Fires, Farmers, and Fairy Tales, oh my!

Last weekend was packed with adventure.  It all started on Thursday before lunch when the fire alarm sent all of us outside into the midday sun.  A pretty serious electrical fire had started in the main building.  After many rounds of the quiet game, lost and found distribution, then ninja tag - thank you MPC youth group and JI kids - they declared the building unsafe and school cancelled for the rest of the day.  However, students were not allowed in the building; we spent our afternoon taking orders for textbooks and then lugging backpacks and lunches and gym bags down three flights of stairs.  Everyone had fantastic attitudes about the inconvenience, we are grateful no one was hurt, and the students were of course elated by their spontaneous freedom.

Update

It has been shamefully too long, and we have no good excuse.  Perhaps this new life is becoming too busy or too normal to write about, but we write this update with fresh resolve to be more consistent!

Events of note in the last month:

1. We have a new principal at our school.  Her name is Sheree Haley and she is filling a position that has heretofore been empty and sorely needed.  She has already made some extremely helpful changes and filled in some of the gaps in administrative policy and procedure.  We thank God for her.
2. Volleyball ended.  I hesitate to call it a season, because we only played one true game; however, I consider it a huge success because we learned, improved, had fun, and grew closer to God and each other.
3. Soccer continues.  Two more games.
4. Finals approach.  This is our last week to teach before one week of review and one week of final exams.  Everyone is ready for a break.
5. A few weeks ago we got to visit a church where Roy has a contact and was scheduled to speak.  He asked us to sing and we were reticent at first, but when we did so, it blessed both the church and us.  It was one of those moments where you connect in Christ across a huge cultural gap.  Afterwards, we enjoyed a traditional Ghanaian meal where we were treated like guests of honor and the pastor gave us a big wooden stool (very valuable) as a gift.  
6. We had field day at school.  The kids played both indoor and outdoor games, learned a memory verse to earn points for their team, and got to shave the PE teacher’s head.  
7. We had teachers and their families over to our compound for Thanksgiving Day to grill turkey and listen to Christmas music.  It was definitely a unique way to practice some American traditions.

We are looking forward to next semester and the tasks that lay before us.  We have discovered a need for discipleship among the students at AIS and are trying to find ways to challenge the students to grow in their personal faith, whether they have grown up in a Christian home or have yet to take the first step.  Our chapels have been phenomenal, and we are throwing ideas around about how to get kids even deeper.  We also want to see students grow in their leadership skills as we recognize the enormous potential they have to influence the world in the future.  We are starting the first AIS Student Council in January and planning for the unique AIS tradition of a service project senior trip (By the way, Does anyone have Christian contacts in Spain?!  The kids have set their sights there.)

All-school picture on field day.

One of John's team members attempts his verse on field day. 

One of the messier outdoor games on field day.

The winning team took turns on Josiah's new haircut.

Yummy American Thanksgiving food!
Someone even brought crunchy onions
from the States for green bean casserole.

Post-feast games:
Pin the feather on the turkey.

Post-feast games:
Tonya and Adowa play slapjack (Tonya won).

Carving Watermelons

When life gives you lemons, carve watermelons!  Or something like that...

Christy, one of the many great teachers we work with, hosted a watermelon carving party last weekend.  The kids in these pictures belong to Chris and Nichole, two other great staff members at the school.  The whole idea just made me think about how challenging, and sometimes even fun, it can be to come up with creative solutions to some of the problems we face here:

• Non-English speaking student can’t understand what you’re saying?  Say it differently.  Still can’t?  Get a dictionary or another kid to translate.  Still having trouble?  Gesticulate wildly and at least get a smile.
• Kids aren’t getting to class on time?  Leave mints on their desk and collect them off empty desks when class starts.  
• Books being left all over the school?  Open a book jail and charge bail (proceeds to benefit the senior class, of course).  
• Craving Chick-fil-a?  Go to Peter Pan.  
• No electricity?  Turn on your headlamp.  Dropped your headlamp and broke it?  Light a candle.  Can’t find one?  Go to bed.  
• Don’t have pumpkins to carve in October?  Carve watermelons!

Coaching

One of the most rewarding and challenging roles we have here is coaching.  John is coaching soccer with three other teachers and Daesha is coaching volleyball with one other teacher.  The school is relatively young and the sports program is even more so.  One of the soccer coaches is the unofficial athletic director and she works very hard at scheduling games with other schools and setting up practice schedules and a variety of other behind-the-scenes tasks.  Everyone involved is learning much about the importance of academic eligibility, personal discipline, positive attitudes, and good teamwork.  Pictures appear at the end of this post.

A Time to Celebrate

(By Daesha) I’m usually not keen for my own birthday, and this year was no exception.  My reluctance to celebrate has a little to do with getting older and a lot to do with a distaste for being the center of undivided attention.  However, this year God taught me that birthdays can be an important time to allow a deflated spirit to be filled back up.  The occasion left me feeling happy, loved, and refreshed.  My birthday gifts:

• the sign and friendly face of its creator in the above picture
• chocolate and cookies from students
• an explosion of Facebook greetings from those I love and miss
• kitchen supplies, a woven basket, and a beautiful necklace from my in-laws
• brownies and ice cream
• a date with my husband to “The Living Room” where we ate our meal of traditional meat and rice in a private room while watching a movie projected on the wall
• a night out for SUSHI :-) with some of the other teachers (tonight, actually)
• the arrival of my first package from the States (not an intentional birthday present because it was sent many moons ago, but I’m counting it as one)

In Remembrance

Cape Coast Castle was a sobering experience.  It was originally built as a trading post for gold and other goods, but as the slave trade become more profitable, it became a holding ground for countless men, women, and children in slavery.  Three different times our tour guide asked us to tell others what we had seen in order to make sure it never happens again.  That is what we are doing: asking you to remember a dark time in human history.  Human slavery has existed in almost all eras and on every continent and it sadly still exists today.  However, nothing quite compares to the large-scale depravity and suffering of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.  There are some difficult truths in this post.

The entrance to the men's dungeon is on the bottom left. A church is above it.
The sounds of music and teaching mixed with the sounds of crying and groaning.

Entering the men's dungeon.

The original floor has been excavated, but this raised square was left behind as a memorial.
It is composed of human blood, bones, and other organic materials.

This is a drain in the cells, which were designed in such a way to allow rainwater to enter and wash
away the human waste that gathered all over the floor.
Many slaves died from disease.

This is one of the four rooms in the men's dungeon. The dungeon could hold up to a thousand people.
The guide turned off the lights and we stood in the darkness in silence for a few moments.

Captives were taken out of the dungeon one at a time.

In and near the women's dungeon, women were assaulted by guards and traders.
Those found to be pregnant were taken to a separate area until the baby was born, then returned to the dungeon.  The babies usually died.
If women were found pregnant on slave ships, they were thrown overboard and fed to sharks which followed the "floating coffins".
Sometimes the sharks were caught and fed to the slaves.

The "door of no return" ushered captives who survived months in the castle to the canoes that took them to horrible conditions on slave shapes, and then to lives of slavery in the West.

The area is now a dock for fishermen.

Captives who tried to escape were kept in total darkness in this small cell where they were usually starved to death as an example to others.

Habakuk chapter 2 has some powerful things to say about social injustice and our Only Source of true hope.  Verse 11 is especially poignant: "The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it."

Enjoying God's Creation Part 3

First, read Enjoying God's Creation Part 1.

Our final nature stop was a restaurant on the edge of a large pond full of crocodiles.  

Enjoying God's Creation Part 2

First, read Enjoying God's Creation Part 1

Our next stop was Monkey Forest Resort, just down the road.  A couple from Holland originally started it with the intention of opening a guest house.  However, their mission changed into an animal sanctuary with a volunteer lodge.  They realized that the increasing human population in the area was having a detrimental effect on the rainforest animals and resources, which in years to come could have extremely negative effects on the people. Elephants that once roamed the area are completely gone.  Mongooses which kill dangerous snakes are disappearing.  Our amazing God has knit together an intricate ecosystem in the African rainforest with each part, large or small, serving a purpose.  While the heart of humanity is God’s (and our) primary concern in life, He has also instructed us to be students and stewards of his Creation.

When they first rescue the monkeys
(from a variety of situations), they keep them in
the house until they are nursed back to health, so
a friendly relationship occurs until the monkey's
wild instincts return.

We could get so close, but watch out for sneaky hands!
Many a camera, wallet, and phone has been swiped
and quickly destroyed.

Weavers (this one is yellow) make interesting nests
and keep away the bugs.

Digging turtles out of the mud for us.

View from the top.

This one is more of a family pet.  He has no cage, but is
chained near the house.  There is a chalk line for visitors
to know how close to get.  He seemed to join our conversation
as we drank Coke on the patio.

Enjoying God's Creation Part 1

On October 14th, God provided us with an amazing day.

We had the day off of school for the end of the quarter, so a small group of us took the school bus to Cape Coast (about 2 1/2 hours west).  By leaving at 5a.m., we were able to squeeze in so much: the canopy walkway in Kakum National Rainforest, a monkey sanctuary, an alligator farm/restaurant, and Cape Coast castle, where African captives were held in the 18th Century.  A separate post will be dedicated to each place we visited.

Our first stop was the canopy walkway, where we walked 40 meters above the forest floor, atop the giant trees.  We signed no liability forms, but we were assured that engineers checked the walkway every day and all the cables and ropes are replaced every six months.  It was a beautiful view of lush green vegetation, brightly colored butterflies and birds, and even a chattering monkey.

Our guide explained that people once lived
under these trees by placing a covering
over the space between the flat, above-ground roots.

California girl (Tonya)

Minta and John couldn't even reach all the way around it together.

Hurray!