Wandering Jaimee: Almost Goodbye

Somehow my time here is coming to a close, I leave for Delhi tomorrow morning and I don’t know how it has flown by so quickly. I knew it would but somehow this ending still comes as a surprise. There is so much I’m going to miss. The children, the silly banter between my team members, the new friends I’ve made, all that makes India what it is. Living in close community like this with both my team members and the locals is going to make it hard to go back to the individualistic way of life at home. I know from past experience that I always find the isolation hard to deal with. I hope I have the strength within me to deal with all that will come with being back home.

Last night Alyssa & I went and hung out with the girls for a bit. We played some silly games with the younger ones, and then after they went in the teenage girls came out to hang out with us. It was so great and nice to be able to spend time with them. They reminded me of the girls of that age I have hung out with at home. The constant chatter and questions that flew my way as they braided my hair, “Didi, do you miss your parents?” “Didi, your fair skin is so beautiful” “Didi, let me teach you how to say you are so beautiful in Hindi” “Didi, do you know Justin Bieber?” “Didi, my voice sounds funny because I was hooting for my team at the football game” “Didi, do you want to marry someone from India, Canada or Korea (they all voted for someone from Korea which might be hard since I don’t actually know anyone from Korea)” “Didi, come look at our favourite Korean movie stars, don’t they look nice?” and finally “Didi we like you, when are you going to come back?” How can I answer that question? The same way I always do. I don’t know when I’ll come back. And that thought makes me sad. I can feel it, have felt it as my time here has steadily moved forward, the ways these kids, these people have firmly grabbed hold of my heart and drawn me in. The way they will keep part of it and I’ll notice that it’s gone when I get home. I wish I could stay longer.

I have learned more of their names than I thought I would. It was a challenge for me at first. And I still don’t know them all, but I have learned a lot. And the reason this is so important for me is because I know that each of us wants to be known, and these kids are no different. Maybe knowing who they are and what their names are will make it harder for me to leave, but it lets them know that I care. I care a lot. Tonight we get to attend the monthly birthday celebration. They have one birthday celebration a month for all the kids with birthdays in that respective month. I’m excited to go since they do the same thing at Eagles Wings Children’s Village in Uganda, but it never happened to be when I was there. I have noticed at several times over this trip, just how different this culture is from East Africa, but how I love them both just as much. I’ve heard some people who have been to both places say they find them similar, but I’m not sure I agree. Sure, there are some things that might be similar, but in a lot of ways they couldn’t be more different. So if someone were to ask me which place I liked better, I don’t think I could provide them with an answer because I love them both very much.

There have been challenging times on this trip. Maybe more challenging that I had expected, but I’m not going to spend time elaborating on those challenges because they are all just part of the background.

And so I will leave you with a whole lot of pictures. I couldn’t choose between these, my favourites.