Last of last week (I just like saying this).

So things don’t always work out as planned – especially in Africa. Last of last week (this is how we refer to the past here) on Monday it was a holiday so I asked some of the staff and volunteers from my center if they wanted to climb the mountain again (I don’t know if you remember but I did this last year and loved it). They agreed and even said they might organize a few of the kids from the center to come along. So, assuming this was all being coordinated (a little food, some water, a responsible adult to navigate the way, etc.) and I would just have to show up, I also thought it would be fun to invite a few friends (yes, I have friends in the village now although most of them are high school kids and then there is now a nearby Peace Corps volunteer – hey, they are still friends). So I gathered my hiking crew to join in climb to the top of the mountain. 

Unfortunately, I got a message the night before saying that the staff from my center were tired (something about being up all night attending a funeral the night before) and they didn’t want to go up the mountain now. This was bad news because I didn’t really know the way up the mountain. But I figured I had been there once and it couldn’t be too difficult? So, I checked with my group and we decided we would still attempt to do a hike.

What I didn’t realize is that kids from my drop-in centre were still coming to this “organized event” which was now somehow in my hands since the staff wasn’t coming. But, you see, I didn’t actually know this until kids started running after me as we were literally about 20 minutes into our hike up the mountain (which I was just kind of navigating as I went - I didn't really know where I was going). That is the African way…not much communication. There were about 20 kids with no water and no food who were now on the hike…eish. I was not really prepared to take on this responsibility.

We figured out that there was a stream up ahead where we could get water and then decided we would just cut the whole hike short. It ended up being fine (meaning no one sustained any injuries although I did actually have to break up a fight between two kids) but, next time, we will definitely organize a bit better.

Here are pictures of the rowdy crew.



Some of the kids from one of my centers.




A happy hiking crew.