Last Day at Ubuntu :(

I’ve spent the past couple weeks working on the mural at Ubuntu, and I finally finished last Saturday! I’d say my favourite part was designing the tree. I put tape along the outside border, and my friend Laurin filled it in with brown paint. After it was dry, we had the girls put their hand print on the wall to make leaves. We devised a little assembly line where we had everyone line up, Laurin would paint one of their hands, then she’d pick her up and hand her to me (I was standing on a chair) and I’d place her hand on the wall. Then I’d pass the girl over to my friend Michelle who brought her to ‘the hand washing station’, wash the paint off, and send her to end of the line to start the process all over again.
Tuesday marked my last day of working at the centre. I didn’t do any painting, but just played with the girls instead. It was a tough day, and my eyes were swelled up with tears the whole time because I’ve grown so attached to them. There were two girls in particular that I’ve grown particularly attached to; Lungi, and Nglongi. I think everyone in our group fell in love with those two. They were the smallest girls at Ubuntu, and were always dancing and laughing. Especially Lungi, when she hugged you, she squeezed her whole little self tightly into your arms. She only spoke Zulu, but would blabbed on and on to you like you knew exactly what she was talking about.

I feel like it’s sorta unfair picking favorites and only talking about two- but, then again, they are a really good representation of all the children I’ve spent time with. And, in my mind, they are a good reminder that it’s impossible to change the lives of every orphan in the world, but you can help a few. Or at least impact one.

It’s one of those things were it’s better to show than tell. Here’s a couple pictures of the girls who I’ve spend the past few months with. They’ve taught me so much, and I will never forget them.