the almost-end

I hated writing that as the title. But it's true. Tomorrow is my last day of work here, and I leave Kigali Tuesday morning.
I finally (as of literally this afternoon) have a plan for the week between Kigali and going home though! I am flying to Nairobi early Tuesday, spending two days there and taking the overnight train to Mombasa on Wednesday evening! I'll spend the extended weekend (until Sunday night) in Mombasa, then take the train back to Nairobi and leave Monday just before midnight. I'm pretty excited for the train. It's supposed to take absolutely forever, but it goes through the Serengeti and is an old English colonial mainstay. I can't wait! And Mombasa will be a good substitute for my failed Zanzibar plans, as it is also a Swahili coastal town along the Indian Ocean. I plan to do some day excursions out to Diani Beach and hopefully a Kaya as well (sacred forest).

This week has been absolutely gorgeous. This weekend I went back to Gisenyi and was supposed to cross the border to Goma with Rachel, but she forgot her yellow fever vaccination card and we weren't sure if it was the best idea to potentially bribe our way into the Congo and maybe get stuck there. (Good logic, I think.) I saw the most intense and incredible lightning storm over Lake Kivu, and found the hot springs in the town just beyond the Bralirwa plant.

This week has managed to sum up my experiences here in the most poetic ways. Tuesday, the Centre Sante had a big party for the ARV patients and their children. It was really awesome to see so many people I knew and had worked with all gathered together for a party, and it was obvious that the children really appreciated the experience. Kevine was there and I gave her a Christmas present: a sparkly jump rope, a large bouncy ball and a ton of bubbles and bubble-blowing devices, all in my NY Strand bag that she always stole when she visited me at the clinic. Her mother was really sweet, and Best helped me talk with her a little bit. I want to stay in touch with them once I leave and help them out any way I can if they need it. They are just a beautiful family and deserve way more than I can give them. Later in the day, Mama Kevine tried to send Kevine home with me to America, which broke my heart. She tried again today, too. Oh yea, today was my last day at the Centre and Kevine just happened to be there again! We played for about two hours and she cried when I told her I was leaving for good. I got tears in my eyes as well. She is a really special (if somewhat selfish--she kept yelling "muzungu wangu!" at the other kids who tried to play with me...if you can't figure it out that means "my muzungu!") child.
Anyway, at the Tuesday party at the Centre, a lot of women from the Association I work with in Kanombe also showed up! It was really awesome seeing my two worlds combine. I mean, I've seen a couple of the Kanombe women at the Centre from time to time picking up their ARVs, but there were a great number of them at this party and it was really wonderful. I sat with one Association woman during the ceremony preceding the party.
Wednesday was my last meeting with the Association as a whole, and as I left, about twenty-five women looked up from their crafts and waved at me. It was so beautiful that I asked them if I could take a photo.
Today, also, I taught my HIV Edu course again. Today we discussed human sexual physiology and reproduction. It turns out that in P5 (around 11 or 12 years old) they learn about reproduction, and even filled in the vocabulary for me, like "embryo." However, in learning about embryos and the life cycle, they do not receive any official instruction on how an embryo gets there or how a woman may become pregnant. So they learn about the trimesters and how a baby develops, but nothing about how this phenomenon occurs.
We also worked on a song in my class today. Last week, I told the group that I wanted to do a cumulative project to show what we learned, and we decided on a song. One of the older girls wrote a really great verse and chorus for a rap over the weekend, and we built off of that. Tomorrow I will record it, and you will all definitely get to see the final results!