Name: Hazel Leslie
Location: Namibia
Report Title: The End is Nigh
Report Date: 29/07/2009
Broken swords, runaway snakes, monstrous egg box trees and squeaky recorders are just a few of the things that seem to be flying past us as we enter our final few weeks in Otjikondo. By “us” we mean Rose and Hazel, Otjikondo gaps 2008-2009! For our final report we decided to create a joint masterpiece to show two things, the incredible time we have had here and the great friends we’ve found in each other. Both equally memorable. We can’t think of how to put in words just how fast time has passed here, after so many people told us, “Time will fly by, you’ll be back before you know it”. We would nod and smile but never believe it, until now… Since the holidays it has been all hands on deck in an attempt to get Hook to smile, Peter to learn her words and to get the monstrous tree (see the slightly disturbing photo attached) to show its pretty side. For those who haven’t quite caught on yet, this year’s drama is “Peter Pan” and although we’ve had a few stressful moments where we’ve felt a little snowed under, we’ve honestly had an amazing time from start to…well, now, but ask us again after the performance. Second term also means all sponsors receive a letter from their sponsor child, what a wondeful idea! Slightly more wonderful than getting 240 7-13 year olds to write them. We were both in hysterics in the Gap flat at the very, very rough copies which included classics such as, “We went to the farm, we ate Christmas and new year at Outjo, the people were drunk. I hope you also enjoyed your holiday…” and, “I have also got a brother at our school. His name is John so maybe one day if you get a baby boy you can name his John. If it is a girl you can name her Johnna. That’s all I wanted to tell you. Bye.” and, for those who want to know what their child looks like, “When you look on the left of our classroom the boy standing the highest is I.” But, some were very sweet, “My great, great grandmother died, she was 103. The funeral service was very nice and we were very sad. But it’s not a problem, God took her, anyway…” In between all the hectic marking we decided that seeing as we only have a few lessons left with upper primary before they do exams and we leave, we should make it exciting by adding a touch of Scotland to Otjikondo. In true Project Trust style we are tackling Strip The Willow and Gay Gordons, leaving us with aching legs but it’s well worth it! After a hard morning ceilidh dancing we retired to the staffroom for break. The latest trend amongst the staff is a “soup diet” which we openly criticised but finally hopped on the bandwagon for one morning when Jeanetta brought a pot of “some she made earlier”. Safe to say we’re off the diet after both us and our activity groups suffered the consequences of second helpings of….BEAN SOUP! A new craze has been sweeping Otjikondo recently as it has become impossible to go anywhere without hearing a distant tooting sound, the tuneful tooting came closer today as Hazel’s recorder group made their stunning debut performance in church with their version of “Kumbayah”. So things are coming together for our end of term concert, which brings us to the dreaded…end of term. It’s heartbreaking to think that soon we will be saying goodbye to all the adults and children that we have spent our year with and that have made our year so unforgettable. Simply by being themselves, good, cheeky, naughty, caring and downright hilarious. We are determined to make the most of our last few weeks with them, and although it has taken us a long time to admit it, we need to come to terms with the fact that our year is coming to an end so we need to do whatever it takes to make every second count. Excited as we are to be reunited with family and friends, there is no doubt that these goodbyes will be a million times harder than those we said a year ago. We truly feel that words on paper cannot do our feelings justice or even begin to show what an incredible time we’ve had. One thing we do take comfort in is the knowledge that a goodbye to Otjikondo will never last long, we aren’t just leaving a beautiful country but also all “our” wonderful children, our home away from home and our second family, the Stommels who have been honest when we needed it and a shoulder to cry on when we depended on it! So we better leave you and carry on making the most of the time we have left. So, until we’re back on home soil, Goodbye, Tschüss, !Gai !Goes, 
