We had big plans again today and life had another idea. Brian and Alex left early with Muyunda to do a few errands in town and then to go to Kantolomba. Jen stayed behind to go with Sequoia to the airport—how is leave-taking upon us already?!
However, after the first errand Muyunda got stopped by the local police and had to deal with some red tape. We knew it could take a while so Eunice and Jen met Brian and Alex in town to bring them back to the guesthouse. We had a few moments of frustration at how much we had hoped to do out in Kantolomba today and quickly let that go realizing we shall get done what we get done and really, how do we want our last day to be—the same as we wish always to be: to experience the great good fortune of our lives and let life lead us. Ah, relaxing.
Our one errand, a stop at Quicksave for water.
Jen and Eunice took Sequoia to the airport to begin the long journey home. Afterwards, back at the Lodge, as we awaited word from Muyunda, we ate picnic lunches we had packed, planning to be out in Kantolomba. Soon after, we received a call from Muyunda saying he was back in business—yea!
Only four hours behind when we had planned, we arrived in Kantolomba for our last day. Though it is always nice to feel needed, it was quite fun to see that everything we had hoped would be accomplished today was already in full swing without us—always a very good sign for things staying on track when we depart.
The men were working on stoves. It is easy to project that they are excited to have a mission.
Christopher punching the holes in the charcoal plate.
The women take a break after the last big feeding. Admiring the two newest pulumusas.
The co-op now has enough pulumusas that they no longer need to use the far less efficient imbala stoves. That was one of our goals for the trip, and it is a great win for all to have it accomplished.
Young Foster cooking on a pulumusa and looking at the newest stove.
Another very fun accomplishment (though ALL the credit goes to Friday) is that the water tank is holding—no leakage at all! Yea! That is one of those “small” but very significant successes in a trip.
The repaired water tank.
One of the reasons we were so determined to get out to Kantolomba today was to give the four boys in the scholarship program who passed their grade seven exams their solar lights. It is impossible for most of us in the west to imagine what it is like to have no source of light after the sun goes down. Consider trying to do your homework! We felt like a perfect way to honor the commitment and perseverance these scholars are showing would be to give them a source of nighttime light. They were thrilled.
Jen explains how the solar flashlights work.
Congratulating the boys on their hard work. Yes, we too are determined that there will be more girls in the next round! Mercy, our outstanding female scholar received her flashlight a few trips ago.
Perhaps you remember Beatrice, a local potter in Kantolomba. We ran into her husband, a carpenter, walking through the compound a few days ago and asked after his wife. Undoubtedly, word had spread and, being a good businesswoman, she showed up on the property to offer us some of her beautiful pots. We can never resist! It is astonishing that she creates these with clay from the local river and fires them in a pit in her backyard.
Choosing pots.
Beatrice and her pots.
Tuesdays are one of the days Rose comes to the property. She generally focuses on attending to individual health needs and an adult health class on Tuesdays and focuses more on the girls’ program on Fridays, but we had asked that the girls come today as it was our last chance to see them. We had a great discussion with Rose and will let you know, as soon as we know, which direction we will go next with this program. It is important and there are many possibilities.
Rose and Jen talking with some of the girls.
A baby of one of the girls in the program.
Rose gave Jen a piece of family planning chitenge that we were heartened to see. It features the motto: "Family Planning. It's your choice." Often the decision of whether to use birth control or not is the husband's "choice," and women are left without a voice.
One of the children looking up at Jen in her new chitenge.
Probably our largest feat of the day was getting all of our stove project charts written up. We gave folks a lot of information about the ideas, protocols, and expectations around this project over the week, and we knew our only shot at anyone being able to remember any of it (including us!) was for us to write it up. We pulled it off!
Jen and Brian just having a breakthrough on seeing how to represent the stove information.
Posting the completed charts.
Veronica comes to check out the new charts.
And then, it was time to move towards leaving. This is not our favorite moment of the trip. No matter how long we stay, or how much gets done, when this moment arrives it always seems like we just got here.
Jen with Young Foster who made us a few more baby hats and booties.
Collecting the last of the sewing product.
Okay, we have put it off long enough…
Alex saying goodbye to the team
Jen and Peter say goodbye.
Something we realized on this trip is that, much like life, while we go with goals and accomplish large projects, it is the little moments that make it so special. Each of us has taken some notes over the course of the trip on what those moments were for us. We are going to write them up and post them as a final blog. Stay tuned…
Could you think of a better way to end than this??!