Concluding our time together

Message of the day: As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands: one for helping yourself, the other for helping others. Attributed to Audrey Hepburn and shared by Lori

The morning began early for three in the group. Dorota was downstairs around 5:45 am to help Joanne and Susan begin their long trek back to Hawaii. 

At the morning meeting Brenda suggested that the song, Point of Light, written by Randy Travis, would be a perfect conclusion for our time together. Here are the lyrics from that song: 

There's a point when you cannot walk away,
When you have to stand up straight and tall and mean the words you say.
There's a point you must decide just to do it 'cause it's right.
That's when you become a point of light.
There's a darkness that everyone must face;
It wants to take what's good and fair and lay it all to waste,
And that darkness covers everything in sight
Until it meets a single point of light. All it takes is a point of light.
A ray of hope in the darkest night.
If you see what's wrong,
And you try to make it right,
You will be a point of light.
There are heroes whose names we never hear,
A dedicated army of quiet volunteers
Reaching out to feed the hungry,
Reaching out to save the land,
Reaching out to help their fellow men.
There are dreamers who are making dreams come true,
Taking time to teach the children there's nothing they can't do.
Giving shelter to the homeless, and giving hope to those without.
Isn't that what this land's all about?
One by one from the mountains to the sea,
Points of light are calling out to you and me.
All it takes is a point of light, a ray of hope in the darkest night.
If you see what's wrong and you try to make it right,
You will be a point of light.

On Friday morning, as usual, each of us was responsible for teaching our classes. The American teens in camp were placed with the Teams Aloha to play games requiring English language while Dorota kept a wise eye on all as she began packing up all the teaching supplies for their return to Reymontowka.

Lori’s group did a scavenger hunt at the grocery store. Each student was given seven things to find, the list written entirely in English. Items included a kitchen scale, a light bulb, frozen broccoli, a Coca-Cola with one’s name on it, and baby food made of pears and bananas. They learned some new words and truly demonstrated the skills necessary to help a lost English-speaker in a grocery store. 

For the final two hours the campers and volunteers gathered together to watch a film. The intent had been to show the film in English, but there was a problem with the remote control for the hotel’s DVD player and it would not accept commands to change the language from Polish to English. 

In the afternoon everyone went to Zakopane for the last time. Of course, it seems like all found something to buy, ranging from clothing to ice cream.

We had another lively conversation at supper and were recalling the adventures we had or had observed living in a hotel with 40+ teenagers for two weeks. We also truly enjoyed the chocolate caramels with macadamia nuts that Joanne and Susan had left behind for us, so they could be with us in spirit. 

The evening was then spent putting things into suitcases and anticipating the early call of alarm clocks, for we were scheduled to leave at 6:30 AM on Saturday morning, with breakfast at 6 AM.