Ghana and Vomit

This week started out amazing and ended a little rough but is on the uphill again. Ill start with the good stuff.

School is starting to get down to the wire because the kids have tests the Monday after we leave here that determine if they are able to move onto the next class. JSS Prep is one of the biggest deciding classes to see who can move into JSS 1. I was told that only 5 girls and 5 boys are able to move. With 18 kids in my class, more girls than boys, it makes me really sad that a lot of them wont be able to continue with their education! I really dont understand why that is a rule for their school, and if they follow it for sure. I know that JSS 2 has more than 5 girls in it so I am not sure how that happened.

In the mean time teachers such as the science and social studies teachers are taking advantage of the extra time they are allotted to finish the material they are supposed to teach and havent yet. It is good because at least they have a teacher, but bad because the kids are bored with one subject really quickly and dont pay attention. It is so confusing to the teachers that just copying something off the blackboard doesnt help them understand the English. The problem is even if the kids may understand a concept in something like math, if they dont understand the instructions they still wont be able to answer correctly. I am often overwhelmed with trying to teach something with English because they forget the basics so fast AND many of the prep students dont show the desire to pay attention for very long.

The weather has cooled off so much since we first got here, we are definitely in the Rainy season now! Suzy and I helped the social studies teacher give a lesson the other day about the two seasons. They only have wet and dry. The wet season is from March to October but June/July are the rainiest parts. Mampong is up on a hilly area compared to Accra and I have been surprised at night because we dont use our fan anymore and I have gotten a little chilly!

On Friday I worked on some math problems with a girl named Belinda in my class. She is really interesting, sometimes hard to work with her because she wont let me finish explaining before she tries to guess how to do the problem. She is really smart and catches on quickly though. She doesn't smile very much, but I had her giggling a little when I would pull faces if she made a mistake. Another primary school student named Priscilla (she helps me wash my clothes every week, she is in P-5) came into the room and so we started doing English. We all discussed nouns and made lists of examples. It was difficult but I think we made some progress! Honestly, individual work is the best way to be sure they understand the concept.

One of the teachers I work with the most often is the prep science teacher named Margaret. She tries signing and is ok, but pretty difficult to understand, and I know the kids don't understand her very well. She is really nice though and really cares about the students, wants them to at least stay in the classroom and not be idle. On Friday she gave me this little wood stick and said it was called sorkordua (so-ko-dwea) or chewing wood in English. She told me that a long time ago people would chew on it to build strong teeth, then use the frayed end to brush their teeth. She had broken hers in half so I felt a little obligated to try the thing. It was REALLY bitter and tasted like I was chewing on a piece of wood. She told me that it was good to drink water after because it becomes sweet. It also helps you if youre feeling nauseous to keep it down. I could only chew on it for so long and had to toss it. Margaret was chewing away on hers and it was gone within the hour.

On Friday I went to the high school because a community building group was visitng to help the school by donating rice, a big polytank of water, and toilet paper. They were also helping repaint some of the buildings. I guess they were here last year to help the school and were impressed with how appreciative they were so they wanted to give again. The students signed a song and did some really awesome cutlural dances. After I went back to the primary school because P-4 and P-6 were playing a soccer game. The little girls including Lina and Ruth played with me. We wrote names in the dirt and then my notebook was passed around for the kids to write their names. They love to see me write all of our family names whether it is on paper or in the dirt to see if any are the same as one of their names. That is when it started raining... and continued raining for about 4 hours! We were dragged under the coverage for the dining hall and were stuck there while the kids ate and then played. We had no food and no bathroom :) It turned out to be one of my favority afternoons! When I finally decided to get wet, a huge group of all the older primary girls and the JSS girls were out dancing in the rain. We did some African & Ballet moves that they were so interested in trying. We then did the math song that I made up in a huge circle and they were so into it, it was SO much fun! We were all soaking wet after and giggling with each other. It was an unforgettable experience.

My week wasn't so good at the end because I woke up Sunday night very sick from 1:30 to 5:30 in the morning. I soon found out 3 other girls, Kelsey, Catharine, and Charity were all sick as well, so we were all the sicklings home in bed for the day. I am doing so much better today, so no worries. We were trying to figure out what it might be, but figured that it was just a bug that affected us all. The Kibi group came to stay over the weekend and we all went to the temple on Saturday.

The sweetest thing was the students. A group of 4 came to the house in the afternoon while Kelsey and I were laying in bed. One girl named Bernice said she was going to pray for us. She signed a prayer that included that the devil would not get our bodies so that we may become strong again :) They were all really worried. Two other girls came by and brought some bread. When I went back to school today some were asking me if I went to the hospital and many said they prayed for me. I think the hospital must be more of a casual thing to go to if you are sick for just a day.

The temple was, of course, an incredible experience. The spirit was so strong and it felt like we were home. I ran into the mission presiden'ts wife outside the temple and she said that her husband was first called as an area president for 2 years and then he was just called as the mission president so they will be here for 5 years total! Crazy! I am sure that their home is really nice, but with unreliable power and everything that would be hard! She had her own car but I would be scared to death to drive here.

Time is slipping away. I am excited to be with everyone again, but I will be so sad to be gone from these kids. It's going to be super bitter sweet. Everyone is getting along pretty well still and I really love our whole group. Until next week.....