This month, we are doing quite a few different things for our ministry. As I said in my last blog, we arrived in Ghana on February 5th, but we stayed in Elmina for month one debrief until February 10, when we departed for Accra. At debrief, we had a lot of prayer and worship sessions, one-on-ones with our leaders, team debriefs, and time to relax. I loved it, as I had so many wonderful conversations with people, we stayed in a beautiful place right by the ocean, I was able to process some of the things I experienced in month one, and I got to tour the Elmina Castle (oldest and largest castle connected with the Trans-Atlantic slave trade) and ride horses on the beach. And YAY for coffee every morning. AND THEY SPEAK ENGLISH IN GHANA, PRAISE GOD. It is honestly such a huge blessing.
We arrived in Madina (near Accra) on February 10 and met our hosts Calvary and Abigail. Calvary is a pastor in a local church, and they founded a Christian academy where we all teach Monday through Thursday. This school has kids ages 3-14ish, and I was with the Kindergarten 2 class last week and am in the Kindergarten 1 class this week, so my kids are all 5-6 years old. There are already teachers in my classes, so I am just there to assist, though some of my teammates are by themselves completely. I have graded a ton of homework, written out assignments, taught games and songs (actions definitely included), and taught some lessons. So far, I have had a lot of fun, and the kids are very well-behaved (usually), but after 7-8 hours each day, I am exhausted. Yet I am very thankful for the opportunity to put on the teacher hat for a month without having to have a degree or license and just see what my life could have been had I chosen a teaching career (I’m quite thankful I didn’t…..). And my name to everyone at school is Auntie Jessica. Our host Abigail, also principal of the school, said that using “auntie” for teachers indicates that we are like second moms to the kids – awwww!
The very first day at school, we all got put in separate classes and had absolutely no idea what to expect. We were not told anything about the school or how much we would be doing or anything, so I was slightly on edge wondering what it would be like. The first day was definitely overwhelming but good. I was able to learn all the kids’ names, and I taught a couple of the lessons completely off the cuff. For the first lesson I taught, the only information I was given was “Greater than and less than < >” and my teacher just said to go for it. Okay, I mean, have the kids learned this before? Uhh, like what are the classroom expectations in this school and in this country in general? Umm, I have never taught a class, and I’m not quite sure what kindergarteners actually know. Hey, like are you gonna give me your teacher workbook or anything?
All of the above were thoughts and questions running through my head that I didn’t have time to ask, so I just went for it. I can’t claim it was the best lesson ever taught, but hey, I was given two seconds of notice, so I was proud of myself for just getting up there and doing it. I am learning each day in the classroom that repetition is the KEY. Just have these kids repeat and repeat and repeat when you teach, and you’ll be good.
My prompt for the second lesson on my first day was “Environmental studies, my environment.” Uhhh like the environment in Ghana? Cause I have been here a day…. And um, what is the environment again? Like how do you define that? I learned that in seventh grade and haven’t reviewed since… I just came up with something and went with it. Fun times! It’s one of those words where you know what it is, but when you have to actually define it, you don’t really know how? Maybe I’m the only one who has that problem…
In addition to teaching each day, we have discipleship classes on Sunday and Tuesday nights and church on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. Calvary asked each of us to preach at some point this month, which freaked me out, but at least we got some notice. I did end up preaching this last Sunday for the very first time ever, and hey, it wasn’t so bad! And now a few people call me Pastor when they see me – HA! Never expected to be called that in my life, but I also never expected to be in Ghana doing the World Race either. Life is weird sometimes!
More to come in my next blogs about what life is like in Ghana and what I am learning – thanks for reading!
