Last Day

We woke up at 7 a.m. to start prepping the rest of our lunch party. We had to make enough mac n cheese with mince meat, cheeseburgers, grilled cheese with tomato, nshima and beans, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a lot of people. It was a true test of our ability to work together in the kitchen after two months of practice and we succeeded with flying colors. We had everything going at once and managed to get by without burning a single thing.  We were very proud of ourselves and very excited to share our American cuisine with our Zambian friends. A lot of people were able to come, and all of them went back for seconds J. It was nice to visit with everyone and we were able to give John and Robert, the two boys who did housework and gardening work for Mubanga, big plates of food. We think they’re both so nice and friendly, so we were really excited to see their faces light up when we offered them so much food. Robert said it was the best and happiest day ever. We gave Roy the rest of the leftovers to take back to the boys at Fountain of Hope.

After a really crazy morning of nonstop cooking and then hosting all of our friends, we were both pretty tired but still had things left to do.  Lazzy picked us up (for the last time- so sad) and we went to the cultural village to buy our final souvenirs.  We gave Lazzy the present we had gotten him, a Chelsea key chain since he is such a huge Chelsea fan.  He really liked it and put it on his keys right away.  Chrissy and I traded our cell phone (or what we call poop on a stick, trust me it really sucks) for some really cool wooden carved giraffes.  We also each got a few more things.  Chrissy and Francis walked back home with our things and I headed with Lazzy over to Munali to go meet my senior team.  They told me to get there around 5, towards the end of their practice, and to plan to be free the rest of the night.  When I walked up to the court all of the guys turned to stare.  This was the first time they had seen me in normal clothes and with my hair down.  I guess I look pretty different than when I have on baggy shorts and my hair in a bun because one of the guys dribbling the ball up the court just stopped and said “woowwww.”  I just started laughing and yelled, “guys, I can wear normal clothes too, keep playing.”

After practice they had a team huddle and told me that I had to sit on the sideline for a minute.  I swear they were talking for about 10 minutes before they called me back over.  After the team prayer and cheer they all started to leave and told me to go with two of the players and that they would see me soon.  I went with them to go pick up some food and then we drove over to one of the guys’ apartments.  The whole team was there, clean and changed, and they had the grill ready to go – they were throwing me a goodbye party.  It was really fun getting to hang out with them in a non-basketball setting.  They joked about burning my plane tickets and stealing my passport so that I couldn’t go home.  A part of me wishes that they actually could have done that.  They also all said that if I stayed they would set me up with a house, job, school, etc.  A little while into the party the coach got there.  Shortly after he told me that I had to sit down on the couch and he brought the whole team into the living room.  He gave a really nice speech about me, saying how much I meant to the team and how much I had helped them improve their games.  He said he was shocked that together they could even organize something like this because it had never happened before.  The boys piped up and asked when I would be coming back again.  To that I could only say that I would try to soon but it’s so expensive that it’s hard.  Then the coach said that the team had a gift for me to say thank you and also to remember them by.  As soon as I started to open it I could see that it was a jersey.  I thought it was just a Spartans jersey, but when I unfolded it I saw that it had “Sarah” and my number (15) on the back.  I was already emotional enough, and this personalization made it even harder for me to hold it together.  They then told me to turn it inside out, and on the other side it said “Dalitso.”  They all cheered Dalitso, and a few said that I was their blessing.  I couldn’t help crying because it was honestly the most thoughtful gift I have ever received.  Somehow I had had enough of an impact on these boys for them to go out of their way to buy me one of the most personal and sentimental gifts.  I was speechless.  The party continued with more music and them making me dance “the Zambian way.”  I also go to see them dance which was a lot of fun and had some great conversations with a few of the players.  Then when some of the players had to leave I called them all together to give my final goodbye and team pep talk.  I gave them all little slips of paper that said “determination” and told them to put it in their basketball shoe before the game tomorrow.  This would make them play together with the same goal in mind, which is determination to win.  They huddled up and Timo gave a final prayer for me and said that they were going to win their game tomorrow for me.  I really wish I could be there for their game, and to be honest I just wish I wasn’t going home.  Saying my goodbyes to all of them was really hard, but eventually I had to do it and go home for the night.  I still hadn’t packed for our flight the next day but I decided I could put that off until tomorrow morning.

Chrissy went back to the house with Francis after going to the market. They spent the rest of the night hanging out with Mubanga in the kitchen. Chrissy introduced them both to the website Sporcle, and has definitely created a monster. Not ashamed. All in all, it was a great last day in Zambia. We were really sad when we went to bed and realized that it would be the last night we spent there.