Good-bye Ngaramtoni

It was hard to say good-bye to the Ngungats. Mr. Elias treated me like his son all along, and I am very grateful to the whole family. A few days before leaving, Mr. Elias told me that he was putting together a party as well as buying me presents for my departure. Most volunteers in the village have either purchase a gift or invited their family to a restaurant, and wanted to give the family something useful. Mr. Elias and I visited a bookstore as he wanted to purchase a schoolbook for the children. I offered to purchase a few books for the family. Mr. Elias was extremely excited about the proposal, selected about 10 books and said that he now had the entire collection of books until the end of secondary school. I hope his six children will be able to benefit from them. The oldest son is top of his class, and loves to solve complex math problems. We celebrated over Chinese food. Elias had never tasted Chinese food, used chopsticks or eaten prawns in his life. (Another interesting fact, Mr. Elias doesn’t know exactly what year he was born, but he thinks he is around 48 years old.)


Mr. Elias, Katie and I went shopping on the day before departure. Mr. Elias presented me with a traditional Maasai machete, which inspired me to purchased the entire Maasai outfit: 2 chukas, tire shoes, and even a 10 year-old fighting club from an old Maasai. I walked around the market with my traditional gear on and all had a good laugh at the Mzungu Maasai Warrior!

Mama Rose prepared a huge feast for my good-bye party. There were seven or eight different dishes. Mr. Elias suggested that we invite Katie and Lainey, as well as the Kinisi family. We enjoyed our last minutes together over delicious home-bakes cake. I left Ngaramtoni and headed to Arusha.



That same night, I said good-bye to my fellow volunteers at Maasai Camp, and had my last African pork chops. On my final day, I was sad to leave but ready for the adventures ahead.