Final Weekend & Week

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For our final weekend before heading home, Sophie and I headed to Durban for the Friday night. We went out for dinner at the local pub with the majority of the crew and then relaxed outside back at the guesthouse. That was interesting as we lost power at about 9:30pm.. At about 11pm, I got convinced to go out with Vanessa, Linden and Simba. We met Inger out at the local bar, Amsterdam. It was a fun night of drinking a bit too much beer and having some good laughs. We were kicked out as the bar closed.... lots of fun.

Saturday morning I didn't have a hangover, but could definitely feel that I had been drinking. Took our time in the morning and then Sophie and I headed down the coast south of Durban to Umzumbe and a cool backpackers that has rooms in treehouses. The bar, pool and jacuzi were also surrounded by trees. Very pretty. And the beach was only about a 5-10 minute walk away. Vanessa and Linden met us later in the day. Part of the road towards the hostel had fallen away back in 2009.... the locals had erected a sign board complaining about how it hadn't been fixed. Such a great sign - see the photo. So Saturday was spent lying on the beach. The evening just relaxing and chatting. Sunday was another relaxing day reading, swimming, lunch at a very local pub overlooking the water, before heading back to Woza Moya and the BRC for our last few days fo work.

Our last week was really busy, interesting, fun and sad. Monday we went to a local meeting for community care workers, where they discussed any difficult or interesting cases that have come up for the care workers. Tuesday we went to some support group meetings deep into the valley. One was for Gogo's (grannies) who look after orphaned children and the other for Orphaned and Vulnerable children. They were very interesting, particularly for the children. It was a bit sad to see so many children that are orphaned or vulnerable at one primary school.... lots of kids. They had some warm up fun and then Thembi talked about drugs with them as drugs have entered the valley and they need to be provided with knowledge to allow them to make good choices. Scarily though, they knew a lot about them.

Our final morning I spent at the play school. I was feeling very melancholy about the last day. It was a strange one. After lunch Inger from Oxfam & Lisa from Monash came to talk to us about the placement and to talk to the staff about having us with them. The lovely Woza Moya staff bought us a cake as a good bye. There were lots of hugs and photos as well as a final dance with the ladies to the funky zulu music. After the final pray and song Jane delivered a beautiful speech to us. It was so beautiful, my eyes got a bit watery.

Then it was the final drive back to Durban..

Met Sue the Director of Woza Moya for good bye drinks. She hadn't been in the office all week, so definitely wanted to say good bye. We had drinks at the bar over the water. Such a beautiful location. Then it was back to the guesthouse to relax for the evening.

Thursday was a final debrief session. Yawn... actually it was ok. We saw the video that Bonnie had created about all of us. So funny. It was sad to think that this was our last day together. That night we went out together for a final dinner on Monash. Very yummy. Then a stop at one bar followed by a visit to a reggae bar - Cool Runnings. It was an interesting place, fun but I find reggae gets a bit monotonous after awhile. It wasn't the big group drinking session that I had invisaged.. but fun anyway.

Friday morning was spent packing, checking internet, goodbyes and waiting..... then drove to the airport, dropped the car off looking incredibly dirty and muddy. Ate lunch. Then caught our plane back to Jo'Burg. We were met at the airport by the Monash bus...nice. I was staying at Steph's house in a place called Cosmo City. Her boyfriend Josh picked us up. We spent the evening relaxing and chatting at her place. After they went to bed I watched a dvd with their housemate Bron. Very relaxing. Saturday morning was a sleep in, followed by chats with Steph and Josh. Then with Bron. She drove me to the airport which was very lovely. It was a very relaxing nice way of spending my last evening and day in South Africa. With some very lovely people who were helpful beyond what I expected. Thanks guys.

Incidently, Jo'burg airport has pizza vending machines (see the photo for proof). They state that you can get a delicious pizza in 2 minutes, that no hands apart from yours has touched.... I didn't try one. Should have. But an interesting concept.

Finally, my flight was uneventful. Daniel met me at the airport... so good to see him again! And that was the trip... Stay tuned until next time.

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