It's not goodbye, but see you soon

Our last group photo before we went to the airport!

It's now been just over a week since the third and final IDEALS students left Zambia and what a different experience it's been. I remember sitting on the floor of the girls room last Wednesday, the night the students left for the airport, and for the first time experienced a lonely kind of strange feeling. Many pre-warned me that my time post-IDEALS would be lonely but as I sat there it feel strange and if I am honest I didn't like it. There was an eerie sense of quiet about the house, where once there was laughter and chatting, and movement, now remained silence. The bunk beds (which now have a kind of infamous history within the IDEALS houses) no longer squeaked with every movement, the house no longer radiated life and all but remained was Steph and I.

The place I called home for the past four months

I have said it time and time again but I can't quite comprehend where the past four months have gone, where time has flown too. Time is funny like that, here one minute and gone the next. To think that just under four months ago I arrived in Zambia and have since spent that time adventuring through with three groups of amazing students is crazy. It feels like yesterday that I arrived yet it feels so long ago since Group 1 were here with us. Each group spent just under six weeks in Zambia with us and each group provided some memorable experiences for life. They all were like a little family full of different personalities, different interests, different characteristics yet together we were all united by one common factor: our love for sport, and subsequently our ever growing love for Zambia. Plus not only as it hard enough saying goodbye to the final group, we also had to tidy, clean and clear out the place we have called home for the past four months. It's not surprisingly how much rubbish can be left behind by students but what was surprising was how long it took us to clear it out!

My ZamFam 1

So as Group 3 leaves and my time as part of IDEALS comes to a close, I can't help but take a step back and reflect on what has been the summer of a lifetime. There's been highs and lows, tears and laughter but above all I have created some memories that will without a doubt stick with me for life. To have had the opportunity to journey through this incredible country alongside 29 students and 7 staff members, and to have had the chance to play a part, no matter how small, in helping them fall in love within this place I hold so close to my heart, is a privilege I will forever be grateful for. The past four months have once again highlighted the value of this project, not only to those in Zambia but also those from the UK. The project provides every individual involved the chance to offer their skills, knowledge and expertise to those they work with in the local communities, enhancing the lives of the people they meet and the communities they work within. But in return the students take away so much more than they can ever imagine, developing as an individual and a professional, returning back to the UK a better person. You only ever have to speak to each individual involved in the project this year to know that Zambia has, in more ways that one, changed their life and for that I am more than thankful. As one of the Team Leaders that is all I could have ever wished for, for people to fall in love with this place the same way I did back in 2010.

My ZamFam 2

Zambia once stole my heart and this year it has done it again. Forever grateful for the privilege, for the opportunity and the chance to experience what has without a doubt one of the most incredible summers of my life. If I am honest I am so not ready for it to end...

I miss these guys already... Come back please!