I woke up this morning feeling a very strange sense of quiet and calm. Walking out to the porch steps where I talk with God in the early mornings, I remembered why. Students have gone.

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity. Two final exams for students, a final assembly, final cleaning and at last the trek to the gates where students boarded motorcycles or put trunks on their heads to walk home.

Most significantly, the final assembly was also a student goobye to Madame, one of their most beloved teachers and administrators. Betty has been with Christ School for a number of years (eight?) her little girl Bethany has grown up in Bundibugyo, despite them being from Kampala. Betty cried in her speech, not a common sight here, and reminded students that the sacrifice she made to leave the city for rural Bundi has been worth it to see God work in the lives of her students. She encouraged students to come back to serve once they finish university. There were skits and a song and lots of clapping though I had a surprise visitor and very sadly missed it all.

Once students had gone, CSB workers scavenged the dorm areas for useable trash that had been left behind in the students’ hurry. And students who have relatives on-staff merely shifted quarters from dorms to apartments to spend the next week with us as we finish the final press. The weekend will be full of marking for teachers then Monday begins 25 individual staff evaluation meetings as well as daily group brainstorming sessions for teachers, leadership team, etc. We will also be cleaning all the neglected areas of the school which have been under teacher control throughout this year; sports, labs, bursar store, etc. And selected Senior 6 students will be coming back as temp employees to reorganize beds into different dorms and number each bed and mattress for improved bed checks and sleeping charts next year.

I woke this morning feeling a bit sad at the quiet, the calm, the lack of students. When I was young I valued time alone but here in Africa you are seen to be “like an orphan” when you are alone. Maybe I’m starting to embrace that. I expected only joy and relief when the students left but instead I almost miss them! Maybe the feeling of not being quite done comes because we still have one more week of extraordinary work including the staff goodbye for Betty. Feels like we are only just about to begin the final sprint of this marathon year.