Day 80 - September 11th
Ah, Friday. That beautiful day of the week. Once known in ancient times as Free-Day (OK, that crap, but it could've been).
Our lessons were all at one NGO and with the heat following the heavy downpour, it was a long day. We soldiered on in spite of th hot conditions and had the kids laughing and screaming with delight as they played the new games.
In the afternoon, I nearly broke down. One kid at break time who has disabilities with sight and coordination was struggling to get involved and I watched for a time as he stood with his back to the classroom hut, watching the other kids play. He laughed but was never welcomed into a group to play, often with the kids turning their back to him. These kids are really good but it had me feeling so bad for him that I was close to tears.
Luckily, he joined us in a later session and I was pleased to be able to get him involved even though he found it tough to coordinate himself. He seemed so happy and I managed to get the other kids to clap him and support him, which felt like a great achievement. A small step perhaps to him being accepted a little more by the other kids.
It was a change in perspective for me, seeing a kid who was really struggling and actually having some power to change it. What a feeling!
Afterwards, I played volleyball with him until we had to leave. He high fived me and ran away laughing. I hope this is a turning point, helping him build further confidence and for the other kids to include him.
I arrived back at Bou Savy to find Abigail ready to go out for her last night with her school project team and teachers and Dan heavily hung over from a last day of drinking. He needed a few more hours recovery time.
I went for a Mexican on my own whilst Abigail met the others.
When Dan arrived, I went for noodles with him before we headed to Peace and Love bar to meet Abigail. She was already weepy then, having to say goodbye to her colleagues and Dan and I did our best to help her feel better - teasing seemed to work.
The sweetest part was when she told me I'd won after admitting defeat in our drinking competition - she said she was going to drink me under the table. She nearly went under it after too many cocktails, which was amusing.
We shared a few stories which is always good fun and our night ended on a good night, with me and Abigail sitting up until 3am talking the world away. She's not too bad after all!
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