Blog #59 – Goodbye Africa & Homeward Bound

Sunday morning couldn’t have come earlier. This was my final day in Botswana. My final day in Africa. The end.

It was an early morning drive back to Gabarone. I spent the afternoon at the southern African director of WUSC’s house. I took a shower and cleaned off all of the sand and dirt that I have grown accustom to. Cleaned and fed, the long flights home began: Gabarone to Johannesburg, Johannesburg to London, London to Toronto.

It feels as if I am leaving an entire life behind.

I know that their isn’t a single person back home that will truly understand my experience, but I take solace the fact that I know there will be many people that can appreciate where I am coming from. Botswana has given me the opportunity to look into different parts of myself. It has given me the chance to see my life in a different light and context than ever before.

Quoting one of my favourite musicals: 87 days. 2,088 hours. But most importantly 125,280 minutes. Some minutes better than others, but each one an important piece that has shaped my summer and who I am today. Not quite a year, but more experiences that I could have expected, more lessons that I could have learned, just more. I do not truly appreciate if I have changed, if at all, and if so how, but I know that I wouldn’t have traded these past experiences for anything.

A small part of my heart will always stay in Botswana.

It isn’t about being ‘incomplete’. It is more about spreading my roots, reaching out to other countries, to other cultures to other people.

There is no time that I can remember recently being so close to tears.
There is no time that so little has made sense in my life.
No time that I have had so many questions and never had the answers.
No time I have felt so out of control.
No time like this.
No time.

Home is a bright light at the end of the tunnel; a hopeful and happy place that I have missed and cherished while away. I am looking forward to being back to returning to my home, to my family, to my friends, to the life that I have spent so long working on. This is me. This is who I am and I will make the changes that I need to accommodate for the new me and all of my lessons and experiences of the summer.

No tears.
No regrets.

Only fond memories.
Only new opportunities.

The end of a chapter.
The start of another.

Thank-you.