The Home Stretch

12 days. That’s it. Our DukeEngage stay in Hyderabad is coming to a close. Pictures, blogs, memories, group reunions, and discussions won’t compare to seeing the kids faces light up as we play Duck Duck Goose or sing The Wheels on the Bus. For the past couple of days, the phrase “home stretch” has been tossed around.  I guess it’s finally hitting us…we are leaving soon.

Time may be running out, but our stay is not over yet.  Despite a few scheduling changes, we were able to get started on a few of our projects for Nirmal Nagar today. Around 2:45, after we taught at both schools, we headed back to Nirmal Nagar to start painting. We’ve designed murals from animals, to ABC balloons, to nursery rhymes. We hope to finish everything by this weekend. While we were painting, some of the school children who live nearby came over to watch and hang out. They all seemed really excited about the improvements being made to their school – a school they can be proud of.

Despite all of this progress, saying goodbye will not be easy. I teach level 3 at Sri Sai, the second school, and today we decided to let the class know that we’d be leaving soon.  We were dreading this conversation. How were we supposed to tell them that we are leaving? Moreover, how could we tell them that we will not be coming back? When we finally built up the courage to let them know that we only have 6 days left at their school, they simply asked when we were coming back…

Saying goodbye next week is going to be tough. Today was already hard enough.