Our first field trip!

On Monday, March 23, my class went on a field trip to the Coka Cola Factory in Monrovia. It was our first field trip as a class and we had a wonderful time.

We were greeted by one of the managers, Gabriel Johnson, who is also a Ricks graduate. Mr. Johnson had our day organized and was very welcoming to our group. He began by giving us an overview of the factory and how it operates. The students were allowed to ask questions during his presentation. Then several of the employees gave us a tour of the factory. The students were mesmerized by all of the machinery and equipment that was used to bottle the soft drinks. They asked well thought out questions and retained most of the information they were given. I was shocked by how attentive the students were during the tour and surprised by how much they learned. At the end of the tour we got to meet Rocketfeller Findley, the Regional General Manager of Coca Cola and a Ricks graduate. He was very engaging and the students loved getting to talk to him. The highlight of the day was the free soft drinks!! Bottled Coca Cola products usually sell for about 35 Liberian dollars. This is more than most students can afford, so a free soda was a huge deal. The students were not expecting to get a drink at the end of the day, so it was a big surprise when Mr. Findley offered one to everyone. They were all very appreciative.

I rode in the van with the girls on the way back to Ricks. We sang and danced to popular songs on the radio the entire way back. I had intended to stop and get ice cream for everyone, but all of the shops were either closed or out of ice cream. So, instead of ice cream we stopped at the family bakery. Everyone got pancake bread, which is the same thing as a cupcake without the icing. The students seemed to enjoy it and it was a good end to a fun day!

The best part about taking this field trip was watching the students present what they learned to the rest of the student body. Seven of my students wrote down what they learned on an index card and shared it in chapel on Wednesday morning. This was their first time to stand up in front of the school and speak in a microphone. They did a fantastic job and got a huge round of applause at the end. They were all very proud of themselves and I was a very proud teacher!

A Thought to Ponder

“Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills- against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence… Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation…

It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

-Robert Kennedy

The End of Poverty

“The question should not be whether the rich can afford to help the poor, but whether we can afford not to.” – Jeffrey Sachs

I just finished a book called The End of Poverty, written by Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Advisor to the United Nations on the Millennium Development Goals. After reading this book, I understand why Time said he is one of the world’s hundred most influential people.

There were parts of this book that made me frustrated with the way the US has been responding to global poverty. “A survey done in 2001 by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland reported that Americans, on average, believed that foreign aid accounts for 20% of the federal budget, roughly twenty-four times the actual figure.” Can you see my frustration? Four hundred of the highest income Americans had a combined income in 2000 that exceeded the combined incomes of Botswana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Uganda. This was the total income of 161 million people in those four countries, who average $350 per year, compared to 400 hundred superrich Americans. The United States spent about $2.5 billion for two weeks of support in the war in Iraq. That is the same amount spent for an entire year of economic development assistance in Africa. Does this make anyone else frustrated? I guess I just feel like we have our priorities all mixed up, especially when the United States alone can end world hunger. Through the Millennium Development Project, the rich world has committed .07 percent of gross national product, which is 7 cents of every $10 in income. We are talking about less than 1 % of total income. This is definitely a good start, assuming that we follow through on our commitment. I could write for pages and pages about this, but I will spare you my opinions for the time being.

There were also parts of this book that were very inspiring and gave me hope for the end of extreme poverty in our world. This book was so rich with facts, information, challenges, research, and achievable goals that I had to read it twice to process all of it. Jeffrey Sachs emphasizes the importance of the United Nations Millennium Development Project, with a series of goals set forth to half global poverty by 2015 and end extreme poverty by 2025. If you have not heard of the Millennium Development Goals, I would strongly encourage you to research them and find ways to be involved.

On Thursday I had the opportunity to meet and talk with the US Ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, at the US Embassy in Monrovia. We discussed the work being done at Ricks Institute and the partnerships that have been formed with churches, schools, and non-profits in the US. The ambassador was very honest with us and told us about the many things that the US is doing to help Liberia re-build. Her words basically summarized an important quote in Jeffrey Sachs book. She said that the US can’t afford to not help Liberia. The Ambassador stressed the importance of the relationship between the US and Liberia, and our responsibility to help Liberia get back on her feet after 14 years of civil war. She said that the US is currently giving money for agriculture development, infrastructure, health, education, and government support for the upcoming presidential elections. She also mentioned the Millennium Development project and Liberia’s efforts to hopefully meet the Millennium Challenge in 2-3 years.

Meeting with the Ambassador was an incredible experience, and I left with an overwhelming mix of emotions. I felt so empowered to continue to give my time, energy, and resources to the ongoing work that is being done in Liberia and at Ricks Institute. I left feeling very optimistic and hopeful about the future of Liberia and the involvement of the US in this war-torn country. Living in Liberia has given me a whole new perspective on poverty, but more importantly, it has made me more aware of what can be done to end it.

Basketball, Basketball, and more Basketball!

Coaching the girl’s basketball team is still one of the highlights of my ministry at Ricks. I have absolutely fallen in love with all 17 girls and truly value the time that we spend together.

We are still practicing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (even on holidays!) at 2:00pm. The girls have made so much progress since the beginning of the year and because of that we are able to do and accomplish a lot more at practice. The warm up drills consist of lay-ups, jump shots, and free throws. Sometimes we also add in some dribbling and ball handling skills. Then we normally work on specific skills that need improvement and introduce or review game plays. Practice normally ends with a scrimmage where the team implements the new things they have learned. Practice generally ends around 3:30pm and then the team eats lunch together in the dinning hall. The girls have a break from 4:00 to 5:00, which normally turns into a team social hour in front of the school building. Conditioning begins at 5:00pm. The girls are marked late if they are not running at 5:00. Conditioning usually consists of running (about a mile and a half) and some basic strength exercises (push ups, sit ups, lunges, stairs, etc.). By the end of conditioning the girls are wiped out. Some of them come and collapse on the steps of the school building and just lay down for about 5 minutes before moving. Practice days definitely make for a long afternoon, but the hard work is paying off.

We had a game at the Monrovia Sports Commission on Thursday, against the Cathedral High School. The team went into the game confident and determined to win. All the girls played very well and the routine drills at practice prepared the team for victory. The starting five went in and lit up the scoreboard. After half time our second and third string went in for the rest of the game. They held the lead and brought home another victory for Ricks. The final score was 28-8, which makes the Lady Dragons 5-0 this year.

Last weekend Ricks hosted a school from Nimba County. They arrived very late Friday night, prepared to take on the Dragons in a series of sporting events on Saturday. The day began with co-ed sand volleyball. After an exciting match, the crowed moved over to the court for girls and boys basketball games. We played two 20 minute halves with a running clock against a newly formed team of 6. All of the girls got to play and it was exciting to watch some of them score for the first time. Although it was not much of a game, everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. The Lady Dragons pulled out a 58-10 win! Following our game, the boys also won. After lunch there was a kickball and soccer (football) game. The kickball team lost by 1 point, but later the soccer team brought home another Ricks victory!

It was an exciting week, filled with lots of fun competition. It feels good to win and to see the girls so excited and confident in themselves. We are just praying they don’t get over confident and lose sight of what has gotten them this far. It was a great week of basketball and I am looking forward to more in the next few weeks as we prepare for the high school tournament. Go Dragons!

Hard Days Come and Go

Tuesday morning I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I did not want to get up, but forced myself out of bed to get to school on time. Chapel is supposed to end by 8:15am, when first period is supposed to start. On Tuesday we did not get out of chapel until 9:00am. I was frustrated as I entered my classroom with the realization that I was not going to get to do everything that I had planned for the day. As if my normal school days are not short enough, I suddenly went from 3 hours of teaching time to 2 hours of teaching time.

I came to school at 7:30, wishing I was still in bed. I went through the rest of the school day wishing that I was still in bed. Needless to say, I was not the happy teacher that I am on a typical day. I felt like I yelled all day long. My students were probably wondering why their teacher was so mean. I was wondering the same thing. I had no idea why I was in such a mad mood, but I couldn’t just make it go away. My kids seemed louder than normal. They complained more than normal. They were constantly out of their seats. They were fighting and yelling. I knew that my attitude was rubbing off on them. All I wanted was for the day to be over.

During recess I prayed that God would give me enough patience to make it through the rest of the day. I cried with frustration because I couldn’t understand what was going on with me. There was no reason for the bad mood that I was in. After recess we played sight word bingo (not part of my plans for the day). This is only the 2^nd time I have played this with my students. They absolutely love it. I thought that if we did something fun, it would somehow make the students happier and put me in a better mood.

At the end of the third round one of my boys yelled “BINGO!” The class knows that when someone says “bingo” that I have to walk over and check their card to make sure they are telling the truth. After I confirmed that this little boy had won, he broke out in dance and song. The entire class began to laugh and before I knew it I was laughing so hard that I was crying. Ten minutes later the bell rang to end the school day. My day had just gotten a little bit better.

After school I went home and took a long nap. I didn’t even eat lunch. I just got straight in bed and was asleep within seconds. I know that is exactly what I needed. When I woke up I felt like it was a brand new day.

I have not had many days like this since I have been here, but they happen. Some things don’t change no matter where in the world you are. Hard days come and they go, but the good days are the ones that keep me going. The good days are the ones that I remember!

A fun, exciting, and busy week!

I apologize for my lack of blog posting lately. After returning from 3 weeks in the US, I have been very busy with testing, grading, lesson plans, and basketball practice. I finally feel like I am back in the flow of things and have the time to focus some of my time on my blog.

Last week was the first week of our 5th marking period. It was so refreshing to be back in the classroom with my students after being away for a while. We kicked off the week reviewing the material that the substitute covered while I was gone. I am constantly amazed with the progress my students are making. Their writing has improved so much from the beginning of the year. This semester we have worked on paragraph development, and they have even written a couple of short stories. It is exciting to watch their creativity come out in their writing and to see them so proud of their accomplishments. Math continues to be their biggest struggle, but progress is still being made. We began subtraction with larger numbers this semester and it has been a huge challenge. When I returned from the US there were still only about 5 students who had mastered this concept. We spent all week talking about what it means to borrow, and after much practice, something clicked on Friday. It was like watching a light bulb come on in a room that has been dark for a long time. The students were so excited to finally understand something that had been so complicated the week before. They were all eagerly raising their hands to come up to the board to solve a problem in front of the class. It was one of those moment when I said to myself, "This is why I am a here."

Testing week is often referred to as "dead week." Olu makes it very clear to all the students and teachers that no extracurricular activities are to take place during testing week. It is a full week devoted to studying for the tests being given. This meant no basketball practice. Monday was my first day back at practice with the girls, and I was greeted with lots of hugs and "we missed you." It was like a homecoming! We practiced on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon and did conditioning in the evening. Holly changed our conditioning time while I was gone from 5am to 5pm. What a great idea!! This does make for really long days, but it is so much better than waking up at 4:45 to go run. This change has also led to a better turn out, daylight, and more energy. It was definitely a nice surprise to come back to! We have our next basketball game on Thursday at the Sports Commission in Monrovia. We still have lots to work on before the game, but the girls are excited and hopefully it will be another victory for the dragons!

This weekend Holly and I are staying in town with our friends in Sinkor. They work for Harbort International, the company building the new US Embassy. We were invited to their work party last night that was here at their compound. The night was filled with good food (samosas, a whole hog, mini pizzas, hummus, texas caviar, chicken wings, etc.), live music (a local cover band), and lots of dancing. When I woke up this morning I was sore from 5 hours of dancing. It was a blast! It was an experience when I couldn't help but look around at the diversity of the group and feel inspired. There were people from Ireland, Nigeria, Algeria, the US, Liberia, and the Philippines all dancing, eating, hugging, and socializing with each other. I wish these experiences were not so few and far between. We had an amazing time, and had no trouble falling asleep at 2:30 am.

My first culture shock experience...

Coming to Liberia was my first time out of the US; therefore, I had never experienced real culture shock before. Holly and I made preparations and took all of the advice we could get before coming to Liberia in August. We were warned that “reverse culture shock” would probably be more challenging for us to cope with when we returned to the US. Little did I know that I was going to experience it long before I was supposed to.

About four weeks ago Holly and I had the opportunity to go to Ghana with Ottolee for a week. Although the main reason for our trip was to see a doctor, we were both very excited about getting to spend time in another part of Africa. We arrived Monday evening and spent all day Tuesday at the hospital. Yes, you read that correctly… we were at this hospital just about all day long. This was just the starting point of our frustration. When the day was over it was confirmed that Holly had malaria and I needed to fly back to the US for further medical diagnosis. To put it mildly, it was a day from hell.

Despite some of our frustrations with the hotel staff, it was nice staying in rooms with air conditioning and internet access. The internet access came in handy because Holly and I did not have a working phone in Ghana. I spent the majority of the next few days talking with family on the computer and trying to work out travel arrangements. Unfortunately, booking flights and making travel plans from Africa is not very easy. This was a very tedious process, which fortunately worked out fine. Holly was not feeling very well for the rest of the week, but still journeyed out into the city with us. We both agreed that the week would have been much more fun if it were not for our medical situations. We did however get to go shopping, eat at some neat restaurants, and we even saw a movie at the movie theater in the mall. Yes, there was a MALL and a MOVIE THEATER. Part of our experience in Ghana felt like being back in the US. There were paved roads, traffic lights, tall business buildings, electricity, etc. Ghana is developing country with improving infrastructure, but the poverty is still very noticeable. I like to think that my time in Ghana helped minimize the culture shock some, which may or may not be true.

When we left for Ghana I was trying to be very optimistic. I told myself that everything was going to check out fine with the doctor and I was not going to have to go home. I had prepared myself for good news. The news from the doctor was not bad, but definitely added shake to my optimism. The doctor recommended that I return to the US for further diagnosis. Needless to say, my family was in full agreement. So, I boarded a plane from Ghana that took me to New York City and then on to Orlando.

The culture shock began the moment I got into the car. With air conditioning blowing in my face, country music on the radio, and my dad and brother in the seats next to me, I began to notice the things that I have been missing for the last 6 months. We were driving down a three lane paved road, with traffic lights and signs. There were buildings lining the street with electricity. When I got home that evening I watched TV on a large screen, drank clean water, and went to sleep in a large comfortable bed with air conditioning blowing down on me. In the blink of an eye things were different. I was surrounded by all of these familiar luxuries, but all I could think about was coming back to Liberia.

Yes, there were parts about being home that I really enjoyed… a hot shower, familiar food, hugging friends and family. The problem was, I was not supposed to be home. All of those things will be celebrated in June, when it is time. Although, I still anticipate the culture shock then too. It will be all of the feelings and emotions that I felt a few weeks ago, only I wont have the comfort of turning around and getting on a plane back to Liberia. Not time to think about that yet… we still have 3 more amazing months!!