Despedidas

For some reason, whenever I think about going home, I imagine myself in my green bathroom at home.  I’m not sure why exactly.  Maybe it’s the room that is the most different than anything else I am used to living with?  Green tiling, running hot water, huge mirror, indoor toilet with a seat!  And I try to imagine what it’ll feel like being there again, that being my norm again, and it’s hard to imagine.  I can’t believe how normal the things around me have become here! 

But the goodbyes continue.

This past week I had my despedidas (farewell parties) with my English and REDES groups.  As is culturally normal for any Mozambican celebration, the honoree must arrange and pay for her own party.  On Monday, for my last English meeting, I bought some bottles of coca-cola (the coca-cola here is made with real sugar and nothing can beat it on a hot day!), packets of cookies, popped a bunch of popcorn and set up a movie viewing area in the patio of the library.  We first started watching Finding Nemo in English, to which my students quickly asked me if I understood what they were saying.  Clearly they weren’t understanding the English version, so we switched over to Procura de Nemo, the Portuguese version.  After the movie, I thanked them all for their hard work throughout the year and told them I would always remember our time together and wished them all the best in their futures.  I had burned a CD for each of them with the video of their English Theater performance from our competition, the songs we had learned the words to during our lessons (The Wanted - Glad You Came, which became our groups theme song; Katy Perry - Hot ‘N Cold; Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World; Kelly Clarkson - Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)) and also printed our group photo for each of them.  The students then surprised me with some gifts of their own.  Two students gave me a wooden bracelet, one a brand new pen, and another an English book entitled Peace is Every Step.  The sentiments were so sweet and I was truly touched.  I’ll definitely miss those boys!

Yes, Judite is using Vanda's foot to hold her string.

Then on Thursday, I had my REDES despedida.  The plan was also to watch a movie in Portuguese with them, but the power had been out since the morning before, so that made that plan a little more difficult.  Instead, Adrienne offered a huge bag of colored string to use and we spent a few hours making friendship bracelets.  Again, I provided the expected cookies and juice refreshments, and the girls certainly loved making the bracelets!  

Thanks to the generosity of Carla Buchanan and her company Business Brandings, I ended the despedida by presenting each of the girls with a REDES Murrupula pink polo t-shirt, complete with rhinestones on the collar.  They loved them!  

Thank you to my Mom and Carla for designing and making these shirts for them!

Honestly, I’m not sure what will become of these groups next year, if they will continue on or perhaps die out.  Lidia, my REDES counterpart, is amazing and very passionate about the group, but really it depends on the girls and if they are interested in continuing.  They definitely all agreed that they want to do more dances next year for the community.  Honestly, the group was not what I had dreamed it would be, but it still has the potential to get there, especially with Lidia as its leader.  I definitely had great memories with those girls and watched them grow a little bit throughout the year.  And it’s opened doors to AJUDEMU and REDES, becoming more recognized by the community and even the local government which is a great opportunity as well!

So, as time gets closer and the weeks continue to wind down, I keep finding myself imagining being in that green bathroom at home again.  Trying to recognize my reflection in that mirror and reflecting back on who I have become during this incredible experience and where it will take me in the future.