Final Goodbye at Jamii

 The final celebration at Jamii is always a highlight for the team.  Each class presents a verse, song, or dance.  Jamii now goes from preschool through 8th grade.  The baby classes are so cute.  The 8th grade class is Jamii's first graduating class and several of the students have been with Jamii since the very beginning when Basilus and Esther began teaching students in their living room.

Teacher Ruth and Jackie and their preschool class. 

The dancing is amazing. During this one, the main dancer gave out flowers to several team members, including Judah!

Lance led the students in the three songs they had been practicing with him during the week.

Here is Basilus addressing the whole school and our team at the end of the program. 

After the program we each went back to our classes to say goodbye and to give them gifts. Saying goodbye to my 5th grade class was hard.  They received new spiral notebooks that were donated by one of our supporting churches in Washington.  Each one had a special note of encouragement inside the front cover.  Teacher George does such a good job with his students.  I will miss them!

I had to get one more picture of the cuties in the baby class.  

As we were leaving on our bus, several of the children came running after us, including little Esther, waving right in the front.  I have been checking in on her since she was run over by a car three years ago.  She was all smiles and talking this year, a big improvement. 

Good bye from the children of Jamii!

That afternoon we had our last teacher training session and the closing ceremony with the teachers.  After we handed out certificates, they presented us with beautiful Maasai blankets and Kamba shawls.  We were all immensely grateful for the time with these precious teacher who pour their heart and soul into the Jamii students.  See a short video of the celebration:  https://youtu.be/pGXyqPXhkeU