Today was our last construction day at Girls Village, and an emotional farewell to the girls and babies we had played with all week.  On arrival we were back to whitewashing the roofing sheets, while Carolyn pitched in with mortaring the bricks of the kitchen shelter into place.

After a short while our builders had a special request – they all wanted their photo taken with us as a group.  Our site foreman and engineer, Arivalagam, told us that they had never had overseas volunteers working with them before and that they had really enjoyed it and were so glad that we had come there to help their country and their people.

Over morning tea, we ran a slideshow presentation for the workers of the photos we had taken of them during the week and the construction, as well as our trip so far.  It was a huge hit, and they asked us to please send them photos of all of us together with them on the building site.

After the workers went back to their posts, we talked some more with Arivalagam and told him that we were all breast cancer survivors.  He was stunned and took his hat from his head and his eyes filled with tears.  He apologized for being so emotional several times, and then said he had no idea, that he thought we had just come to help the local poor and India, and how proud he was to have met us and been part of the project.

After lunch, Carolyn and Andrea played with the babies and girls, while Megan and Meredith raced back into Madurai to try to get the photos for the workers printed so we could present them to them before we left that day.

All day we had noticed that although some of the older girls were home, we hadn’t seen much of them, although we could hear music playing in one of the cottages.  It turned out that they were planning a special performance for us that night with a group performing traditional dances, and they were hard at practice.

In Madurai after some chasing around, Megan and Meredith found a photo processing shop that produced the prints in 10 minutes, and then made another stop at a toy shop to pick up some balls and sand pit digging toys for the kids.

We made it back to Girls Village in time to give the builders their photos, which they were delighted and very proud of.  Then it was time to play with the kids!  The balls were a huge success with the kids of all ages, and the little ones attacked the sand pit digging toys and the left over building sand with enthusiasm!

After an hour or so of chaos, we asked the kids to put away the toys and without being asked twice they collected them all up and helped us to put them away.  For the next half hour we entertained them with Wiggles songs and Australian and US nursery rhymes, while they countered with their local children’s songs.

Then it was time for the performance.  The girls were fantastic and skilled dancers, in beautiful silk costumes.  We were glad we didn’t have to show our dancing skills in return!

After an hour of dancing, it was time for us to say our final goodbyes to Girls Village for this trip – a difficult and emotional farewell.  We had spent all week playing with the girls, and in particular the small babies and toddlers and they were all special to us.

We’d managed to learn some of the names – although several were easier than the rest!  Little Jennifer who is clearly the boss of the toddlers, orders the rest around and lines them up for inspection wiping their noses if they don’t meet muster.  Jennifer’s little friend Esther, who is her willing companion in crime.

Katerina, who we nicknames princess, for her ability to convince you to pick her up where upon she loses the power to walk and you can never put her down again.  Her favourite pastime is jus sprawling all over your lap while you sit.

Little Arun, the goofiest little boy in the babies cottage, who always has a smile and a comical expression on his face.

As tough as goodbyes were on us and the kids, even the staff were moved.  Our cook who doubles as the mother in charge of the babies cottage, cried and hugged and kissed us goodbye.  And Meredith said goodbye again to her two sponsored children, Delasalle and Infanta, promising to try to come and see them again next Christmas.