Return to Helenvale

I finally got back to Helenvale! On Wednesday morning we all went to Bayview  Primary to visit the Ready4Life project. It was so good to see Avril again and all the staff still ask about us! And for my volunteer friends you’ll be glad to hear the desks are surviving wellJ . So in true R4L fashion we all had tea first then had a look around the school and met the teachers. One of the teachers who had been getting computer lessons from myself and Marcel got married this week so we saw pictures of the big day taken by the current volunteers and it looked great. After that Avril took us for a walk up to Helenvale Primary to see R4L Back to School. There were a lot of students missing as they were with Franklin...going back to school! What an amazing thing to have achieved! Five of them returned to mainstream schools on Wednesday and the volunteers went with them, they looked like proud parents it was really great to see. After Back to School we continued walking and went to the street where many of the community stars live. We managed to find 7 of them and even got to talk to Logan! It was perfect getting to see them all again and they were all full of chat and walked with us around Helenvale. Lloyd said he still has a job, although not work every day. Brendon applied for the police and also another job so fingers crossed he will soon be employed somewhere and off the street. Granton is still waiting for the baby to arrive, maybe next week. Elroy was more happy to see us than anyone and walked the whole way with us. He sends a special hi to Marcel and Anne Marie and misses us all a lot. Lioni invited us into her house and we met her grandmother and saw pictures of her daughter who was out at day care. They have a beautiful home, very well cared for and loved, much like Beronique’s. She wasn’t home when we called in but her dad remembered me from our visit and waved. We got only a quick look  at Renado and Clifford but it was nice to see them. Lots of hugs all round! I really hope that Ready4Life get another project going for the community stars soon because they really enjoyed last month and I think they need something to fill their days, especially when work is not so steady even when you have a job. It was good for the Liebenhaus volunteers to get to see another township and meet some of the people living there. The biggest surprise for me was how close the two are! Which we only realised when we headed back to Liebenhaus.And back to the current project...the paint looks fantastic! We have most of the walls painted now except the stairway which is posing slight logistical problems. We have also started drawing the goals and trophies on the wall and everyone agrees when it’s finished it’s going to look great. And the best part is the boys like the colour...SUCCESS!!! When four girls decorate a boys room it can go either way haha! It’s really good to see it taking shape because there is always the fear in the back of your mind that it might not get finished before we leave. But I’m fairly confident now that unless we all get struck down by plague we’ll have it done before the end of next week!It’s been a really quick three weeks I cant believe our time is nearly up! Eight weeks has flown by! And now that home is on the horizon I’m in two minds about it. Part of me looks forward to seeing everyone and being in familiar surroundings again, but a big part of  me wishes I could stay here working at Liebenhaus indefinitely. There is some comfort in knowing I felt that way last month as well and everything worked out well so I will hold on to that and make my last week as full as possible!Enjoy the weekend!XxxxX

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