It's the Final Countdown . . .

So Im into my last week of Mauritius. Its one of a long list of lasts. Last Sunday, last day on the beach, last ride of my bike, last day of work . . .

The night before my last day of work felt like Christmas eve, I was working as hard as an elf. Painting cards, baking cakes, buying presents.  I was excited to give them all my goodies but so sad thinking it would be the last time I would see most of the children. On the day, which was the last day of term, we had a big party with sega dances, songs and the boys break dancing. They pulled me up to swing my hips with the girls and at the end I stood up to say a few words in creole about how much I’d miss them all and what its meant to have met them all. We had a huge feast and lots of singing and dancing. I was determined to stay positive and enjoy myself on the last day and not let myself get down thinking about how much id miss being a part of CEDEM. The kids were delighted to get printed photos of themselves and they told me how they would keep them forever. The pleasure that lit up on their faces made a huge smile break out on mine.  As the end of school came and the kids were leaving I gave each of them a big hug and told them I’d never forget them. The sweetest part was from one of the mothers of one of the most disabled girls at the school who said at home she always asks “wheres Miss Rachelle?” and is constantly bringing up my name. I was so emotionally drained from the day but looking back I have really fond memories of it. Next week ill drop all my extra stuff at shelter. I can’t wait to see the looks on the girls faces when they see im leaving them 90% of my wardrobe, my straightners plus my ipod and everything else in between! Where as in my bag to come home my most valued things are a sega drum, one pair of jeans to my name and a bottle of rum. Happy days!

This weekend me and Helen also went scuba diving for the first time.A really amazing experience that we’d wanted to do for a long time! We were under the water for forty minutes at a depth of 14 metres. It was unreal being in the under water world spotting octopus, all kinds of colourfull fish and bright coral. I manged to bring a shell back up to the surface as a souvenir and It’s definitely not the last time I’ll be doing it!

I had a really nice weekend before staying at a teachers house out in one of the farming villages. Learning to Indian dance, write in hendi, watching bollywood films and be spoilt rotten with sooo much food. For an afternoon tea one day we had bread deep fried in batter. Its safe to say my extra chins are going to exceed the baggage allowance on my flight home! It was so nice to walk around the farm with her kids, seeing how almost everything edible grows in their garden. We picked passion fruit and bananas of the tree, dug up peanuts and peeled sugar cane with knifes to feast on. Her daughter, Ischika, also wrote out a Creole exam for me which was a lot of fun!

Its becoming so so real for leaving now. The other day I sold my bike to my favourite fruit seller in the market for 1000 ruppees. He says he’s going to strap on his fruit box (about the size of a television) and cycle it up to curepipe everyday!

It’s going to be surreal seeing all the family and friends once I go home. My brother who left for Australia on the same day as me is coming back next weekend too so it’ll be an even more special family reunion. it’ll be nice to see how everyone has changed over the year. I know I have picked up some funny habits like greeting people with two kisses on the cheek and crying “Ayoo mumma” when something goes wrong.

This week it’s hit home how much the level of poverty there still is in Mauritius. I was having a conversation with one of the teacher who told me that a good wage for a teacher to start off on here would be 10,000 rupees a month, about £250. I think about the job at home I had in the shop before I left and I was getting £500-£600 a month where as here a girl in the same shop would be lucky to get £60 a month. It doesn’t seem right to me that I was getting thrown all this money at such a young age where as families here have to make it work for food, rent, clothes on about a 5^th of what I was getting. Where as what do I have to spend it on, clothes and nights out! When I get my first pay packet when I go home it will be a shock to be given all that money, I’ll have no Idea what to spend it on. She also told me that the poorest villages on the coast, where I could never go because it’s too dangerous, there are families of nine or ten kids, who have such a little food for themselves and their houses are mere shacks made of iron sheets. It’s given me a lot to think about and I hope that when I get back I’ll be a lot more aware of my spending and how easy life is for me back in the UK.

This last week of holiday will be filled with goodbyes, last minute shopping, packing and consuming as much Mauritian food as humanly possible! I can’t believe soon ill be back at home where seeing a white person outside my house I won’t just automatically think that they’re lost like here in the ghetto!

Au revoir for now, ill try and update one last time before ive settled back into Ullapool life . . .

Rachel

June and leaving blues . . .

Since I last wrote I’ve been trying to explore as much of Mauritius and what it has to offer before I go! I went Parasailing on Ile aux Cerf, which is apparently the most beautiful part of the island, two little islands accessed by boat with a blue lagoon strip of water separating them. It was really breathtaking even in winter. We had a nice lunch on the Island and then were taken out to a pontoon to do Parasailing. It was amazing. To be so high up you can see over so much of the island and looking down at the crystal clear blue sea below – I would recommend it to anyone!!

We also went to the cinema last weekend to watch a typical Bollywood film. Something we hadn’t had the privileged yet of experiencing . . .  for my food for the film I got Ten rupee bags of peanuts and baguette fromage (cheese cake) which is like a deep fried dough – which five bags came to about a pound – compare that to paying ten pounds for some popcorn and coke at home! The film was unbelievably long – three hours with an interval in the middle! It was your typical mix of sing along songs, drama and colour. It was incredibly OTT but I’m glad I experienced it!

Last weekend I and Helen decided at last minute to head to the carnival that was going on at Flic en Flac beach. It was the first one in Mauritius and performers had come from all over the world so we thought it was a must do. Seems so did the rest of the island . . . We headed from Curepipe bus station at one o’clock, didn’t get to the beach (usually a 45 minute journey) until four o’clock. Our bus, full of rowdy Mauritians heading to the carnival, broke down twenty minutes into the journey so we had to wait in the baking hot sun for a replacement. Then the Traffic jam was insane, about a half hour away from the beach it started. After enduring it for well over two hours we weren’t too far from the beach, or so we thought. So like all the others on the bus we got off and headed towards the beach. Hundreds of Mauritians were flooding down the hill and taking shortcuts through the sugar cane. We couldn’t go through there without breaking off a cheeky bit of sugar cane and chewing on it as we walked, the best free snack! It satisfied us for the half an hour journey down to the beach!!

As we were heading down the hill with loads of singing dancing drinking Mauritians and tourists it was a really awesome festival feel – why did I have to have work the next day?! Once we got there we were just in time to watch the floats as they were leaving. They were so much fun, blaring out music, from all over the world, dancers from Brazil, Miss England and Chinese performers. My favorite was the steel drummers from La Reunion Island which you couldn’t help but dance to. There was a massive crowd up and down the street, some of the performers were even getting crushed. Apart from that it was a really good vibe, with the sun beating down it was the perfect day for it. I felt sorry for the poor guy in the Lion King float who had one a full body giraffe suit complete with two metre head who must have been baking in there swaying from side to side! 

After about an hour of watching the floats pass by me and Helen had to ask ourselves.  How on earth were we getting home?! The roads were jammed people were flooding in to Flic en Flac to have what was guaranteed to be a good night while families were flooding out desperate to get home before dark. There was suppose to be a public bus but we passed it stuck in traffic as we walked out of the beach. People had there heads stuck out the window gasping for air – no chance! Even if we got a taxi we would be hours stuck in a bottle jam trying to get out. So back up the hill we walked. Cue some seen out of an apocalyptic film as hundreds of men women and children flooded up the hill in search of refuge and hopefully a taxi at the Cascavelle shopping centre. As we climbed up that hill which seemed never ending, we met other volunteers, people we knew and made friends with tourists, all joined together in this desperate situation. Once we finally got to the shopping centre, we were desperate, tired and had blisters the size of grapes! Thankfully the first man we asked to point us in the direction of a taxi just said he would take us with his family as he was going our way home (sorry PT – shouldn’t really take lifts form strangers!) but we were desperate. So we hopped in the car and heading back to home! Dirty from the sugar plantations, tired form the walking but on a high from the fun carnival it was an adventure of a day J

Some of the things from Mauritius I’m going to miss

Just buying a ten rupee snack from the street. There is nowhere in UK where you can just pick something up for ten pence if you fancy something to graze on. Since freddos have gone up to fifteen pence or something ridiculous you can be bankrupt just buying some chocolate at home

Wearing flip flops 24/7 and not just using sunglasses as a fashion statement. Would it be optimistic to wear flip flops and sunnies coming off the plane at home?

Cycling to work in the morning when the sun is coming up. And hearing the old men in the ghetto calling out greetings every morning and asking for a turn on my bike.

Speaking in Creole (even in my accent is shoddy!) the appreciation form people when they know you’ve learnt their language is always gratifying.

On a Sunday there always being a group of old men sitting in the shade of a tree crouching in the dirt to play dominoes. I didn’t know there was even that many ways to win dominoes but they love it!

Sega music and the laid back reggae music

Going for long bus journeys across the country and looking out on the sugar plantations and palm trees and hills and always being taken aback by how beautiful it is here.

Greeting every kid in the morning and hearing their stories and having banter with them

Big warm hugs from Emeline when you’re freezing cold in the playground

Buying fresh fruit from the market for next to nothing. When there in season just getting a 24 pence pineapple chopping it up and eating it on the baloney in the sun.

Being completely isolated from everything that happening in the UK with no Television or newspapers.

Phoenix fresh beer. Mmmm.

And the things I’m looking forward to,

My mum’s home cooking,

Going to Belladrum Music festival with all the girls :D

Swapping winter here for summer in Scotland . . .

Giving my sisters a hug

Sleeping in my bed!

That’s me at nineteen days till I’m home. Just under a month. I know that some people go away to do just a   month of volunteering so I can’t help but feel grateful that I’ve had this whole year to experience my country and to make a real bond with the kids. I know i may never get the money to come out here again, i truly hope this is not true as it's like having a good friend and then cutting them off and never speaking to them again - unthinkable. means too much. But i know i have to go back home to bigger things, University.

Madame Rita just returned from a trip to Naples. she was so shocked by the level of poverty and the way in which children are treated there in the sex trade and sweat shops that she is planning on opening a shelter, like CEDEM, in a region of Naples. This has given me an idea to take a placement at the new shelter, once it opens. i can save the money while at university and go in University holidays. with the connection with Madame already in place it would be easy to set up. And in this way i could hear about the children in CEDEM from Madame. Seems PT gap years open doors :)

Now I’m focusing on getting all my souvenirs and presents for everyone – but what to get when you’ve been away for a year?!? Rum and everything plastered with the Dodo is a must.

See you all much sooner than you think!

Love

Rachel