The last day at Al-Azraq was what the whole week was leading up to. The opening of the school and Funday with the children was to be held that day. The day started off at the HFA center with the loading of all the school supplies bought earlier in the week. We drove out to the location where our school was built and started to roll out the carpet, build the tables, and set up the chairs and banner. While working on the school, children slowly started to line up outside waiting for the Funday to start.
After the school was complete we collected the children, turned up the music, and started playing with them. Musical chairs, dancing, soccer, the parachute game, bubbles were only to name a few. Refreshments were served and goody bags filled with toy cars, balls, coloring books, crayons, and tiaras were handed out. The children were waiting the whole day to get them and when they did, they were so excited that some of them didn't even want to open the bags "to keep them safe and clean". The kids stayed a bit longer but started to hug us their goodbyes since they had a long walk back home. Just like that Funday was over. There were supposed to be 60 children but 140 attended.
We cleaned up and set out to finish passing out the remaining 126 food parcels. From door to door and tent to tent, we started seeing familiar faces from the day we dropped off water tanks. Some children came running to us greeting us and welcomed us back into their homes. They asked us if we could visit them the following day but became disappointed when they heard that today would be our last day. They thanked us, told us to have a safe trip and invited us to visit their homes again in the future. When the truck pulled out of their homes, off to the next destination, the children would run with it as far as they could waving their goodbyes.
We ended at the camp's center telling the people that made the trip possible our appreciation and farewells. They told us how proud of us they were and I couldn't help but think that they should be the ones that should be proud. Doing what they do every day isn't easy. They've become role models and I'm glad to say I've had the honor of meeting them.
The overall experience truly touched every corner of my heart. Leaving all the new people and friends behind was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do but it's made me more passionate about the cause and I'm truly looking forward to our next trip inshAllah.
-Sarah Abaza
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