july 6th, 2006

*Sigh* Doing this makes me miss Africa so much. For the first few months after I returned, I felt as if Africa was my homeland and the US was just a vacation. Like I BELONGED in Africa. That feeling has passed. But I will always feel like a little piece of me is there...

July 6th, 2006
"Today has been a long and amazing day. This morning, we went to the community of Mungassa to work on the community centers. The first center that we worked on was almost complete, with exception to a few minor things that needed to be done. I jumped right in with Eric C when he was working on leveling a wall. We used machetes to dig out the dirt beneath the reed grass walls so they would drop further into place. When that was finished, Nikki and I used twine to tie a bundle of grass on top of the walls to create a "sill"... After the first "sill" was tied, Nikki and I went around with wire to secure support-sticks together that held the wall reed grass up!... When the wire ties were secure and finished, Nikki and I began lashing reed bundles onto the walls to create sills. Linda and Jessica were working together on the sills, as well as Julie and Lucas. Erik G & Jenna were tying off twine and reed grass to complete the last wall. Everyone's efforts payed off! We were able to begin a second community center!... When the first was complete, we walked along the paths to the second center to dig holes for support beams. Using a machete to dig a hole is hard work. There was a man that I was working with (I didn't ask his name...) who is from Congo. He lived in England for 3 years and France for 5. He also lived in Germany for a period of time; he speaks Portuguese, French, Arabic, English, and several tribal dialects. He hopes to return to Congo next year and become ambassador.
***[speaking of our first visit at ASEM, the older orphanage] "I really enjoyed teaching the children how to make the paper helicopters! Eric C was translating for me while the girls were helping the little kids with their helicopters. I just sat there while everyone was working. I almost started crying because it was neat to see the kids and the volunteers working together, trying to communicate. Everyone was laughing or smiling. It just touched me that the children had learned something that has been a part of my life for the last several years because of the Science Center. Everyone was screaming and jumping up and down with excitement when they saw the helicopters working. I couldn't even join them in their fun because I wanted to just watch them in their happiness and excitement!"

Unfortunately, I lost the pictures of the kids playing with the helicopters at ASEM. But I still remember the excitement from all the things the volunteers brought to play with during our visits. Helicopters. Paper airplanes. Parachute. Beads. Simple things. Things that probably wouldn't have excited me before. Things that will now carry a special memory any time I see them.