weather. I love summertime and I miss it. I DID make socks and flip flops a cool thing on our trip up north though.
-I think I sprained 2 of my fingers washing my clothes yesterday. Seriously…they hurt.
-Say “kung fu karate dancing” to me and I will grin from ear to ear. I have the best story.
- I’ve eaten mopami worms. Gross. Never again.
-Paul’s 50 year old roommate Mr. T or Godfrey told Paul I reminded him of Hilary Clinton. If only I had a dollar for every time somebody said that. This is the same man who up until last year hated whales because he was always told they were just people killers.
-My farmers tan is sick.

-Thank you for continuing to think about me and pray for me. It means the world.

Traffic lights are called robots

-We all have colds. All the little kids were sick and then so was Teacher Shirley. She keeps going on and on about the swine flu. Prettttty sure we're okay.
-It's a big deal to find ketchup anywhere. Man do I miss it.
-We just discovered watching movies online. Okay so we're a little behind the times but we are definitely enjoying it.
-Tshube is running at a track meet in Serbia. We miss him.
-We did nothing on the 4th of July. It was depressing. But on the 1st of July we shot of fireworks after bible study for Canada's Independence Day.
-We went to a soccer game with the Naledi kids to watch them play. We played the rich private school. We played with zero shin guards, one kid only wore one shoe, and another one had some sweet converse shoes on for the game. We lost terribly but it was fun to go hang out with them outside of school.
-We have pretty much completed all of our crossword and sudoku books.
-Sometimes the beef we have at the project has to be beat with a 3 foot long wooden spoon along with many knives to break it up. It has to be a neck piece or something gross that they always end up with. I still eat it though.
-I've been teaching BK some words...banana, no no no, teacher, apple. She's caught on so quickly, it's amazing. When I first met her she didn't make a peep and I think the only word she would say was mama. Now she laughs all the time and we have to tell her to be quiet during class.
-I can't believe we really only have a short time left here, it's wild.
-The little kids found a lizard last week. They beat it to death til all of its legs, tail, and head came off. I was disgusted but I think they found it pretty exciting.
-Nicole told me I put too much frosting on our cake. FALSE. There is never enough frosting
-We have successfully caught both of our dishrags on fire and they are now covered in holes.
-I miss my parents...and Kevin