Goodbyes
Some of us joined the girls for morning prayer at 5.30am followed by prayers with the boys at 6am. After this, there was a period of playing games and chatting which then led to us being able to serve both the boys’ and girls’ their breakfast.
After breakfast we were able to spend our time talking to the girls and boys with some of us writing notes for the children. Before lunch we all gathered in front of the dining hall like we did on our first day at Udayan and reflected on our time here at Udayan together with the staff. We were surprised to hear just how much our visit means to the children to the staff of Udayan. We thought they’d be annoyed at the chaos we cause, but they are genuinely appreciative of our time with them from our attachment to the children, to our dancing.
At 4pm we gathered to sign an Udayan banner that will live on the walls somewhere on the campus as a reminder to the children of our visit. After we finished the banner signing, we did our formal goodbyes to the children by walking through a passageway of children while they threw marigold petals on us. At the end, we were surprised by a repeat of our dance from the gala in front of all the children.
We then began our long goodbyes with the children. In the end we had to be escorted away to dinner in scenes that reminded Liam of Princess Diana-esque hysteria seen in episodes of the crown.
Thank you Udayan. It’s been emotional!
