It was the last day of school for the year for the kids at Safisha Africa School which made the day full of mixed emotions.  We all arrived at the school in the morning at 9 am and all the kids were in the one room. It was quite quiet until we said our "Good morning" routine one last time. There were no classes - it was going to be all fun and games today - and we can't forget the dancing...! We gave the kids a hula hoop as a gift which they really liked. Some of the kids got up to sing, mostly hymns, at the front of the class - Pauline who is 12 sung a very moving song with her amazing voice.  For morning tea we gave the kids fairy bread (which looked a bit like ant bread as we could only find brown sprinkles!). They loved it! The kids also got to make icecream with the American volunteer, Jade, and her daughter Jayla.    As today was the last day, all the parents or guardians were asked to come to the school so that they could receive their child's report card. They were asked to come at 11 am but the assembly didn't really start until 12. Alice is such an advocate of the children. One of the kids said their parent couldn't come so she made the child go and tell their mum that 'they were number one'. Sure enough, that parent ended up coming to the assembly.  Alice thanked all the volunteers and teachers. She also spoke very passionately to the parents about making sure that they send the kids back to school next year. She said that if any of the families do not turn up because they have gone rural she will report them to the chief and they may not ever be able to come back to Safisha / they may go to jail. She also told the parents to make sure they put their kids as number 1. She told the parents of the older kids to keep them safe and to not use them to get money in other ways such as through prostitution. It was a very powerful speech. Each of us had the opportunity to address the children and parents after this. Kate was a blubbering mess telling the children how special they are and telling the parents to look after them and keep them safe over the holidays! Each of the kids then got presented with their exam results and the top student in each class was announced. If a parent wasn't present at the assembly, their child could not receive the exam results.  One of the volunteers, Carmen, presented each of the kids with a photo of themselves that she had taken over the course of her 3 months of volunteering at the school. Many of the kids don't even have a mirror to see themselves so photos are very special to them.  After the assembly it was lunch time - rice and beans today with the special addition of egg, tomato and avocado sandwiches. We had to teach some of the kids how to eat a sandwich (hold it tight then put it in your mouth) but they enjoyed them! Alice tried a sandwich for the first time today.  After the assembly there was lots of dancing as we got to use the new speakers - such a fun time for the kids (and volunteers). One of the kids, John, idolised Calvin with his dancing so he was attempting to copy every single one of Calvin's moves! So cute! Lots of Swiss chocolate from Carmen was also handed out for good dancing! Then it was time to say goodbye to the kids. We gave them the biggest, longest hugs! We both felt so emotional saying goodbye - knowing that the life ahead of them is going to be so tough. Some of the kids started crying too which made it even worse! When we got home, we had a long chat with Alice about the charity. She honestly does such an amazing job. Some of the stories she told us about the kids' home lives were just so upsetting - abuse, prostitution, no parents. Her next goal, whilst still running the school, is to set up an orphanage so kids in the area not only have a safe place to be educated, they can also have a safe place to live. The block will cost $30,000 to buy - we hope we can help Alice find this money through some fundraising so this can be set up. Here is the link for the clip some of the volunteers made where the kids told us their wishes for the future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBoNkzi nVks In the evening we had a big dinner at home to farewell the Australian volunteer, Laura, who had been here for 1 month. There was so much food! Samosas, chabati, potato and lentil stew, cabbage.