People are going home!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while it didn't seem like a lot was going on. But I came up with a couple of things so I will add some blogs this week (but just one at a time so that I don't share all the entertainment at once).

This week we lost a total of 8 people and there was only 19, including myself, to start with so the house is starting to feel empty. Six people left because they were only here for three weeks. Two of them are headed to Egypt for a week, two are spending some time in Arusha a larger town just east of us, one is in Zanzibar, and one went straight home. The girl that went to Zanzibar, Aura, was one of my roommates and I am going to miss her greatly. She was a wonderful person to share a room with and hang out with ever night. We could sit and talk for hours each night which we pretty much did. But she is back in Machame (a village nearby) tomorrow night before she flies out so I am going to go have dinner and spend the night with her. Then on Monday we lost two more people. One girl, Tracy, who was the my other roommate just finished her 12 weeks here. She is still in the area hanging out with her boyfriend who came to see her. They are spending four days in Moshi and then are climbing Kili (I wish I could join them). The other person that we lost was DJ and he left unexpectedly Monday night. Sunday he called his family to say hi and they begged him to come home saying they really missed him and wanted him there. So monday he didn't go to his school and instead changed his flight to leave on the flight that night. There is only one flight a day that leaves Kilimanjaro so he was on the 9:40 flight to Amsterdam and then home from there. He really didn't want to leave but he felt that he needed to. We all secretly hope that he returns. Of the six people that went on safari last weekend there are only three of us left. This weekend six more volunteers are leaving, fortunately there is a new group of four volunteers that are arriving on Saturday. We will have a total of nine volunteers here for the end of my time which is not that many at all. Our house can accommodate 32 people so nine is going to make it seem really empty. Have all these people leave really makes you think about what you are doing here and what your role is. At first we all had each other but now you really have to reach out more to the community to feel at home. This is not an easy trip but I really do hope that I am learning and growing in some way. I am not sure how much of an effect I am having in the school but I really am trying. Most of the time the children just look at me like I am crazy and have no idea what I am saying. But I challenge any of you to a game of Charades when I get home because I think I will be able to act out anything after this language barrier.