the buaazrds

another day that was inevitably going to be very hard! i'm kinda looking forward to going home now because there's only so much sobbing into a keyboard you can do and still call yourself a normal human being.

i've got so many amazing memories of this wonderful family.

before i became a real life auntie i had a couple of years of great practice with my adopted niece and nephew, joseph and ayesha. these two are the greatest kids! one of my favourite memories of jojo was when he played a 'guess the herb' game in the farm fresh garden, which involved him running off and eating a herb then coming back and breathing in our faces to see if we could guess what it was. that, and the fact that he likes to call me hanneeerrrr, for some unknown reason, but still completely adorable. probably my favourite memory of ayesha is when she went through a phase of saying 'hannah' repeatedly. it was cute until we were trying to have a meeting!

john and priya have not only been amazing bosses, but supportive, encouraging and completely brilliant friends. i'm not sure that they know this, but i have learned so much from them: about faith, leadership, marriage and bringing up kids! sometimes i get a little overwhelmed when i think about my next chapter and becoming the director of an organisation, but for the past 3 years i have had the best leadership apprenticeship that i could ever have asked for. having known john and priya for a few years, and worked for them for the majority of that, i feel more prepared for my new position than i ever would have without them.

thanks buzzards for being my adopted family and my constant encouragers. i'll miss you and all of your craziness.


(i'm taking a break from my normal blipping routine and from now until i leave i will be posting portraits of the people that i love here in zambia. i might put them all together at the end to make a mammoth picture to hang on my wall, but mostly they will stay here on blip so i can remember these lovely people).