Last Day in Meki

Monday, July 18, 2011
(Hamle 11, 2003, ec)

Today was our last full day in Meki. It was also the first official day of summer school, so the regular teachers were in attendance and we were weaned out of the classrooms. Although it was a sad day, it was also filled with anticipation for our trip to Dire Dawa. The Holy Family kids had grown fond of the Meki children, so it was a day of good-byes.

Bri writes:

Today was our last day in Meki and I am so tormented by that idea of leaving. The kids and teachers at Meki Catholic School were so wonderful and welcoming that I feel completely at home here.
Although it was our last day here, it was the kids first official day of summer school. We originally taught free English classes and the school opened their doors to children of the community to learn, but today was a little different than our normal schedule. Instead of returning to our assigned classroom that we were present in for the past week, we had to work around chemistry, physics, and math teachers and their assigned classrooms. Needless to say we did not do much teaching…in fact, Hayley and I sat through a whole chemistry class, in Amharic. It was somewhat interesting but we pasted the time playing quality games of Hangman and Pictionary. Granted, the schedule was a little messed up, but none of us seemed to mind. Instead of teaching Meki students synonyms and antonyms, we had the chance to bond with the students and chat with them during the time when we would usually be drilling English into their brains. I guess that’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.
After “teaching” we went back to the hostel and had lunch. SIDENOTE: all the women that take care of us by cooking our food and cleaning the hostel are such amazing women…and top chefs. I swear I am gaining weight on this trip. God bless each and every one of them.
After lunch we usually have some down time to relax and recharge our battery until playtime starts at 3. Most of us usually play Banana Grams or Mafia, we have probably played more games on this trip than I have in my whole 18 years. But playtime was definitely bittersweet; bitter because it was our last moments with the kids and none of us wanted to leave, and sweet because we knew we would be moving forward and meeting more wonderful kids. My playtime consisted of sports. Dream Team is our name and basketball is our game. Unfortunately, playtime was cut short because the Brothers wanted to treat us to a dinner on the town for our “last supper”. The goodbyes were probably the hardest part. We all went around passing out our contact cards to the kids and writing down email and contact information. The sight of all the love in those final moments with the kids was truly amazing. Some kids came bearing gifts they have made or bought for us; however, I found myself with a new boyfriend in those final moments considering I received a peck from Daute aka Dave…a student…I think?
When we all finally finished our goodbyes we headed back to the hostel and got ready for dinner. The women lead us through Meki to this beautiful little hotel amidst a quaint little garden and we proceeded to have some drinks (just sodas, don’t worry). Then once the food was ready we were lead into the dining room where they fed us the MOST AMAZING FOOD EVER!!!! We have injera with goat meat and vegetables. It was some of the best food I have ever had, sorry mom. When we finished dinner we went back to the hostel and had to finish packing and get ready for our big travel day tomorrow.