The Greatest Compliment

With the start of the new year, I would be lying if I said that home didn’t seem a little closer. While that does excite me, it is also sad to think that my journey is soon coming to an end and it makes me somewhat anxious about the kind of emotional roller-coaster I will endure in early march when I finally do make the trek home. When I returned to Mombasa after the holiday, I actually felt a sense of relief. My holiday was fantastic and the chance to see good friends and spectacular sights in Tanzania is something I wouldn’t have traded for the world. But right from when I arrived at the airport to be greeted at the gate with a smile and a warm pat on the back by our taxi guy Frank (who we have gotten to know fairly well in the past 4-5 months) I couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity and comfort. I know I haven’t given Mombasa exactly sparkling reviews, but I surprised myself this past weekend, when we welcomed some new expats into the Mombasa scene and I began speaking fondly about the quirks of this scorched earth city. On Sunday as we sat in the shade on a patio of one of Mombasa’s busier streets eating soft gelato with a cool summer breeze I couldn’t help but smirk at the thought of being in the frozen tundra that is probably Toronto right now and in that moment it was true that there was nowhere else I’d rather be.

Probably one of the greatest surprises was when I returned to work after the holiday season. As I went around greeting everyone and wishing them all happy new year, I felt a sense of belonging and I started to think about the things I would miss when I leave; the abundance of fresh juice, the smell of grilled meat, the Indian ocean. As I sat and talked with my co-workers about their holidays and what they did, I let it slip that in fact my time was coming to an end in just 7 short weeks. The sadness on their faces was something I’ll never forget and it warmed my heart to no end. I was so humbled by the comments of ‘we want you to stay’ or ‘I’m going to ask the director to extend your contract’ (even though he already did and I turned it down). But perhaps one comment I will never forget from a co-worker was just a side remark that ‘this guy, we’ll miss’.

Its always nice to be appreciated for your work and to know that in fact you have contributed something to a larger cause and in the end, maybe even made things better. Its hard for me to comment on the scale of contribution I’ve made, at times I felt like I’m doing nothing at all, while at other times I felt the opposite, I guess that’s for others to decide, not me. But to have people to say that they want you to stay, that they enjoy your company as colleagues and as friends, and to just appreciate who you are, through your good moments and your bad, for better or for worse, that really is the greatest compliment.