10th August 2017

Tomorrow will be my last day of volunteering in Knysna, South Africa, and I already had to say goodbye to the children I taught during the previous month. You get very close to these lovely childen so soon and they give you all their love right away, so it was really hard for me to say goodbye without knowing what they're going to do with their lives. I would recommend everyone to do volunteering - it's a one-in-a-lifetime experience. You don't just stand in front of class and teach the kids, you spend your time with them, get to know them, care for them, help them with everything from putting shirts on to peeling their fruits, play with them, making fun and laugh with them and almost feel like a part-time mother. Briefly: you build a bond with them. After experiencing how it is to say goodbye to them just to see them the next day again, I decided not to tell them that it was my last day today.
Besides of teaching in a pre-school, I also parttook in some conservation projects like bird surveys, forest surveys, tidal surveys, removed alien invasive plants and I am going to do a beach clean-up tomorrow, on my last day.
During my stay, I learned many - and sometimes unpredicted or random - things, but I also learned much about myself and who I want to be. I saw poverty and things I would've never been able to imagine back home and it changed the way I see my own life.
I am very glad to was given the chance to gain these experiences, to soak up so much inspiration and not to only be on vacation but to really live somewhere and get to know the locals. Thanks to Edge of Africa! (www.edgeofafrica.com)

It was just - or already - four weeks ago that I had to leave the ones I love back at home and know it's time to leave again.
But I am even more excited for what is still to come. On Saturday morning (2017-08-12), I'm going to take the bus to Capetown, were I'm going to stay for the next week. I'm looking forward to be back on the road again.







"The world is calling to me. I want to leave tiny pieces of myself in every corner of this world. A citizen of nowhere, but belonging everywhere."

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