Day Three at Lawrencia and Botanical Garden

Today was a strange day, because we all knew that after visiting classes, and helping in the Library and Computer Room, that we'd be leaving, saying goodbye to new friends and people who were very appreciative of our visit and time with the kids (or "learners," as students are called here). We were accompanied by several Wynberg (Sorry, Wynberg, for spelling your school's name wrong in the last posting!) students and faculty member. They had never been to Lawrencia, but jumped right in to help prepare food and work with the Lawrencia kids.
But I have gotten ahead of myself -- we stopped at the Diet Coke place again this morning and had a wonderful conversation with a woman who suspected we were not South African. She knew right where Lawrencia was and was happy we were had spent and were going to spend more time there.

After feeding the Diet Coke addiction, we arrived at the school and took up where we had left off yesterday. Shawn (Sean?) was all ready with the food for us to prepare -- cereal for breakfast and hotdogs and "crisps" for lunch. The breakfast went off like clockwork and the lunch was easy to prepare, but the clean up for lunch was made somewhat laborious by the "crisps." They were not potato chips, but rather, a Cheeto-like snack coated in a sweet powder that was bright red. By the end of lunch, the plates had a red cast to them, Katie Jo's arm was red from scooping the crisps out of the bag, water was red, dish rags were red, the floor was red. But the thing I loved about the lunch was when Shawn said he wanted to see the little kids' faces when they saw the food because it was fun food for them. Well, he was right! The kids were very happy with this departure from the norm, demolished the chips, downed the hotdogs, and drank up the fruit drink.

When the day was over, all of the students came into the kitchen/eating area, along with the teachers, and they wished us a safe journey home and the hope to see us again. The adults then went to the Staff Room where we said our goodbyes and expressed our hopes for the future of this relationship. This session was begun but an eleven-year old boy who had a lovely voice. He sang a song and then said a prayer -- the teachers called him "Preacher," as he clearly was articulate and voiced a meaningful prayer, and did so with feeling and a wisdom beyond his years.

We made our way back to the bus, walking through the hoards of kids who blocked our way, asking for one more hug or photo. We were finally able to board the bus and were on our way, tired and overwhelmed by the experience.






After a short respite at the hotel (read, "Walk to the gelato place"), we reboarded the bus and made our way to the botanical garden for dinner. On the way, we stopped at a breathtaking pull off overlooking the Atlantic. To say that it was windy was to vastly underestimate the power of wind. Sand whipped against our legs, our faces, and some got in my eyes. It's not as though I haven't had sand in my eyes before, but never at speeds approaching that of these grains of sand. In any case, I did jump down and got as close as I could to the edge and did touch the water. I would say that while it was cold, it was nowhere near as cold as the water in Vinalhaven, ME, where I enjoy swimming. Before the wind blew us all into the water, we got back on the motor coach and finished up the drive to the garden, where Fay met us with our dinner. We sat on benches and the ground on a beautiful section of the garden.

Our tranquility was disturbed by birds (partridges?) who would not take "No!" for an answer and came at us, getting a good running start from up the hill, and, in the end, did snag a hamburger off Margaret's plate, chased Corinna up into a tree (Yeah, except you're not supposed to climb the trees!), and startled Charlotte from two different directions.

I joined a group that walked pretty far up into the garden in order to have a view of the city. Despite the cool wind, the panoramic scene was worth it. As the time approached for us to leave, we headed back down only to find Mr. Merricks and the Merrickettes staging a live performance on the outdoor stage. If they don't join us on the plane tomorrow, it just means they've been held over for more performances.

One more trip to the Waterfront brought the evening to a close. For some, this was one more Hagen Daz. For others, one more visit to a favorite shop. I was of two minds -- the first was how I was going to miss Lynne and Lourence, as they have both made this trip so enjoyable and easy. It was really gone off without a hitch. The other thing I was thinking of was that I could not exactly remember which door we'd come in. As I was thinking about that, along came Lynne and Lourence who directed me to the correct door. See what I mean?

We are now back at the hotel. As it was as we left for this country, many of us had no idea what to expect. As we leave to go home, it will be hard to fathom what leaving will mean -- leaving a place we have grown to love, where we have been warmly welcomed, and which is so gosh darned far away from home.

I am going to finish this up and go to bed, as today was very tiring for all, I think. Part of that is the rigorous schedule we've kept for these 10 days. The other part is the emotional fatigue of processing what we've done and whether we could ever, really, do enough.

If you don't hear from me for a day or so, that just means that I'm flying and moving from plane to plane and not getting Internet. Tomorrow, we leave the hotel at 8:15 a.m., go to a flea market for an hour or so, and then head to the airport.