This morning at basecamp did not start out like most. I had a surprising wake up. Pretta, the dog had climbed into my bed and decided to lick my face. Not the best wake up alarm, but it sure worked. I let Pretta out of the room and headed back to bed. The second time I woke up it was to the sound of laughter coming from the breakfast table. I much preferred to wake up to this! We had the usual eggs and toast. The Dala Dala’s picked us up at 8 and off we went to start our last day at work.
The minute we got there it was time to carry buckets of sand. We made it a bit more interesting by trying to carry them on our heads. We weren’t able to balance them so we used our hands to keep them from falling. Surprisingly enough this method made it easier to carry the buckets of sand from point A to point B. We also had the wonderful opportunity to meet Esther Poe today. She has not been living at Camp Moses because she recently had surgery to repair her legs. She was so happy and even taught us a song! The morning went by quickly and before we knew it was time for lunch. Today we mixed it up and had hard boiled eggs J&PB sandwiches for lunch instead of the usual PB&J.
After lunch it was time to mix cement. Everyone was tired, but worked hard to push through the pain and get the job done! We took shifts doing our jobs because we did face painting with the kids. It was great to see them all so happy when we painted their faces. When the face painting was done it was time to mix the last of the cement to pour down the posts. We were finished at 4 and took our last Dala Dala ride from Camp Moses back to Basecamp.
When we got home from work we headed to the Masai Market for the last time. We took the Dala Dala’s at the end of the road. It was a busier day than most but, we managed to find one with room for our whole group. We spent just under an hour at the market and picked up the last few things on our list. We said goodbye to the friends that we had made there and said that we hoped to see them again one day in the future. The Dala Dala’s were even busier on the way home! A few of us managed to hop in one that had 26 people in it! It was jam packed but, TIA. During the ride some of us chatted with locals. One man said it best “It’s not that there is not enough Dala Dala’s it’s that people are in too big of a hurry to get in one”. When we got home it was dinner time and as usual Isaac had an amazing meal prepared for us!
When dinner was finished I went up to the deck. It’s usually packed but, there was only a few of us up there. Then I heard people outside and then a few loud shrieks. Everyone is standing outside of the gate. I race down the stairs, book it outside and head for the gate. As I’m running I ask what’s going on and someone tells me that there is a Black Mamba dead right there. This makes me run even faster. We had really only heard about these snakes and seen them at the Snake Park. When I finally did get a look it was missing its head and still squirming! It’s one of the deadliest snakes in the world. Lots of people were brave enough to touch and some even picked it up but, I chose to watch from a distance.
It was an exciting way to end our final evening in Arusha. Looking back on what we have accomplished as group in such a short amount of time is truly amazing! Whether you dug trenches, laid bricks, mixed cement or carried buckets of sand every little thing helped contribute to the new classroom. Just to know that we have bettered these kids lives and given them a brighter future full of hope is an indescribable feeling.
Melanie MacKay
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