A very sad day.

We have a very good friend here named Egbert.  He has been kinder to us than anyone, showing us where to buy things we needed, checking in on us, making sure we are OK when he hasn't heard from us.  Six weeks ago, he welcomed twins into his family.  He was a proud first time papa and we couldn't have been happier for him and his wonderful wife.

 

Yesterday, we all went over to his house to see the babies.  This was my first time meeting them because I had been sick the last time Trevor went.  They were beautiful.  It is always amazing to hold little babies.  It reminds you of what your own children used to be like.  We took countless pictures with the little ones and Egbert reminded us that, 'They are our babies.  Ours and yours.'  The little boy had been to the doctor because of a fever.  I held him close and tried to keep him sleeping and rested knowing that he wasn't well.

This morning we got a terrible call.  Egbert told us that little William had passed away.  Such terrible, terrible news.  We rushed over to his house without knowing what to say or do but just to be there and hug his devastated mother and father.  It is so difficult to know that we'll never have a reason or an explanation.  That sweet baby is simply gone. 

We will do our best to support our friend and his family in the difficult weeks to come.  No one knows how to navigate a situation like this.  I am just so grateful that I got to hold sweet baby William before he left us. 

Phew! We did it.

Yesterday was the last day of the first term.  It was a very busy few weeks getting ready to close school.  Students had exams in all of their subjects.  That meant a lot of editing, copying and grading.  The students were also responsible for doing a lot of cleaning and yard work in preparation for leaving. 

On the last few days we had an Academic Meeting where we discussed the performance of students and started to think through a plan for addressing strengths and weaknesses in the second term.

Then the afternoon of the final day of school, there is an awards ceremony.  The students who were ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each class are called up to the front to shake hands with the teachers.  Then those students get to drink a soda in celebration of their accomplishments.

Today, most of the students will leave for home.  We won't see them again until mid-July.  It has been a whirlwind first term and we are all excited for some rest. 

Race Day!

Today was our official 5k race.  When the girls started running in January, they couldn't even run 1 mile.  They have come so far.  They were so excited. 

We had to delay the start a bit because of heavy rain.  But eventually the weather cleared and we gathered everyone at the start to send them off. 

It took about 24 minutes for the first racer to cross the finish line. Goodhope's mother is one of the madams at the school who supervises the children on the weekends and in the dorms.  After crossing the line, Goodhope collapsed into her mother's arms and let out a few tears of exhaustion.  It was really sweet.

The rest of the girls trickled in over the next 10 minutes or so.  Trevor ran with the girls so I could take pictures at the finish line.  He ended up cheering on the last two finishers who held hands throughout the final stretch to encourage each other.  Such great teamwork!  They crossed the line to the chants of all the students at the school.

We had cookies and a t-shirt for the top three finishers.  But we also had all the runners over to our house afterwards for a soda and a hot dog.  And to celebrate the end of the term, we have the DJ coming back tonight to play music.  All in all, a great way to end the semester.  The students wrap up classes next week and we won't see them again until mid-July.

 

 

A Long Walk for Tea

Yesterday, May 1, was a holiday so there was no school. My running group decided to use the morning to do some walking since we have been running really hard the last few weeks.  I suggested that they take their mandazi (aka sweet buns) with them so they would have something to eat along the way.  That became quite controversial.....because apparently, you can't have mandazi without tea.  Eventually, they settled on taking both the tea and mandazi with them. 

I wanted to find a cliff that Trevor had been to before.  I thought I know basically how to get there.  But it turned out to be much harder than I had thought and I was lucky that one of the students lived around there and knew where we were going.

The girls kept picking fruit from yards along the way despite how many times I told them that when you are wearing shirts that say the name of your school, it isn't a good idea to pick fruit from someone else's yard....but none of the home owners seemed to mind. 
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When we got there, it was worth the effort because it was a peaceful setting and a beautiful view.  Today it is back to running, but it was nice to have a little break.