Saying goodbye...

The time has come to say goodbye. I knew it was coming, but how can I ever be prepared to say goodbye to 55 children, 20 housemoms, colleagues, fellow-volunteers and all the other people I got to know here?

The last week has been full of fun (and the sun is back!), we went to a musical of the Jungle Book, had a goodbye BBQ, with lots of singing and dancing and I went for dinner at one of the houses! There was also still work to do, mainly consisting of follow up phone calls to the people that visited the Open Day. I need to make sure that we not only create awareness, but also get some funding out of them!

On Wednesday (tomorrow) the inevitable will happen, giving 75 hugs and saying 75 times ‘bye, hope to see you again soon’… I keep saying to myself that it is a good thing that it is so hard to say goodbye, it means I had a great time! It truly was an experience of a lifetime, which I would recommend to everybody. You do not only have the possibility to make a difference in other people’s lives, they will make a difference in yours too.

What I have learned here in the last 2 months will stay with me the rest of my life. And it is so diverse, from learning more about diseases like AIDS and TB, to experiencing a culture shock and adapting to a totally different lifestyle. I never experienced such a difference in emotions and feelings, the one day everything was great and I felt on top of the world, the other day I was down wondering if abuse would ever stop. Ethical questions were daily business, for example: Should a child of 8 that abused somebody else been put into jail? Does it make a difference if that child is being abused itself? Do you act the same towards children that hit other children because they don’t know any better? Do they receive the same punishment as children from a ‘non-hitting-childhood’?

To everybody who might still be doubting about whether or not to go abroad as a volunteer, I have just one advice: GO! It is the best way to experience another culture, because you are interacting with the locals. There is no better feeling than realizing you can help others! There is no better reward than a smile on a child’s face! And it is truly fulfilling to make a positive change (how small it may be) in somebody’s life. And changes have been made, it is great to see how much more helpfull, smiling, open, happy, sporty, social and outgoing the children and house moms have become. Just because they get some extra attention and are taken seriously. The other day a 14 year old girl walks up to me and says: ‘MJ, I will cry when you leave’. Just like that, without any warning, they are open and honest and tell you how they feel. At that moment I was sure that I must have done something right.

Without sounding like a Wimbledon tennis champion, I do want to use this opportunity to thank some people. I can not compare Mother of Peace with any other projects, but I feel very lucky with the MOP director, volunteer coordinator and administrative manager. They have been supportive, gave good advice, were helpful, let me do my thing, were funny and made the best coffee! A big thanks to Gavin, Linda (and their children), Byron and Heather. I am happy I chose to go to MOP. The diversity of the project attracted me most, I could play with the young kids, make homework with the older ones and have meetings with the house moms. MOP children, caregivers and house moms also a big thanks to you for being so open and giving me a chance! Thanks to the security guards and dogs for keeping the area safe and thanks to my fellow-volunteers for the relaxed evenings to reload the battery. Also a word of gratitude to Be More for matching me with South-Africa and Mother of Peace. Last but not least, thank you, reading this weblog, for following my every step and keeping me in touch with Norway and Holland! Mmm, I think it did sound a bit like I just won an Olympic medal...

So now it is time for 4 months of backpacking, I can only hope it will be as great an experience as the last 2 months have been! And who knows, I might be back again next year!

I will keep you posted & let the pictures speak for themselves!

Love and hugs,
MJ

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