Cold season has hit and the nights are freezing! I’ve been curling up in my thermal sleeping bag that I brought thinking I would never need! When they said it would eventually get cold at night in Africa, I truly found it hard to believe. I still think it’s crazy that I can say “cold” and “Africa” in the same sentence. During the day it’s perfect, but in the mornings it is still cool and at night the temperature drops tremendously. It is so weird to be in Africa and have freezing toes when we are walking around town in the mornings to visit our friends!
As of today, we have exactly 4 weeks until we are home! This means we have 2 weeks left of our literacy classes and 3 weeks to say everything we want to say to all our friends before we leave Ayorou. Our last week will be spent In Niamey for debriefing with 7 other students. It seems so strange to be thinking about saying “goodbye”; it seems like we just “hello” or “fofo”! Our classes are still going well; the students have come a very long way! In our kids’ class we have traded most of our older students for 3-5 year olds! Since most of the older students have started school or are farming, younger kids have been coming. They have learned the letters so fast! Quite a few of them know almost the whole alphabet now, and the rest have their favorite letters that they know very well. There is one little girl who won’t really talk, but she will point to the letters that she knows. When we ask where a certain letter is, she can point to the ones that she knows. It is amazing to see how fast kids learn!
It is hard to think of leaving when we could teach them so much more. Our hope is that our students continue to read so they can sharpen their skill. A friend of ours (who already knows how to read) wants to teach women how to read. We will be leaving our teaching supplies with him, and we are excited that there will be someone to continue the lessons. Our male students should be able to learn more from him too and ask him for help if they have problems reading. A fear that I have had is that the students will stop reading after we leave, but as long as there is someone to continue with them and as long they continue to read and have the passion to learn, they will be fine and soon will have no problem reading.
One of the little boys who has been scared of us most of the time that we have been here has finally warmed up to us! He is around 15 months old and will now play with us and talk to us. He use to scream at the top of his lungs whenever he would see us! Now we are his best friends! We sing songs with him about Dad that he loves to clap to. We thought he may never warm up to us, but nothing is impossible! ;)
As our time gets shorter, it gets harder to think of saying “goodbye”. There are kids as well as adults that we have become very close to. The adults understand that we are only here for a short time, but I think the kids expect us to be around forever. Every time they run up to me and jump into my arms I wonder how I can ever leave. But I know I am only supposed to be here for this time. I know who I can trust to take care of them, and that is what helps leaving become a little easier.
While it is very hard to leave here, I am also ready to come home and see everybody! I have missed yall so much and have wanted to share so many things that have happened! I know the people here are in your thoughts and when we tell them so, they are very grateful and say, “Iri ga sabu (We are thankful)!” Thank you so much for your continued thoughts and support. Our time here has been so blessed! I can’t wait to share this all with you! Take care! Kala tonton!
