WOW! Has it really been two and a half weeks since I last updated this blog? I am doing very well and am very busy. Last week Linda and I traveled to Kumasi to attend a "Healthcare Training" class which is taught by a Canadian Nurse who is here in Ghana working with IHCF (International Healthcare Foundation). I met Avril in February when I visited the two clinics which IHCF has here in Ghana. She has been here for 14 years total. Linda, who is Dan's daughter and will be assisting with the clinic at OAVI, is not a nurse and so needs to be trained in healthcare. I assisted Avril with teaching the week long class and Linda was a student. The class was helpful to me because I was interacting with Ghanaians and learning about their culture and some of the beliefs they have about healthcare. Linda will continue to travel to Kumasi for the classes until she completes the course; however, I will probably not go back at this time. I am finding myself busy enough with my duties at OAVI.
This is the third week of school for this term. I am busy preparing and writing my class lessons, teaching, attempting to deal with licensing issues, getting medications lined up and assisting with some administrative issues at the school as well. The teachers and students both want to learn from me. There are many things they do which can be done in more efficient ways. I can not and will not come into this setting and just start making/suggesting changes. However, I have been asked to work with the teachers to help them find more effective ways to help the students be successful. Also, the teachers have expressed frustration with the discipline practices they are currently using and would like to have input on some ways to change the discipline practices which may be more effective.
As a nurse, we are taught how to teach. However, we are not trained in the same depth as our educational teachers. I am finding myself in new waters. I have taught other nurses and healthcare workers many times, but to teach teens and tweens is a new experience. Many of the students appear to be very interested and engaged in the health classes. However, I have to teach more than health. I need to teach them discipline, respect, english and health. AND in Ghana, unlike America, I can use the Bible as a teaching tool.
Beginning this week, I have now started a daily Bible Study during the lunch hour. The attendance is purely voluntary for the students. I will have this short Bible Studies Monday thru Thursday. I am using the "Essential 100" (E-100) study guide for my study plan. It has only been 3 days, however, the class is growing daily and the input/questions are growing. I hope this will lead to some good things to come.
It is the rainy season here and I now know where the phrases "Raining Buckets" and "Raining Cats and Dogs" came from. Of course, the best description of the rain here is "When it rains it POURS!" The rains are daily and I mean it comes down. Sometimes the winds pick up and it comes sideways, but most of the time it is straight down and HARD!
Where I live, we are usually unable to get running water. So I have really mastered the art of the "bucket bath". We are lucky enough to have our own well in our compound. Others in the area use common wells and have to carry the water long distances to their homes. One of the benefits of traveling to Kumasi was the ability to have a shower. However, in Kumasi, we were unable to get electricity most of the time. So.....I believe I am more thankful to have the electricity and not the water. I can not imagine living here in this heat and humidity without my air conditioner and ceiling fan!!! Bring in the buckets of water......!!
Tonight I splurged and cooked pancakes for dinner! A small box of pancake mix was $7 and I bought local syrup. We also do not have any propane for our stove, so we are cooking outside on a small charcoal grill which is about one foot square. Propane is becoming a little hard to get due to the high gas prices ($6/gallon). The taxi drivers have converted their vehicles to use propane instead of gas. So when you see a propane dealer, the place is swamped with taxi cars. If you are lucky enough to make it through the long line, they are usually out of propane by that time. However, I think the reason we do not have any propane is probably more likely due to lack of funds than lack of propane.
The Asiamah family does not allow me to give them money. So I try to help with purchasing food, water for drinking and gas for the cars when I can. At the first of the month, the school has to pay all the teachers and staff their monthly stipend. Dan frequently uses personal funds to supplement the donations when they are not enough or come in late. He says the money belongs to God and God will provide. I believe God does and will.
I entitled this update "How times flies......" so let me leave you with this.
James 4:13-17 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that" As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
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