It's now first day of our holidays... if you can count the last few months of amazing experiences as work!! We had a beautiful farewell by Plaster House for our last day. When we arrived they had decorated the house with lace cloths & had all the kids off the beds & assembled outside. All the kids got cupcakes & sweet tea (a real treat!) they then had a lovely ceremony where they gave us a thankyou speech and dressed Adam & I in African clothes & beaded jewellery. They gave Zoe & Zac Plaster House t-shirts & Maasai braclets. The best part was they sang & clapped for us for ages. A little girl from Kenya (who had miraculously survived a plane crash with nothing more than a broken arm) led the singing. She was so confident & her voice was beautiful. It was very moving. We really had not expected anything as we are coming back so it was doubly nice.

We then got a tour of the newly completed Plaster House which is gooooorgeous. There will be running water, flushing toilets, a playground & beautiful airy rooms. They wont know themselves! The Occupational therapist coordinating it all has cleverly gotten local organisations to donate stained glass windows & to display their art works on the walls as "advertising space" so its going to look beautiful. It's set in a spot with an uninterrupted view of magnificent Mt Meru. Its all been funded by donations- incredible! They move in Tues so our next trip, we'll be working there.... Tough job but someone has to do it!

My spinals patient is learning to walk a bit....if strapped into callipers so she's made fantastic progress. Such a thrill to see her doing laps of her room on her frame. Zoe, Zac & I had a fun dinner at our OT neighbours to top it all off. What a great last day.

Adam the previous day had a lovely farewell by the Maasai aswell. They presented him with a traditional cloth wrap, all gathered around him in a circle, put their hands on his head & prayed. I wish I had been there to see it.

After visiting our guard's newborn baby Zakaria & we set off on our 5 hour drive to Lushoto the Usumbara mountains. We passed amazing scenery of red, red soils & rugged rocky mountains. We could have been in the Flinders Ranges!
We drove the windy road up to Lushoto in the dark (probably good not to see the drop off!). Can't wait to open curtains tomorrow & see where we are!