Breaking up with 20 people in the same evening

After a month in Kenya, I'm transferring to Thailand. A bit of a surprise but exciting none the less. I prepared by talking to my colleagues in Thailand, finding out about the center there, trying to get as much work done as possible to cover my travel days and of course the inevitable packing.

What I didn't prepare for was leaving the children.

I was only in Kenya for one month so I assumed that the children (even the 20 girls in my dorm) wouldn't be too surprised or sad at me leaving. Volunteers come and go all the time at IHF so I thought they would be used to people coming in and out at the center. I was wrong. Some of them were really angry with me, and the rest of them were really upset.

Chelatan spent the whole evening with tears in her eyes, Chembalau wouldn't really talk to me. I didn't appreciate how important love and affection is to these kids - and how much they rely on the stability on someone's continued presence in their lives. I think I allowed myself to forget that they don't have anyone else.
Thankfully, Madie arrived in the dorm to hang out the last evening I was in Kenya so the general depressed mood was lifted by general mucking around - including games that my family will recognise as being reminiscent of Sisters-de-McKeon action. Hearing the sound of giggles was a big relief.


- flying Chemongot...