This is where our story ends, and another one begins.

This is where I stopped writing in my journal, living solely in the moment rather than trying to make ways to remember them - that's kind of what journals are for, I guess, I've never kept one before.

The moment we stepped off the plane in Vila we were confronted with the reality that we had less than 48 hours left in Vanuatu. We had reports to type up, de-briefings to partake in, and souvenirs to buy for our families, ice cream to eat, and beer to drink. But most importantly, we had a short time left to cling to the Ni-Van challengers, as well as the Australians and other Canadians, with whom we would soon be parting ways. It was fast occurring to me that the Pacific Ocean is very, very big.

We were reunited with the Emua and Lalinda groups. We laughed, we sang, we shared stories, we danced, we drank, Jess and Tara got horrifying gastro, the rest of us kept drinking. We stayed up all night, we laughed some more...and then we had to leave; it had never hurt so much to see the sun come up. If I thought that leaving my host family was hard, it was nothing compared to leaving this group of inspiring youth who I was priveleged to be in company with all summer. I started to cry at least an hour before we left the Scout Hall - these goodbyes were ones that I just couldn't handle.

One last song...

Lambubu

Lalinda

Emua

All of the Ni-Vans came to the airport to say goodbye, honoring us with the traditional line-up and handshakes. By this point the handshaking ritual had become almost routine, but this one was long, drawn out, and soggy. As I'm writing this right now, four months and one day after leaving the Republic of Vanuatu, my heart hurts and I'm crying, missing my sista Rose, my Iven, Samuel, Morsen, Julie, Emma, Hendry, Rona, Thompson, Rehap, Joel, Barenda - not to mention all of my Canadian and Australian friends, the other group leaders, and the wonderful staff at the YCIV office.

Rehap: the great inspiration.

Rose: my sister forever

I cried most of the way back to Sydney. While our Vanuatu tale may have come to an end, it was nowhere near over for us yet. Liesa stayed behind, leaving four weeks later to be group leader for another project on Tanna, which from what I understand, was very, very successful. Nicole and Tara also stayed behind to explore the islands more. Jess and I traveled through Australia for three and a half weeks together, and either you've already heard my crazy stories, or you probably don't want to. Morsen also went with Liesa to Tanna - those two work together like spaghetti and meatballs. Samuel has a job, I think, building furniture at the resort on Irikiki - Cynthia tells me that Julie has a job there too. Rose wants to be a teacher...and Iven, Iven I'm sure will become a soccer star or something like that. We can't forget also to think about the past and future participants of this program, what they've gained, and what they have yet to gain and experience.

Gudfalla group leaders: Morsen and Liesa

It wasn't even that hot out, but I cried so hard I made myself sweat. And Cynthia (right) lives about ten minutes from me in Ottawa.

The money that I contributed, that you all helped me raise, for this project, allowed for the participation of these nine young men and women in this summer's projects. Not only did they work on the same six week short projects that we did, but they were part of a larger, more intensive program that had a one year life span but which will have lifelong repercussions. They were given computer skills training, language training, team building workshops, and employment services. My group leader, Morsen, was a YCI challenger last summer - he was actually in Lalinda, and shared a host family with Anne, so technically I guess they're brother and sister, even though they were there at different times - and went on to take on a different role with us this year. I am so proud to have gotten to spend time with these people, and can only hope that in some way or another I will find a way to be a part of their futures, which will unquestionably be bright.