In the chaos and excitement of the last few weeks I seem to have lost track of time because all of a sudden I’ve found myself in the departure lounge at Nairobi airport waiting for my flight back to the UK. 6 weeks – gone just like that. But my god, what a six weeks it’s been!

Ups, downs… it’s all been absolutely amazing and I honestly don’t think I would change a thing because every experience both good and bad has made this trip the most memorable of my life. (so far – I still have Oz and South East Asia ahead of me of course!).

I guess given this is the end of the African adventure I should make some kind of summary or something. Well, my last few days were fantastic. I had a little farewell party at the orphanage on my last evening complete with games for the kids and their favorite dinner; pilau. (a rice dish with tomatoes beef and onions – possibly my favorite Kenyan dish too).

A couple of the other volunteers chipped in as well so we really pushed the boat out and even had little fairy cakes with candles for afters. The kids kept singing ’happy birthday to Sara’ despite my protests which I found really cute. Trying to get them to get the gist of the game ’musical statues’ was even cuter; I think they thought I had lost the plot when I kept freezing in odd positions when the music stopped. Eventually they got the idea though. One of the youngest, Ndungu, decided after a few unsuccessful rounds the best way to win would be to adopt a poker straight soldier stance while staring up with huge bug eyes trying not to blink; absolutely adorable!

Unsurprisingly it was pretty heart wrenching saying good bye. I’ve come so attached to each and everyone of the children it seems very hard to think I won’t be seeing them for a long long time now. Leaving school was also awful. The teachers made me a full Kenyan outfit with linen trousers, a kaftan, head wrap and kanga – it was awesome but made me want to cry like a baby!

Still, my time has been amazing and I do feel ready to move onto the next adventure. Mombasa, particularly Likoni where I was working, is a very intense place and the mix of emotions really does take it out of you.

I love that I had to opportunity to live with the locals and work alongside some of the most inspirational people I have ever met and I still hold the view that it is a place of extremes; it is both beautiful and obscene, inspiring and heart wrenching, rich but so so poor. That’s what makes it Mombasa though and that’s probably what will keep me coming back here for many many years to come.

In conclusion then; poley poley – TIA.

• Kenya
• Mombasa
• volunteer
• Twaayf