September

I truly do not understand how it is already the end of September! This month was a pretty wild month and totally flew by. The month kicked off with… malaria! Probably sounds crazy but I promise malaria is very common here and is easily treated. But that doesn’t mean it was comfortable! There are many symptoms, but for me the worst was my loss of appetite. Even the sight of food made me feel sick so it was three days of very minimal food. So frustrating! I had several moments that I sat in front of food and just cried because I was so hungry, but could not get myself to eat it. All that to say, it was brutal BUT I was so blessed with wonderful community here throughout that time. Had visitors and plenty of check-ins to make sure I was improving, and it made me feel so grateful to be here.

Once recovered it was back to school! Assessments have been going well; I am getting closer to being complete which means tutoring will start soon! In the end, I will have assessed 40 students… I don’t know how I will choose who to work with! But the assessments have already provided a lot of great data for discussions around the math teaching in the next year. Also at school, I got the opportunity to lead a math training with Sir Bright! We worked together to prepare a training focused on math games and activities for grades 3 and below, which is totally out of my age range, but it was fun! It seemed like it went well overall, and the next day I had several teachers asking to use the math card decks I had presented to them! How exciting! And their classes did great with the games! Outside of school, my evenings are often filled with math work, including helping with homework or reteaching a topic. It’s always so encouraging to see the mental breakthrough when a student finally understands! It makes me so so happy that the students know that they can always ask for help.

All the math work has started to slowly round-out my passions within math education. It is opening my eyes to how much I value the work on curriculum and planning, but my favorite is still small group/one-on-one teaching. It is fun to imagine a future job doing exactly what I enjoy within education!

September also included a trip to the pool! This is always a fun time, and pretty wild too! Backflips and swimming races, and lots of photo/video ops! Such fun memories to look back on!

Many people are always ready to support me in having new experiences. One of those this month was malaria, of course, but there were several others too! I tried a lot of foods this month including a tiny guava (pictured), fresh cocoa, a tiny orange-colored fruit, pink small grape-looking things, fish (with the skin on it!), etc. The fish was big time for me because I have never liked seafood! But fish is in a lot of dishes here so I am trying to train myself. We also had kenkey (made out of ground/fermented corn) which is a staple food here but it’s very sour so I need to get used to it! I also held a chicken! There’s also a picture included below of the kids roasting a mouse that they caught, which was definitely another new experience!

The biggest ordeal this month was a trip to Wli waterfalls! Wli is to the north of CORM and it took about 7.5 hours to travel there by trotro and taxi. Man, this an experience! Wli was incredibly beautiful, we just kept saying “Wow!”. (The pictures can never do it justice.) We stayed at the Waterfall Lodge which was built by an old German couple, and they were just adorable. We hiked on Saturday and I can honestly say this was the hardest physical task I have ever done. We hiked uphill for 2 hours straight, and not a slight incline, it was practically climbing up; I pretty much pulled myself up by rocks and tree roots. And then straight downhill for 2.5 hours. As in straight down, if you miss a step you are done for and will fall off the side of this small “trail”. I am probably remembering it dramatically because I was exhausted, but man, it was intense! But at the end of it we got to swim in the lower falls and it was amazing!! I am so glad to have seen this place and experienced it, but I don’t think I need to do that hike ever again! Through the crazy traveling on trotros, we were blessed by several kind people along the way who helped us get to Wli and home safe. Praise the Lord!

Which brings me to the blessings of this month!

- Amazing community at CORM

- New experiences

- Constant laughter

- Some beginning success in learning the Twi language

- Autumn and Stacy!

- Safe travels to and from Wli, all thanks to the people God placed on our path

- Many more that I can’t even name at the moment!

Prayer requests

- I miss my family and friends at home! Prayers for comfort and peace as I continue this journey for many more months! (I am including photos of baby Murphy who is growing up so quick!)

- More new experiences! I don’t want to waste any time here!

- Success in learning more Twi!

- Upcoming CORM fundraising campaign for new school desks and chairs (the current ones are very worn and easily tear uniforms and cause splinters)

- University students and Senior High students finishing out their school year. All university students will be finished with their year by mid-October but most senior high kids will be gone til December! Please pray for their safety and work!

-My own physical health! My body has been really going through it!

Thank you always for your support! I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here and learn so much from the people around me. All thanks to you!! I would love to hear from you through WhatsApp, email, Instagram, Facebook, anything, so I can hear what is going on in your life too! 💛