Jabu was beautiful all the way down to her toenails, teeth and eyebrows. One even said her elbow is beautiful. It was a great learning experience for me since it helped me learn every body part in Siswati rather well! But finally, when all body parts were named and none other could be given, one brave soul said, ‘I think Jabu has a beautiful heart.’ Of course I cry at anything, so I held back the small tear, smiled, and asked, ‘Why do you think that?’ She answered, ‘Because she is my sister and best friend. I love her.’
It took off after that. Could they have been trying to compete with each other to see who could make the Peace Corps volunteer cry first? Perhaps. If they were, I’d say they all won in that competition. I even heard from the teachers the girls had become this kind of clique in school all the younger girls wanted to be a part of. Now, as the punch line of many ‘o high school cliques, I was not that happy about the possibility of being the impetus of a S. African grade school clique. I felt better about it when I heard the teachers told me the younger girls saw them as role models because of how confident they all seemed. The majority of them asked more questions in the classroom and became more outspoken. Their friendship grew so tight they even felt the need to always look out for one another both inside and outside of school.
By the end of that school year, I did not want to say bye to them. It hurt to know I would not see them at least five days out of the week. I almost felt embarrassed to be so sad over losing the company of seventh graders. I felt like I was saying bye to my best friends before moving to a new school (if you ever had to experience this, do you remember how sad you felt?) They did so much for me than they will ever realize. They made me feel like a better person. And it was as simple as that.
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