Day 13 - Thursday July 16

On Thursday the 16th of July, Robyn and I got up around 7:45 AM, we ate some breakfast (cereals) and got ready for work. When the taxi arrived around 8:30 AM and Allison was not in there (as she would usually be every morning), I felt sad as I know realised that she was gone for real. We drove to the placement where the Medicine volunteer group arrived as well. They would check up on the local people that day by measuring their blood pressure, and performing glucose tests on them. While they settled themselves in one of the classrooms of the Old England Primary School and more and more local people gathered at the school, we started off with bending steel, preparing the last mold, and installing it. As soon as it was in the right place, we had to mix cement again. We filled the buckets and carried them up the bathroom. We then had a little break in which Shelly gave us some of her Jackfruit that she had grown in her own garden. Shelly showed me some pictures of her Jackfruit tree and told me that its fruit is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world. The fruits can weigh up to 35 kg and can grow as tall as 90 cm (35 in) and 50 cm (20 in) in diameter. The jackfruit we tasted can be found in these huge fruits and it is very sweet. After the little break we mixed some more cement until all the molds were completely filled. We had some spare cement, which we used to improve the road leading up to the school. We decided to take a look at what the Medicine group was doing, but by that time they had helped everyone already. For that reason, some of the Building volunteers wanted to get their glucose level or blood pressure to be checked. I got my blood pressure checked, which was just fine. It was then time for lunch. Shelly had made us some Curry Chicken, rice and peas, and as usual, it was delicious! After we finished our lunches, two of us stayed at the bathroom to help out with the start of the roof, while the others went down to do some more digging. The bigger hole was finished by now, so we all worked on the smaller hole and tried to make it a bit more rectangular and deeper. This meant that we all had to work on the same hole, which was not always very handy, as we often got into each other's way. However, it also enabled us to work together closely and lead to some pretty funny conversations. It was also Charlie and Harry their last day of work, so we let them work extra hard! Around 2:30 PM we got changed and we took some pictures in front of the school now that Harry and Charlie were still here, before we drove back to the Projects Abroad office where we would have a Reggae Dancing Class. We were first taught some real Jamaican Dancehall dancing steps, which we turned into a routine and had to show in a dance-off later. Since the audience was not sure who had won the dance-off, we had to do a face-off as well. Unfortunately, my team did not win, but we sure had some fun! We then got back into the taxi and drove home. We would be going to the farewell party in a bit so I quickly took a shower and put on a dress. Around 7:45 we walked to the party with the warm fish and Mac & cheese in our hands. When we arrived at the party, everyone was dressed really nice; the table was full of food, and the reggae music could be heard all over the place. All the volunteers and their host families ate together and danced and sang to the music. It was a delightful evening with lots of laughter, good conversations and lovely people! At around 10 o' clock, the party got stopped (since there were also small children at the party who had to go to bed). We thanked all the host families for preparing the food and for hosting us so well and as a last farewell we all sang "One Love" by Bob Marley together. It was a magical moment. We then walked back home where Robyn and I relaxed a bit in our room before we went to sleep.

#Placement #Medicinegroup #Bendingsteel #Mixingcement #Jackfruit #Roof #Digging #HarryCharlieslastday #Dancingclass #Farewellparty