The one month mark

I have officially been here a month! Wow! School is now in full swing and life is busy. I enjoy each day getting to know different children here at the home a little better. Some days it is easy to get frustrated with things at school, with the lack of textbooks, the fact that my papers or students notebooks are constantly being blown away by the wind, the wide range in levels of students, the ever increasing class sizes, switching classrooms, and how the school often operates on Ghanaian time. However, I am learning to work with it, and most of my fifty students seem very eager to learn and I am starting to develop a routine with my classes as I gauge more where they are at and set down expectations and goals.
In the biblestudy I’m leading with the younger girls we have been talking about the fruits of the spirit and going through and studying them beforehand and then again with the kids has helped me to remember to have peace about different things, and patience in the situations that come my way this past couple weeks too. So I leave you with this, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

My first classroom

My first “teaching job” will not be in a one teacher classroom with four walls. I won’t have spent hours decorating the walls and creating bulletin boards. If it rains, we won’t have class. I won’t have to worry about offending a parent or about some piece of technology not working.
My first class will have a group of students with a great need for knowledge, it will have students ranging from probably 8 to 18, and it excites me beyond belief.
The school is switching to subject teaching where different teachers teach different subjects to different grades so I’ll be moving to and from different classes. They are making this switch so that they can add a JSS 1 (like junior high) class to the school which for now is going to meet in the chicken coop since there is only one chicken.
I am loving getting to know the kids and doing different activities, games and outings with them, but as I begin to plan for the school year I realize how much I like teaching and how important I see education as being. I see all the information I want to impart to these students and visualize ways I can convey those things. Many of the kids here are very far behind in their schooling due to many different things. I want to be able to help these students, and the school, make great strides this year.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the short time I’ve been here it is that I shouldn’t expect anything to go as I plan, so we’ll see what God has in store for the school year and what happens come Monday, but I’m praying we will be able to help these kids get a good education and solid biblical background to hopefully build a brighter future for them, and that we will be able to help push the academy forward and raise the standards they set for the teachers and students.

On the streets

There were kids standing staring at our van as we pulled in to the train area, latching onto our hands and our skirts as we tried to step out. They are kids who sleep on the train platform in Accra at night, kids who push and shove each other because that’s the only way they know to get what they need. They are dirty with uncleaned wounds because they don’t have the 50 pesewas needed to use the public showers or the soap and sponge they would need when they got there. They are kids who are searching for someone to love them, someone who will give them a hug and remember their name. They are living the life that the kids at Haven of Hope have been rescued from. Auntie Felicia goes out and learns the names of these children, she gets to know them, listens to their stories, and works to let them know she cares.
The other obrunis and I went and helped at the ministry she does on Sundays with these kids. We read to the kids, did some basic first aid, helped with a bible story and phonics lesson, and then helped serve a meal to as many of the kids as we had food for, which unfortunately wasn’t all of them. As we prepared to go we heard a little more about the children’s lives and the health and other problems the kids faced. I left and was heartbroken. I looked at these kids and was hesitant to touch some of them because of their lack of hygiene or clothes, when they need someone to love on them more than almost anyone I’ve ever met. My roommate shared with me that she goes and when she leaves she feels inspired because it shows her that one person really can make a difference when she sees what Auntie Felicia does for these kids, and it’s true though it’s tough to see where these kids are growing up, her getting to know them and loving them does make a difference. It pushes me to keep working and loving and praying for these kids more too, and helps me see more how the things we do matter.

This past week has been a blur of new activities... fishing with the boys, doing laundry with the girls, visiting markets, eating Ghanaian food... so many, many things. We also had the opportunity to take the girls to a pool in Tema, thanks to some friends of Lauren! It is crazy to me how excited they were to ride in a crowded van for an hour and a half to swim, but they seem to love and appreciate everything we take the time to do with them which is exciting. They are all so beautiful and I feel privileged to be spending this time with them.
Today we went to help out at the street ministry in Accra, it was really good to see what Every Child Ministries is doing there and help out with it, but hard to be there and see where these kids are coming from and what they go though. More to come on that when I have sorted through my emotions a little more...
I miss you guys,
Amanda

In the photo I am with Maa Abena and Comfort, the two youngest girls at the home. They are bundles of joy eager to get love and attention from anywhere they can.