Day 8 - Saying goodbye to Freedom Park

Friday 9th -

As today was the last day, most of us took the early bus out to site to make the most of our half day. There was one house that still needed to be roofed and the guys were determined to get it done.
When we started at 7am, the gable walls were square with the other two. By 8am, the scaffolding was done and last few trusses were going up. At 9am the felting was starting. By 10am the felting was finished, the sun had finally come out and the tiles were on their way. At 11.30, the tiles were well on and by 12pm, down tools time, the roof was fully tiled! It was so fantastic to see and the sense of achievement from the guys was great. We were all so proud of them and all the work we'd done all week.

At 12 it was time for us to do a final tidy up on site and do all the last few bits and pieces we could. Faldeilah and the other local ladies who'd worked as cleaners on site for the week came to say goodbye and ask us for the clothes off our backs! We did the final lunch round up where all uneaten food was gathered up and sent to the community leader for distribution. All tools and clothes that we had were added to the pile today and sent off. We took some last photographs and admired our work for one last few moments and then made our way to the Garden of Hope for the handing over ceremony.

All the colours of all the different teams t-shirts lined the walls and scaffolding and swamped the garden as we all crowded in to hear the speeches from Niall, Hugh and Crystal, Freedom Park's community leader. There was such a massive sense of achievement all around us. The locals who had been out in force each morning and evening seemed to have doubled at least and all of them waited outside the fence dying to say their goodbyes and last thank you's.

The Capetown police force had allocated 15 officers to the site for the week and one of the policewomen was on every trip I'd been on off site. As we walked out I met her and stopped to say goodbye. She grabbed me and hugged me. She had her sunglasses on but I could hear the tears in her voice. She thanked me over and over and wouldn't let me go!

The whole day was an emotional roller coaster for almost everyone I think.

We were tired in body but still running on the adrenaline of the morning's last burst. For almost two thirds of us it was the end of our first adventure and the question bounced off every wall "Will you be back next year?". We all said yes, although I'm sure there were a few who knew they wouldn't for so many reasons.

The friends we'd made and the people we'd never even met over the week surrounded us in all their glorious technicolour for the last time for at least another year. The happy grateful beautiful faces we'd seen each morning and evening greeted us for the last time. We gathered and sang Amhrán na bhFiann in the Garden of Hope and took our last photos of the life we'd lived for the past week.

We got back to the hotels in the afternoon. I was ravenous as all I'd eaten all day was an energy bar with my coffee at 7.20am. Ger (my roommate - see here) and myself got ourselves cleaned up and headed down to Capetown's Waterfront for some food and some lip balm - the sand and sun had somehow managed to dissolve my lips!

After a gorgeous meal with an even nicer bottle of wine it was back to the hotel to get ready for the gala dinner in Nederburg. It took over an hour to get there as the road was blocked because of an accident that we'd just narrowly missed. A poor woman lost her husband, her 5 month old was badly injured and her 5 year old had both his legs broken in the accident. It was a sobering thought in the midst of all our celebrations.

When we got to the winery there were fire poi dancers and drummers and a cheetah on the lawns greeting us, a far cry from the cheers and handshakes of Freedom Park!

We had an amazing meal with entertainment by singers from the school in Imizamu Yethu, we had speeches from Niall and Hugh, the ambassador from Ireland, Colin Wrafter and Mrs. Leah Tutu among others. It was all emceed by Sully Philander, a Capetonian TV and radio presenter who grew up in a township himself.



We watched a video made during the week with all the sights and sounds of the week and an interview with Niall. There really wasn't a dry eye in the house as we all gave him one last standing ovation. He is a true inspiration. The most modest, kind and compasionate man, and so keen to be sure that each and every volunteer is recognised. When we got back to our hotel rooms earlier that day we each found a laminated picture drawn by a child who would be moving into their new home soon because of our work that week. There was also a letter to Niall from Nelson Mandela that had been copied for each of us.

With the speeches then over, the dancing and chatting started. Now that the madness of the week had started to wind down, our thoughts turned to family at home. We were intent on spending one last night having some craic and ending the week in style but the conversations kept returning to wives, husbands and children! Photos were taken out of wallets and paraded around in the hotel bar sometime around 3am and then we all got our second wind! One of our foremen on the lemon team, Andy and Niall's brother started a bottle walking bet. The lads had to walk their way across the floor on a pair of beer bottles and exchange one bottle in front of them for one in their hands. A few made it, most didn't! The cheers didn't stop and by around 6am, they had gathered another 4,000 Rand for the charity.

By 6.30am I decided it was time I went back to my hotel, for breakfast more than anything else! I sat down with one of the guys for our last breakfast at 7am and then we both headed off to our beds for one last little sleep!

At 9am I got up again to meet Romaney for a goodbye coffee with her in a lovely cafe in town. I didn't see much of Capetown while I was there but it really is a lovely city. After our coffee, she left me back to the hotel and then Arthur one of our bus drivers for the week (and by far the lovliest!) took us to the airport.

I won't detail the flight but suffice to say that after boarding the plane in Capetown at 2pm, we got back to Dublin at 5am - a full 17 hours later, after stopping in Ghana once more and Alicante, just for the fun...After another hour waiting on baggage I finally got through arrivals to be greeted by a rather tired boy who'd been waiting for two hours! He said there'd been a lovely atmosphere there an hour earlier when almost everyone else had gone through to meet their families, oh well!

So there you have it, my adventure as best I can tell you!

All that is left to say is thank you all so much again for your kind support.