Santa Claus is coming to town

Yesterday was my last trip to the village, and it was full of mixed emotions.

We loaded up the car with all of our gear and all of our people (me, Minkailou, Oumar, Ramata, the school director, and the two electricians) and hit the road at around 7am. It was fun getting to drive that road one last time, since it was the road that originally led me to the village. We made good time getting there—only about two hours.

First thing, we went to the school and dropped off all of the supplies and the electricians so they could start working. Then we drove over to my house and dropped off all of the clothes and toys and other goods there. After that all got settled and I greeted some people, we walked back over to the school to supervise the installation.

The electricians worked swiftly and surely, filling up the battery with 12 bottles of acid (which children then washed out in a bucket of water… I sincerely hope no one will drink from those later), setting up the panels to charge, tacking up wires, etc. I walked around and filmed a bit as they worked and generally just observed.

Around noon, I wanted to go back over to the village itself and start looking through my stuff, but the school director told me to wait and eat, which I did, despite not feeling particularly well. Afterwards, Oumar and I went over and talked to Ramata, explaining to her how we wanted the chief to help us distribute the goods. I wanted to start going through things, but Oumar said that the installation was almost done and that we should go back to see the end of it. We trudged back over and waited maybe another two hours for the panels to be hoisted onto the roof and secured in place. It was certainly a rewarding moment when we hit the light switches and the lights came on: one fluorescent light in the director’s office, two in a big classroom, and one on the outside veranda. Now the students and teachers of Tongo-Tongo have a place to study at night, and the village as a whole has a place to hold meetings or training sessions at night without being in near darkness. Thank you so much to everyone who helped make that a reality.

When that was done, it was nearly 3 o’ clock, so I really needed to get back to the village and distribute the clothing people had sent for me to give away and some other gifts. It was slightly chaotic, as any distribution of goods can be, but the worst part was that I was being rushed the whole time. See, something apparently went terribly wrong in the car engine once we got there and it wouldn’t be able to get us back. The rental agency had sent another car to pick us up, and right when I had started distributing stuff, it got there and wanted to turn around quickly. Ultimately, I couldn’t spend the time I wanted to spend saying my goodbyes and giving things how I wanted to, but the most important goal was achieved, and that was to get those goods into the hands of the villagers.

I was pretty emotional driving back, just from the stress of the final hour and the knowledge that it was my last time. Unfortunately, the 4x4 they sent had to tow the other 4x4 all the way back over rough terrain, so we probably never got over 30 kilometers an hour. We did the final cliff roads right after sundown, which made me nervous, but when we finally got to the freeway, we ditched the stalled car and gunned it back into town. Altogether, it took 5 hours.

I slept ten hours last night and feel much better today. It’s hard to believe that that was the last trip. I’m in my final week now, so it’ll be a week of last times—last market day, last Monday, etc. But that’s all right, I’m so ready for it.

I think Ashley is going to take my kittens, or at least try to (hoping they don’t run away). They’re so affectionate these days. Sami is a first class kneader (cat owners will know what I’m talking about) and Pili still suckles everything, which is kind of gross but endearing. Then when they aren’t cuddling, they’re playing Ninja Cats. They love to play Ninja Cats, especially in the morning. That’s probably how Pili got herself into a bind; I heard her meowing but couldn’t see her, then I saw her little white paw sticking out from underneath an overturned clay water jar. She probably Ninja Jumped into it and rolled it over onto herself. Silly kitty.