Our last day in Jhilimilli

Our last day in Jhilimilli – Sarah – 30th Jan 2009-01-30

Our last day on the building site was pretty easy. My team didn’t have to mix cement; we just formed chains and passed bricks. We covered the floor with bricks and when we leave the misteries (professional bricklayers) are going to fill in the floor with cement. We were very tired though because we got up at dawn to go for a bike ride through the villages at sunrise. It was nice except I had a bike that was miles too big for me – I couldn’t get on and off properly. From the building site we came back to our house for lunch and to shower. There was then a three hour long ceremony to thank us for building a school! All the people from the area gathered at the building site: women and men performed dances for us and then made us join in. Mr Alex and Mr. Kortenhorst had to put on big feather things on their heads like the men and dance along. After all the dancing the children presented us with gifts (scarves and a notebook and pen) which was really sweet as these people cannot even afford milk for their tea.

Everyone made a big effort to thank us. By the time we got back it was almost dinner time so we just hung around until then. After dinner everyone was pretty beat so we didn’t have a meeting or anything, we just packed and got ready to leave and went to bed. This morning we got up at 7am to leave at 9am but the bus is delayed by two hours so I am now sitting on the roof looking at a beautiful view of the area writing my blog!