i went for one of my savannah walks this afternoon, and when i got back, one of the annai secondary school girls was waiting for me. she had a little note for me, addressed to "miss kelly" (no one here can say my name correctly. i've been called "kelly," "kellex," "kelloggs," "kayla," and sometimes "kelly moses" or just "moses," after neil browne's cousin kelly). the students were supposed to go home next week for easter holidays, but the president of guyana has called off school a week early on account of cricket world cup. anyway, the note was a whole page long, with little flowers and hearts drawn around it in red. here it is:
"Hi Miss Kelly,
Special Good afternoon to you. I do hope you are having a wonderful time with you friends for the last time before you left this Bina Hill, well as for my Self Everything is fine with me and I'm very Glad to go home for my Easter Break.
Yes Kelly it's Me just decide to write you this few lines of note to you for the very first time. Because as you told us that you will no longer be staying here. And it is so sad. Yes Miss Kelly I want to tell you how Much I will Miss you After you left this place. You are such a good person. I will alway Remember you all the time Especially you sweet and bright Smile. And I will always remember you when I see that ASSPYR Member that you used to come and keep a form of Relaxation, which was really good. I did enjoy the days and I learn some new thing from you all. And it's so sad that you are leaving us here. Alway Remember the day you spend here, no matter how far you will be from us, we are gonna do the same too. So I wish you safe journey home, hope you come back any time. HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME.
FROM: VERONDA AUSTIN"
surrounded by:"I will always Remember you And I will Miss you SO Bad. And it is so sad that I will be going home tomorrow." "HAVE A NICE TIME Enjoy the Rest of YOUR life." "Please Reply Any Time." "I will Always Remember You =) =) =)"

my goodness. so wonderful. so special. i always feel so garbagey about my work and feel like i do a shit job. without this, i honestly would have left guyana thinking i hadn't accomplished anything. but it's so special, both just on its own and because it reminds me of all the kids i've worked with before who have expressed gratitude somehow. kids in youth group in vermilion, who i've counselled at camp and who have told me, "i'm so excited to be in your cabin! i've looked up to you for years!" other kids i've counselled who i still talk to, and who still look up to me. kids up north, at the high prairie stampede parade, who would recognize us from the field trips they went on to our museum, and who would wave, "caylie! meghan! remember me!?" so crazy. i wish i wouldn't forget those things so easily.

my most prized posessions, the first things i would grab in a fire, are these:
-my clothes. please don't think i'm shallow. i've made/stencilled a lot of my clothes, and they're the closest thing i have to my own art. i feel really personally involved with them. and...
-a small stack of letters. special words. a letter written in pencil on green paper from joel kelly, some print-outs of e-mails from kaylin, some print-outs from jenni's blog this summer, a haiku about me from my creative writing prof in second year university along with her year-end comments on my poetry, a poem from dr. e regarding the 18-page essay written entirely in iambic pentametre and rhyming couplets that i wrote for a lit. theory course, the orange book with the picture of riff raff (from rocky horror) on the cover that kelsey made me for my high school grad. and now, this letter. words that make me remember i'm valuable. so powerful.