Over the past few days I’ve been wrapping up at work, and now I’m off for a little vacation time, before heading back to Malawi, and then home. Crazy!

I don’t really know what to say. My experiences over the past few months have made me think a lot more critically about how the private, public, and development sectors can meet on the issues of food security and agriculture as a business—what roles each can play, and what roles they can’t. I wish I could package these thoughts cleanly for you, but I’m not sure I can right now. If you’re interested though, I’m sure the thirty-something hour journey back to Canada will provide ample opportunity for me to at least start sorting out my feelings, and I’d be happy to talk back in Toronto.

I guess you could say that my head and my heart are kind of a mess right now. I’m excited to go home. I’m excited to see the people that make home, home.

Other things I am looking forward to an almost embarrassing amount:

1. Not having to iron my shirts every day. (Zambians like to look sharp. I get flak for not ironing my jeans and t-shirts sometimes.)

2. (Hot) Showers!

3. Sangria and summer patios.

But it’s also hard to leave Choma when it’s just starting to feel familiar—when I’ve finally figured out where to get the good fritters, and how to navigate the scintillating waters of small-town gossip.

Here are some things I will miss:

1. Head-sized avocados, and infant-sized papayas!

2. Tiny, adorable lizards that dot the walls everywhere.

And most of all,

3. My Zam Fam and Friends.

I don’t think I’ve really posted on this topic before, but here are a few of the people that have made my time in Choma pretty grand.

Enock and Ernest, my counterparts from PROFIT and Pannar Seed respectively. I’ve logged a lot of road time with these two, and gone on a lot of adventures—like, that time Enock and I lost each other in a Namibian border town, and he spent three hours asking every person he saw if they had seen a Chinese girl. (Fortunately they had. Unfortunately that Chinese girl was not me. But hey, we found each other eventually!) I don’t know how to quantify how much I’ve learned from these guys, or how much fun I’ve had with them.

Kind of an awkwardly posed photo of me and my Zam Fam (Crysta Belle, Ernest, Sambo, Solii, Me, Monde, Sara, [Big] Martha, [Small] Martha). These are the people who’ve taken care of me, kept me safe, kept me happy, and helped me gain probably 15 pounds (yikes). And, just as it is with my family back home, too often do I let the immense gratitude and affection I feel for them go unsaid.

These fierce ladies are my friends Prudence, Lungowe, and Bina choolwe. They like to get into trouble, and take me along sometimes.

In Tonga, when someone leaves, you say “Muende kabotu!” It means, go well. The response is “Muchale kabotu,” or, stay well. So muchale kabotu Choma! I hope to see you again soon.