Fond Farewells: December 23

The morning began with Linky knocking on our door informing us that there was a bride at Ma’s house. We excitedly got dressed and grabbed the camera, as this would be our first SA wedding, even if we only got to watch a small portion. The bride emerged from the house, surrounded by her dancing and singing wedding party. All of our neighbors quickly joined in the dancing and singing as the bride made her way to the car. Ma cracked us up in her work clothes and house slippers, waving a multicolored feather duster in the air and continually moving a straw mat for the bride to walk on. Just as the bride reached the car, a heard of cattle rounded the corner and charged towards us on their way to the fields beyond. As everyone scurried behind fences, Ma bravely stood in front of the bride, waving her feather duster. It was nothing short of spectacular.
We bid Ma and Dora farewell as they left to attend the wedding and were picked up by the PC driver shortly after. If all went to plan, we would be back in our village on the 27th with Kelli’s parents for their two week vacation. We optimistically left most of our belongings locked in the house, taking only what we would need for our Victoria Falls adventure.

On the way to the airport, we picked up one of the other separated PCV’s and got a preview of the heartbreaking good-byes we would be making in a few weeks. Frustration reigned as we couldn’t help but reflect that the true punishment was falling on our villages and the people who had placed so much hope in us. Pulling away from our villages, our driver spotted a neighboring PCV walking along the road. We begged him to stop and had a few minutes to try and explain and say good-bye to one of our close friends. There were so many people that we were going to miss.

A quick stop at Pretoria backpackers to pick up our other friend (she chose to pack up her belongings and return to Pretoria yesterday so as to not draw out the painful good-byes) followed by a delicious lunch in Hatfield, and we were on our way to the airport. Saying good-bye to Siepo (the wonderful PC driver who had been racking up over-time with us over the past few days) we gave him a picture of the five of us in Royal Natal and thanked him for his flexibility and kindness. It was then time to try and change our tickets and bid farewell to our two ‘accomplices’. After bumping around the ticket counters, discovering that there were hefty fees for changing flight dates and that almost all of the return flights were full for the next few weeks, we finally hit upon some good luck. We found a man who was willing to override the system for us (after telling his co-worker to look the other way) in order to book us on a full flight returning the same day as Kelli’s family. Furthermore, he refused to charge us after hearing our hellacious story of the past few days. He encouraged us to use the saved money to return to SA, which we assured him we would do as soon as possible. We then wished our friends safe flights home and made tentative plans to try and meet up in the states.

Finally returning to the backpackers after waiting over an hour for the shuttle, we were again surprised with generosity. We had brought our camping gear in order to save some money by not paying for a room, but as it was pouring down rain, the owner persuaded us to stay in a room at no extra cost. We graciously accepted and quickly passed out, too exhausted for dinner.