Day 8

What a day it has been. We started the day off with our last morning devotion as a group. We discussed how we should plant seeds and whether or not we saw something immediately, we were still apart of something huge. We left the hotel and went to visit one primary and one secondary school to see the progress they had made. Soon after, we headed to Ereri to have our goodbye ceremony. When we got there, the children were all in class and the land was set up the same way as the welcome ceremony. The elders were still digging the trench. The kids sat in the center and we surrounded the outside of the circle. The ceremony consisted of the traditional dances, the same way the welcome ceremony began. Once the dancing ended, Crispo introduced the leaders of the school, the Pastor’s and our leader, Jason. We all introduced ourselves and then the head lady over all the schools stood to speak. She brought me straight to tears. She thanked us and explained to us the difference we were making at Ereri. She also told us how we weren’t helping Ereri by the amount of things we possessed or the money we had, but we were making a difference by our willingness to serve and to come across the country to make a change and spread the name of Jesus. It was overwhelming. She then released one of the teachers who started Ereri and introduced the new teacher that was going to take his place. Jason, Jermile and Trish spoke to tell them how much they impacted our lives and th chance it made in our hearts. We then sang Asante Sana Yesu for the people of Ereri. I could not contain myself, the tears came rolling. After Jason prayed, the ceremony ended and the people opened up the market for us. Eunice and Teresia both gave me necklaces as a present. I tried my hardest to shop as fast as I could so that I could see my kids. I found Esther as fast as I could and she immediately started crying because she did not want to leave me. Talk about heart breaking. She introduced me to her mother and it was such a pleasure getting to meet her. Then it was time to say goodbye. I definitely left my heart with those people and Esther is always going to have a special place in my heart. I did not start crying until we passed classes 1 and 2 and all the kids came running to the window yelling “Rafiki” which means friend. It was such a tough day to say goodbye to all of the people of Ereri. We then went to Sweet Water tented camps for the night, which was definitely a nice treat and a good way to bring us back to reality of how we really live.