September

September has proved to be a very interesting month for Sarah and myself. Each day brings it's own challenges, joys, and frustrations. I find myself falling in love with the children more and more everyday. The pictures we take do not even begin to capture the true essence of their personalities and character. However, as we are being immersed into this culture, we face many challenges of knowing how to deal with certain situations and how to properly communicate with the people. Everything I thought I knew about education and children, I'm finding that I really know nothing at all. One of the biggest challenges I see, as far as school goes, is taking what we know and changing it so that it will fit this culture. For example, the children just don't respond to our way of disciplining and managing a classroom. One little boy was slamming his slate on the desk and so, responding in the way that is natural to me, I took it away from him. He looked at me, so confused, and then asked for it back.

Sarah and I are also having a difficult time having authority with the children. Adults don’t interact with children in Sierra Leone the same way they do in America. Children are expected to be very submissive, seen and not heard. So when we come in desiring to build relationship with the children and to interact with them in the way we would interact with American children, in a sense we are giving up our authority. In America we have this thought that, “you have to give respect in order to receive it,” but here, respect is not a choice, it is an expectation. For me, I would rather play and interact with the children the way I want to, than have them listen to me in school, which is okay because they have their teachers to discipline them. Let me just say, that we only face this problem with the little ones, the older children recognize that they still need to treat Sarah and myself with respect.

First Week of School!

We've completed our first week of school and we survived! It was so great to see the children in their uniforms and quite funny to see us in ours. It's really funny because we don't think that they are the most attractive articles of clothing but everyone here loved them!

We spent our week working with the Nursery school teachers and trying to figure out the way the system works here. One thing is that real school doesn't start until next week. Many children don't even come the first week and the teachers don't really start their curriculum until the second week.

On Friday we conducted our first seminar with these teachers. We talked about different supplemental activities that they could include in their instruction such as Calendar Time and also about classroom management. Many schools in Sierra Leone still practice corproal punishment but COTN does not allow it in their schools, which is good. Consequently, they haven't given the teachers another way to discipline. So we are trying to work with the teachers to create a discipline plan that works for them and also with the children.

This week I will be working with the Nursery 1 teacher who teaches ages 2-3. We will be focusing on Classroom Management and helping the teachers implement a Calendar time into their day. It will be quite interesting, as many of these children spent all of last week crying!

We have continued to have good health and are now preparing for the next month in Banta. It is a little more remote there so we are trying to get supplies for the month. There are two different mines near Banta both owned by an Irish company and they have been very helpful to us in the past. They provide us with water and also internet, so I will be able to keep in contact with you. We are very excited to be up there and work with the teachers and the people of Banta.

Please continue to pray for health, for us to continue building relationships with the teachers, and Praise God for the beautiful children we get to spend everyday with.

School is Starting

We are in the final count down to school starting. Our uniforms are almost ready at the tailor. Did I tell you that we have to wear uniforms? I will post a picture as soon as possible!

You know school is getting ready to re-open when all the street venders have their baskets full of uniform fabric, textbooks, school supplies, etc. You could actually sit in your car in downtown Freetown and just wait for these venders to walk by and you wouldn't even have to get out of your car. It brings a whole new meaning to "drive-by."

Sarah and are anxiously awaiting the start of school, but to be honest, we are also a little scared. We just aren't quite sure how the other teachers see us and our role in the classroom is still a little fuzzy. But I know that we serve a faithful God and He has this whole year planned out. He knows what it is He wants to accomplish and we just have to be attentive to His calling.

Up till now we really haven't been forced to integrate into this culture, but once we are working with these teachers we will really be forced to learn this culture and have an understanding of it so that we can best serve the teachers and children. Please continue to pray! I appreciate all the comments and emails I get! God Bless you all!

Bible Study

Sarah and I have had the opportunity to join a bible study with other ex-patriots who work for various missions and NGO's. While it is good to get the African perspective on Christianity, it is also nice to come together with people who have a common goal and purpose for fellowship and digging into the Word! These people have also provided a little bit of a social life for us as well.

Yes, it's Cold Here!

We are now in the thick of rainy season and we've had rain for the past 2 weeks. Let me tell you, this is not a light drizzle, it down pours here! And Sarah and I have both wanted our sweatshirts, but we settle for the one longsleeve shirt we brought and of course a cup of tea.

Top Ten

1. There's alway room for one more
2. It's raining, quick, get a bucket
3. "Aunty, don't tell the boys you real name," (Massah, 9 yrs. old)
4. Boiling water really is a difficult task
5. Maggots do grow in Sour Cream that is left out
6. When there's no water, make sure to turn the faucet off, if not, you may have a flooded bathroom!
7. In humid conditions, it may take your clothes 3 days to dry
8. If your clothes have not dried within 3 days, mold may begin to grow
9. A cup of tea every morning is good for the soul
10. Paved roads really aren't that necessary

To explain some of these...
1. Whenever we go anywhere, it seems like we are always picking up one more person!
2. We were without water for 2 1/2 weeks, but praise God it was raining pretty heavily so we used rain water to bath and clean with.
3. We are not short of mothers here, in fact we have about 45 of them. So mom, don't worry, these girls take good care of us!
4. Simple tasks in America, just really aren't that simple here.
5. We had a container of sour cream that was kind of forgotten about.
6. When we didn't have water, someone must have turned the faucet on and forgot to turn it off after they realized that there was no water. Then, when we finally did get water, you can imagine what happened!
7. Our clothes really do take this long to dry.
8. When it rains, we can't really hang them outside!
9. Tea has become a nice substitute for coffee.
10. And you can ask Kelsy and Julie about the roads! Those of you who love off-roading, need to move here!