Farewell

Later in the day, sufficiently rested, I made my way down to Open Arms to spend some last hours with the kids and ‘mothers’. It was great to see Rosemarie back at the heart of things and you could see how pleased Neville, the kids and the staff of the home were to have her back and looking so strong and well. There were three new additions on the volunteer front: Lesley, an FE teacher from Leeds and two stunning young ladies, the Farrington sisters, from Wetherby. Neville seemed to be in his element, surrounded on all sides by women and so much more relaxed now that Rosemarie was back.
I had some special moments with the kids who, gratifyingly, seemed to remember me and also had time to talk to some of the mothers who’d taken a bit of a shine to me. I couldn’t walk two feet without having another baby thrust into my arms for feeding and, what can I say, I loved it. It’s sad but true that these kids will have very few male influences in their early years and I guess any opportunity will be exploited by the mothers whenever possible.
Unable to tear myself away, I eventually had to run back to Kabula in order to get showered and changed for one final farewell meal. Neville took us all to the ‘other’ Indian restaurant in town where I spent a very pleasant evening with Neville, Rosemarie, Lesley, the Farrington sisters and, last but not least, my old Kabula Lodge housemate, Saskia. I tumbled into bed well before midnight - far too exhausted to contemplate packing – and fell into an exhausted stupor.
For once, I woke up on departure day without a hangover and made short work of packing my, by now, half-full bag. Of course, it was only half-full until I’d taken a trip into town and raided the wood and art markets for one final round of souvenirs and presents. When I eventually turned up to say my goodbyes at Open Arms, I was toting somewhere in the region of 80kgs of luggage!
Both the children of Harrogate House and the mothers of the main home sang me touching farewell songs that left a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. With promises to write and, someday, to return, I was rushed out of the door as Neville tried to get me to the airport on time. We made it with a few minutes to spare and as he roared off back to the daily business of running the home, I turned my back on Africa and the rest of the world and set my sights on going home. Unbelievably, my luggage was all checked in without the batting of an eyelid and I was able to settle into travel mode with my cd player and one last book.
I won’t bore you with the details of the journey…suffice to say, I and my luggage made it home intact, if a little knackered, at 7am on August 11th 2005.