I cannot believe that everyone will be flying home in two days! We have done so much here, seen so much, felt so much and experienced so much, that it will be very, very difficult to say goodbye to it all. On Monday evening we had our last dinner together as a group. It was both a thank you and farewell dinner. The nurses and staff from all of the hospitals and clinics that we had worked with throughout the semester joined us. It was a beautiful dinner, filled with many hugs and much laughter. Although it was just a few days away from our departure, everyone was so happy and grateful that evening in particular. All of our guests introduced themselves one-by-one and each took the opportunity to point out how we nursing students contributed to their organizations and facilities. We were all close to tears many times throughout the night as we recalled many fond memories from our clinical internship site work. We really enjoyed ourselves, talking about our semester. It was so nice to hear how much of an impact and difference we made in these peoples’ lives, as they had made such a humongous one in all of ours. Mr. Shooter, from Gatesville Hospital in Athlone, was especially grateful for all of us; he could not stop taking photos and was coming up to each and every nursing student and asking us to smile into his small cell phone camera.
Sister Oliver from Mitchell’s Plain Hospital hugged any and all of the girls that came near her and could not stop smiling and thanking us for our time spent on her ward. She said that when next Monday comes around, at 8am, she will be looking down the hallway of the pediatric ward from her spot at the nurse’s station, almost expecting us to be walking down it. She said that she has really become attached to us and that she almost expects us to be there next Monday, as we are like a part of her staff!
Although the dinner was meant to be a goodbye dinner, many of the nurses could not quite say goodbye just yet. Many of them promised to join us nursing students at the airport on Saturday evening to say their final goodbyes there. That promise meant a lot to us girls. It really showed us how much they appreciate us and how much we have become a part of their lives, even outside of our clinical internships.
As much as we are all looking forward to going home and reuniting with our families and loved ones, we are also in a way dreading Saturday evening. It will be very difficult to say goodbye to all of our new and very dear friends that we have made here in South Africa. All of us are anticipating many tears that evening, as there will be many emotions going around. Most of us girls have agreed on the word bitter-sweet to describe our leaving. We realize, however, that this chapter of our lives will have ended, and when one chapter ends, another always begins.
I have actually decided to extend my stay until January. So I will be on the side of the sisters and all of the new and wonderful friends that we have made, waving goodbye to the 13 nursing students and professor that will be heading home. What I have planned here in South Africa for the extra month that I will be here is lots, and lots of traveling around the country. I will be visiting some of the sites that we have already travelled to as a group, such as the city of Durban; however, I will also be visiting many new places that we have not had the opportunity to explore, such as Johannesberg.