Farewell Anna and June
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 09/Jun/2010 19:48, 34 days ago
Yesterday was our farewell dinner for Anna and June.Anna was with the Youth Opportunities Unlimited program and sadly leaves today after an 8 month assignment. Unfortunately our paths didn't cross much with Anna during our time here which is too bad. She's a lovely lady heading back to her home town, Penticton, BC.June on the other hand lived in the room next to us at Mikuzi for our first two weeks and because she worked on a 3 month project in the CUSO-VSO office we saw a great deal more of her. Plus we have fond memories of travelling to Treasure Beach at Easter and visiting with her brother in the Blue Mountains. Being a Jamaican Canadian with two brothers living in Kingston we shall undoubtedly see her again. Otherwise I hope to visit her in Toronto some day - she has a garden that has won City of Toronto awards which I'm interested in checking out. June just doesn't know this yet!I remember a conversation at her brother's house where three of us all said we wanted June to be our best friend - we were on the verge of fighting over her and she wasn't there to appreciate her popularity, although I think she knows she is one very special woman. She is so warm and calm and always happy. Very generous too. I can't say enough about June. A jewel.And what better place to meet, eat and say our farewells than at the Jewel of India restaurant. That was the best Indian food I've ever eaten. The vegetables were so fresh and nicely prepared. Our only regret was we were at the far end of the table and unable to talk to the guests of honour during the evening.I regretably didn't take my camera so was unable to get photos and wished I had once I got there since both Anna and June looked fabulous and all the volunteers were there as well. That's the first time in the almost 3 months that we've been here that we've all been together at the same time. Man, I wish I had more nerve - I'm often shy about pulling out my camera and snapping photos of people so I actually chose not to take it so that I wouldn't offend anyone.