I'm supposed to feel like a car is running over my disemboweled guts, right?

There is a whole lot of saying goodbye going on.  (Some of the kids are leaving on Saturday.)

Is this what happens if you work in a high school at the end of the year, that you just feel like you can't breathe and the wind has been knocked out of you 100 times a day?  There have been a lot of tears and this is just the beginning.  I am thinking all the time of ways to stay here, ways to kidnap kids and smuggle them home in my carry-on.  Maybe I will tie myself to the mango tree.  I just do not know.  I am in a panic. 

Here's some pics from one of the goodbye parties:

This is Maxime.  You would not believe his back story. He is very lucky to be alive.  Now, he is first student in his class, the best traditional dancer in a troupe that placed second in the nation, a singer-song writer who won first place in the nation for his original song, the winner of a nation-wide young Entrepreneurship contest and the leader of the school Islamic group.  We talk business and music a lot and he is one of my heroes.  I look forward to working for him one day:

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet your future leader and his #1 fan

You might remember Fidele from the Tutoring Club Party fame.  He is also a badass modern dancer that apparently is not bound by the laws of  gravity.  Sorry about the shitty camera work.  I was freaking out because he's so amazing and because I love him so much:

Oh man, this is Julien and Jeannine (G9).  She is the point guard for the basketball team and third in her class.  Julien plays football and this is him at a party (note holding the econ book):

Julien knows how to party

Jeannine trying to get him to have some fun

He studies ALL THE TIME. He likes to tease me.  (I cannot tell you how rare this is in the village. )

This is Ferdinand Mundial.  He is an amazing rapper, modern and traditional dancer, traditional arts and crafts weaver and he started a program to teach science to other kids called "Did You Know?"  Mundial has me researching human trafficking in a lot of detail.  Lynn, can you let me know if Arts Together needs an amazing dance instructor and can sponsor a visa?

G9 and Mundial

Mundial, Me and Julien

This is a terrible photo, because everyone was moving quickly and it was dark, but my very own little Violette from Eleanor Roosevelt was a model in a fashion show.  She did not even look like the same kid. She was so poised and confident.  It was a long runway and she never broke her model glare or gait.

Rwanda's Next Top Model?

Final runway pass with an escort

This is Maurice.  I never had a little brother before, but now I do.  (Amy, he reminds me so much of Simon. You'll just have to trust me.)  Maurice is able to get under my skin more effectively than any child in the village. 

This is me and Serge.  (His rap name is O2.)  He is first in his class and in my heart (Serge does practice math SATs on Fridays for fun "to relax".  He is trying to build an ethanol lab that processes cassava.)

We were laughing so hard it took 10 tries to get this 'serious' one.

This is more like it. He might be the most considerate kid in the village.

This is the Smart Kids Speaking Lots of English Group that I formed.  We debated Syrian airstrikes and school uniforms among other things.  These kids are the future of ASYV and the future of Rwanda for sure.  Needless to say, they were articulate enough that the goodbye speeches left me crying for hours.  

Maxime, Brigitte, Henry, Eunice, Ornella and Eric

It's been a hard year at times, and it's far from over but it must have been amazing if I'm so sad to say goodbye to these kids that are leaving soon.