Ahhh... nothing like drinking a nice cup of banana tea to end the week right. I picked up some Ghanaian banana tea at the Accra trade fair on Tuesday. Its pretty good. Its like liquid banana bread. What a horrible way to describe something. Sorry. My similes need some work it appears.

This week was pretty good. My students are coming along great it seems. Of course, they are three and four years old so most of my day is full of head banging hysteria. Then I come home and pour myself a cup of banana tea and laugh about everything.

This next week is Independence day here in Ghana. Its so exciting. I’m here for the 50th Anniversary of Ghana!!! Everyone is so excited. There are people everywhere. Yesterday the President even drove by us. Its so cool that I could see the John Kufour himself any day. Next week we only have three days of classes. They are taking Tuesday for the Independence Day and then Wednesday to rest from celebrating on Tuesday. Hey, I like it!

Now, the story I’m about to tell you might not be for everyone and its not something I would usually share with the world but oh is it funny. I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time now but have regretfully forgotten. My students for the most part sit on the floor for everything. That is due to the amount of head trauma that was received from kids rocking back in their chairs and hitting their heads on the nice cement floor. That sounds harsh but most of the time it was funny. Anyway on with the tale ‘o the day. For the children it is really special for them to sit in front next to my chair when I am reading to them or doing any lesson of sorts except the day I decided not to shave my legs. (That last sentence just promises funny doesn’t it?) I have one little student that is so delicate. Everything hurts him. Everything! And he has this really high pitched scream whenever something hurts him and it makes me laugh all the time. He was sitting in front that day while I was reading the story of Noah and the Ark, the children’s favorite Bible story. I had just gotten to the part where Noah and his sons were working tirelessly to construct this monstrosity of an ark when all of a sudden my little dandy lion of a student decided to pet my leg. Without any warning this shriek comes from the mosh pit of four year olds that pretty much made everyone cover their ears within a five mile radius. You would have thought a cobra had just slithered his way into the room and was about to attack. Oh, how I wish that was how the story ended but it isn’t. He looks up at me holding his hand as though blood might trickle out of his finger tips and said, “Madam Sarah, your leg is sharp!” Needless to say then everyone had to feel Madam Sarah’s sharp legs and then continue to tell everyone that Madam Sarah has sharp legs. One of the missionaries told me, “Hey they are just four. To them it’s a novelty.” Well, to me it was just plan embarrassing. When a four year old tells you in a not to subtle way that you need to shave your legs, one tends to take notice.

Yesterday we took a field trip into Accra with both my preschool classes, the kindergarten, and the first grade class. I was really nervous. Being in a classroom with my kids was one thing. There are boundaries there, walls to keep them in and door handles to high for them to reach, but in a city? There are cars, people, open fires and gutters! Not that our kids are badly behaved that is not the case, but they are in fact children. I prayed continuously for a week it seemed about this trip. I did not want to be the mini missionary that lost a kid in Accra. What a legacy that would leave! But, it was so much fun! Really. We went to a pet store. That seemed a little odd to me when I was first told about the pet store but this is not the average mall pet store that has little puppies and kittens sealed behind a glass case. Oh no. This is a Ghanaian pet store. There were some of the most beautiful birds I have ever seen, one called the fantail pigeon (google that!) that was unlike any pigeon I had ever seen walking the streets. They had bunnies and lizards and some weird looking ferret thing that had the coat of a hyena. It was set up more like a zoo setting than a pet store. It had a canopy of vines that hovered above it. There were plants and trees that the pet store was built around. It was beautiful. That was however until we got to the monkey cage.

They have two monkeys there named Sonny and Cher. Clever, eh? Before we even got on the bus we were warned about Sonny, the monkey. Madam Ann said, “Be careful of the monkeys. One is rather frisky so watch it.” And who was the one that forgot about the frisky monkey? Me! The madam! I forgot like a lame-o. We went to the monkey cage and all was going well. The kids were touching the monkeys and petting them. I was taking pictures of the entire experience (which will be posted at a later date) and everything was going well until Sonny approached me. Now, they were in their cage but the fencing was to where they could poke their hands out and grab things. I thought Sonny and I had hit it off quite nicely until he reached out quickly and pulled my hair! Sneaky little bogger. I got some pictures taken with him just to prove that I could and turned to leave. I had started filming the kids walking around the pet store and exploring when out of no where my head was swung and slammed against the monkey cage! Sonny had taken my entire pony tail into his little monkey paw and pulled me back into the cage! I was a bit startled but more embarrassed that I was the one that did not mind the monkeys as I should have. All of the other kids stood their distance but not me. The kids laughed about that for a while. I did too.

I am having such an amazing time here. Its very hard work. Nothing about this place is easy but it is rewarding. My little boy that has trouble with his hands buttoned his knickers today on his own. He came to me today and told me he needed to urinate (use the restroom). Usually that’s my cue to unbutton his knickers for him so that he can go but today he looked at me and said, “and I can undo my own knickers.” Then when he came out of the restroom he buttoned them right in front of me his own self. He was so proud. I have been working with him for nine weeks now on his hands. When I first started he could not button a shirt, zip a zipper, hold a crayon, even swinging was too painful because he had to hold on. Now he can write on his own, he can button his own knickers and he is so proud! If I got nothing else from being here, I got that. Everyday this little boy looks at me and says, “Madam Sarah, God loves me. And Jesus He loves me.” I reassure him that is true but also tell him how much I love him. He never really responded to it until this past Wednesday. We were walking to our tutoring spot which is in a gazebo at the end of the village and like usual he said to me as we were walking hand in hand, “Madam Sarah, God and Jesus love me. And Madam Susan, she loves me. And Mr. Paul, he loves me. And Madam Sarah, you love me. You love me, Madam Sarah. You love me.” Just to know that he knows that is a blessing. I have quite a little connection with this child. I can’t really point out what about him makes me love him so but I do. I just want so much for him and I want him to know that it is possible.

Little things like that make me realize why I am here. I do not really feel qualified to teach. I don’t know what I’m doing teaching little ones. Its quite daunting really. I mean you think preschool, how hard can it be? Just letters and numbers and colors. Yes, that’s true but if you really think about it that’s where you learn to share, to sit in class, to respect your teacher. How can you learn to read if you don’t know the alphabet. How can you add if you don’t know numbers. I might be reading a whole lot more into this than I should be but its just things that I think about while I am teaching.

I am so pleased with my four year old class. They are coming along so wonderfully! They are learning to behave and to listen. They are learning to identify letters and associate them with words. I can be holding up a story book and they will point out the letters that they know. Its fun to watch them learn how to learn. I had one little girl the other day that wrote her name. It was a little slanted and two of the letters were backwards but it was clearly her name.

God is so amazing how he creates. I see these children and they are so young but already they are so different. Even my triplets its amazing to see where they differ. How God programs us all so different and how he creates so perfectly and teams people together so perfectly just shows how big and great God is. He never fails to create beauty. One of the Mamas and I were talking tonight about the differences in where we live and the climate and people and she looked at me and said, “How does someone look at this world and these children and say that there is no God? How?” I don’t know. I just can’t even begin to imagine what that would be like. I told her that I know people that don’t believe in a God and she just looked befuddled. “Where do they drawl their strength from? Who do they thank?” It reminded me of that quote from G.K. Chesterton: “The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.”

I praise God everyday for this place and the time I am having here. I thank him for his creation and his faithfulness to this place. Nothing here would be possible without the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. There would not be one shred of hope for these children without the mercy he bestowed upon them. No, they don’t have gameboys or top of the line sneakers. They don’t get to pop into the kitchen and grab and bag of crisp. However, they get to eat three meals a day, have a different change of clothes, they get to shower, have clean water, electricity, an education and they get to hear the word of God. For that they are truly grateful.

Always my love,

Sarah

Prayer requests:
-More mothers.
-For the Seatons that they will continue to transition smoothly to their new home. -For everyone on the compound. That God’s grace will be poured out all over and that Satan will be bound from this place and these children.