Good-bye Lamu

Finally we have internet connection again as Rosanne (one of my team members) has mobile internet which did not work on the island of Lamu. Unfortunately, our time in Lamu is over. This little island of the coast of Kenya really touched my heart. Only one day on the island and the community there recognised us as Camara teachers and just welcomed us with so much friendliness and warmth that we all felt like we are part of the community. Everybody was just so friendly that you did not feel like you were a foreigner. The community displayed such a big support for the work Camara does for the community and were very grateful for our presence and our teaching.

The education we bring to Lamu has such a high value to them that they organised a big graduation ceremony on Friday evening after the courses have finished. The graduation was held in the main square in the courtyard of an old fort. The graduation was started with speaches from quite a few political officials of the island stating how much the community appreciates our work and how much they have to continue supporting Camara in achieving their goal.

Interesting was that the majority of the students were woman. After the speaches which also included two of our team to speak some of the certificates were given out. After the official part was finished everybody got an ice cream for refreshment and then all the students came to us to thank us with hugs and loads of picture taking.

I found the ceremony very moving and was really sad to leave this beautiful people behind. I cannot believe we only have 5 days left in Africa as I just enjoy the teaching so much. This truly is a life changing experience and all our western worries seem so ridiculous. I also found here that the picture we get pained of Africa implies a wrong impression of the life here. Despite all its issues this continent or countries we should not forget that the people are sooooooo beautiful and friendly. Their motivation, engagement and hunger for knowledge has absolutely over-whelmed me.

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Wencke