Goodbye My Learners

Yesterday was my last day with my learners and it was the hardest goodbye I have ever had to say. At the staff meeting we showed the staff the poster we had made with pictures from our time at Steenkamp. They were going to laminate it so that the learners could look at it too. They said it would become a part of Steenkamp's history. 

During the second period I taught Life Skills to my 5B learners. We just took some notes about studying, because they were learning about study skills. At the end of class I gave the learners half of a Post-it Note and had them write down a study tip for others. I then made a poster with all of the tips that they had come up with. They were really good. One person wrote, "when you study you must give your ear, eyes, and mouth to it." During English we continued to work on letters to my learners. 

I had made it to break and I had not cried yet. At break time all of the teachers went to the staff lounge to "send us off in style." They had bought us cake and all of our cooperating teachers stood up and said something about us to thank us. My teacher thanked me on behalf of grade 5 for everything I did to help the students and that I had taught her a lot. She also commented on how patient I was. It was very nice. It was quite funny because Liz was shared between two teachers and they had gotten her a shirt with two zebras on the front and then their picture on the back. It was super cute. 

In the reading period I started to do a read aloud and then my teacher came in and had them say their goodbyes to me. They came up one by one and said a few words to me, gave me hugs, and I lost it. I had come prepared and had brought a box of tissues. Many of the learners asked if they could have one as well. It was so sweet. They also sang me the following song with the lyrics, "Even though you are far away we will never forget you." It was kind of awkward though, because after reading I had to teach them English. We were not very productive, the learners who had not finished up their letters finished them and some of them finished their letters to me. 

With my 5E learners I read to them Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears  and we had sound effects for each animal. I held it together for the most part, except for crying a little bit when they all left and gave me hugs. I did the same thing with my 5D learners for the last period of the day, except the last ten minutes were dedicated to saying goodbyes to me. I automatically started crying and passing around the tissues. One boy stood in line to say goodbye to me and gave me a hug about five times, which provided some comic relief. My 5D boys also sang a song for me. It had the lyrics, "When I first saw you, you knocked me off my feet." I had momentarily stopped crying and then I went outside and was surrounded by many of my learners who continued to give me hugs. I had to go back inside of the classroom to get my things and Mrs. Beukes had to close to door so she could say her goodbye to me. 

I went out to the courtyard and many kids followed me and came up to me and started giving me hugs and I started bawling. However, when I got to the courtyard I found my colleagues were surrounded by learners and they too were bawling. We were all kind of hot messes. I hugged learners many times over. Then I heard a lot of:

"Miss, don't cry!"

"Miss, take me with you."

"Miss, why do you have to go?" 

Mrs. Kamahane, our principal, had said that we had to go to her for a gift for us. We somehow detached ourselves from our learners and made it to her office. They gave all of us one-minute devotionals! It was very sweet. There was more hugging. We went outside and there was more hugging and crying. Our van arrived and it took us quite a long time to get over there and to the van because we were surrounded by learners clinging to us and telling us not to go. One of my learners who I was very close with, Wynand, who had kept telling me not to cry now had tears in his eyes. Melanie and Rayna, who were already in the van had burst into tears just from watching us. 

In order to leave we had to pry several people off of us and out of the van. We were all still crying when we arrived at the BNC. I thought I was just going to continue crying, however, I was able to pull myself together with the help of some of my learners. At the BNC we did a Rounding Rap and at the same time practiced our beat boxing. Then we did some writing. 

When I got back to Casa we were all emotionally exhausted. I was tired from crying so much. I am just so thankful that I am sharing this experience with fourteen other people, so I am not alone. We all reminisced together and really understand what these goodbyes are like. 

That night we went out one last time at Joe's Beerhouse with some of our friends from Swakopmund and I did not cry. 

 Today I started getting mentally and physically prepared to go home. Then I went to the BNC in the afternoon. Lauren and I performed the coke and mentos experiment and we read the book The Kiss Box. In the book a mom makes a box full of her kisses, so that she and her son can be together even when they are not physically together. As we were leaving one of my learners blew kisses at me and told me to keep them close to my heart for when I needed them. 

After we taught class at the BNC, the choir sang for us. They were incredible. The last song they sang for us was the same one my learners had sung to me. They marched while singing it and went down the line and gave us all hugs. I was good and did not cry until the van was leaving. 

This is one of my learners I became very close with. I had  Rudolf at Steenkamp and at the BNC. He wrote me a very nice letter and I gave him a book. After I gave him to book he said it was very nice and wanted me to take a picture of him reading it.