Names

Since leaving for college, I have found it funny thinking about the “names” in the stories I tell. When I left for college, I had a certain set of people that I always talked about from home and I wanted to make sure my new friends knew who they were. When I went home from college, I had a certain set of “names” from school that I talked (well, talk) about to everyone at home.

For me, knowing other people’s “names” and the group of people that’s important to them is always something I have valued. I think it’s so fun to hear about the new friends my high school friends have made at college, and so fun to hear about the high school friends of my college friends.

But because of this, I’ve struggled when there are people I’m close with that I feel like don’t take the time to learn my new names. That was really hard for me, especially with people from high school, when I felt like I had to clarify “Tricia/Devin/Callie, my roommate” or “Erin, she was my RA but then I lived with her and now we’re still friends” or “Randi, we played volleyball together.” And it wasn’t that I hadn’t mentioned them before (sometimes many times), it’s just not something that some people value knowing or remembering.

I feel like I talk about a lot of people in these posts, but who they actually are remains very confusing. It’s easy to keep track of people here (though there are still children’s names I need to learn), but telling stories is confusing because there are people from so many different areas/sections of City of Refuge and surrounding ministries that are involved here every day. Plus, no one (besides Anna) knows any of them, and probably won’t meet any of them… meaning it’s not easy to be invested in learning about them. But I am here for a year, and I want people at home (from all chapters of my life) to know about those who are shaping me and teaching me. With that, here is a little mini-biography of my current “names.”

John & Stacy Omorefe- John and Stacy are the couple that started City of Refuge. They and their family live in a separate house on the campus where I go to eat breakfast and dinner every day. They have spent the last 2 weeks on a cruise ship in Europe (don’t worry, I’m not jealous at all) and will return back here on Tuesday. John grew up in Nigeria and Stacy is from the States.

JJ (8yrs), Caleb (6yrs), and Justice Omorefe (3yrs)- These are John & Stacy’s biological children. They all live here (in the Omorefe house, not the children’s home) and attend school at FRIA (Faith Roots International Academy, my school).

Miracle (10), Paul (14), Rosemary (15), and Nosa (? He’s an adult) Omorefe- These are John’s brothers and sisters that he took under his care when his father died. They all live with the Omorefe family and Rosemary does a lot of the cooking for us. Nosa is an electrician and a total lifesaver to have around. Currently, Holly and I can’t find the set of keys for the volunteer house (where we’re not actually living, just using the water while ours is shut off) so I think he’s not very happy with us. But I really don’t think we were the last to have them!

Autumn Buzzell- Autumn is the Principal of FRIA and lives with the Omorefe family. This is her third school year in Ghana. Originally, she came to tutor the 9 children City of Refuge had, but she ended up starting her own classroom for them and has since opened a school that local children attend. She is from Colorado/California, and I was able to meet her, John, and Stacy when I was in San Francisco last Jan term. Autumn is the epitome of the word “servant” and handles everything on this campus, from taking on the role of “Mama Autumn” when J&S are gone to dealing with parents who don’t speak English at school, doing it all with such grace and love.

Holly Stewart- Holly is my roommate and the other volunteer teacher at the school (working in the preschool). She grew up in California, has been in Ghana since July, and will stay through December. Because she was here for 2 months before I got here, she was a HUGE help in teaching me the ropes of this place and just being a support in all aspects of life here. She has been a huge blessing to have in my life here and it will be really difficult when she leaves in a few months (but I can’t be looking that far ahead!). We live in a guest house with just the two of us, meaning that our living room area (which only has a small dining table and 2 plastic chairs that we stole from outside) is typically covered with teaching supplies and mugs with leftover tea/coffee, plus maybe a few candy wrappers.

The Beebe Family- The Beebe’s are a missionary family that is serving in Ghana with an organization called Feeding the Orphans (FTO). Originally from Knoxville, they have moved here for 2 years. Their family consists of Robin, Reed, and their 5 boys Mason, Franklin, Weston, Braedon, and Godwin. Godwin was adopted from Ghana last year and is HILARIOUS- he is so cute but he talks with such a monotone voice that it’s just precious. All the boys attend FRIA and are working to figure out school life in Ghana (which is SO different than in the States). Robin serves as a teacher mentor at our school and is there a couple days a week observing classrooms and working with the teachers. She also hosts our weekly girls Bible Study which includes me, Holly, Autumn, Katie, and a woman named Angie.

Katie Batchelor- Katie is a recent high school grad who knows the Beebe’s from home and has come to live with them for two months here. She is helping out at the school and doing ministry work with them through FTO. She has the sweetest southern accent and sometimes I just like to listen to her talk. She also shares my love for pineapple, which I appreciate greatly.

Angie (I know her last name but I can’t think of it!)- I just met Angie last night for the first time but she is a missionary living about an hour and a half from us in Cape Coast, Ghana. She and her husband Paul also run a children’s home and she attends Bible study with us when she is able to make the trip out here.

I know I have also spoken about my co-teacher here, but I will leave the names of the other staff off of this blog. There have been some great high’s and great low’s already in working with this staff, as I try and figure out what they are saying with their accents and how students know how to learn here.

There are 36 (I think) children living in the Children’s Home right now, and I’m a little nervous to see how many names I can actually name…

Joel, Malvin, Edwin, Gamali, Amenyo, Gabriel, Portia, Hannah, Florence, Mary, Mary, Dora, Evelyn, Gracie, Abigail, Aggie, Valentina, Benard, Benard, Bismark, Bismark, John, John, Sami, Moses, Rafael, Rafael, Robert, Mershak, Alex, Ben, Enoch, Aaron… That’s 33. And I’m sure I’m forgetting some really obvious ones! Plus I had to have Holly/my camera help me out with a couple.

My typical school day schedule as a 2^nd grade teacher (which I am not anymore!):

4:30- Be woken up by the stupid roosters outside our window. Try very hard to go back to sleep.

6:01- Be re-woken up by my alarm after an hour and a half of lame sleep. Be mad at the roosters. Contemplate showering, usually decide it’s too early for cold water.

6:40- Walk to the Omorefe house for breakfast. Remember how I’m definitely not a morning person. Eat bread and drink hot water or tea because I’m still trying to not drink coffee. Crave Pleasant Blends anyway.

7:00- Frantically go back to my house and gather the 1,034 things I have to bring to school.

7:10- Leave for school, frantically write the schedule on the board and organize worksheets and think “I should have done more yesterday!”

7:45- School starts!

9:45- Think to myself “How am I going to make Language Arts last 45 more minutes? We’ve already been going for an hour.”

10:30- Send the kids to break. Usually give them 5-10 extra minutes for my own sanity.

2:00- Think to myself “Just one more hour…”

2:50- Mass cleaning chaos ensues, since SO much dirt & dust & mud get tracked in every day

2:59- Send the kids out the door!

Tuesday-Thursday we have meetings after school, Monday and Friday I stick around for a while to prep for the next day. Because we don’t have a ton of hands-on supplies, much space in the classroom, and critical thinking is basically nonexistent here, it’s difficult to be a creative lesson planner. Or I just need to be much better at using what I have. Which I know is definitely true!

4:00- Lock our door, sit at our dining room table, and debrief the day with Holly and a cup of tea to soothe our hurting throats! You can likely find us trying to beat the next level of Box Man on Holly’s phone… Anna, I understand your Ghana cell phone game addiction! I have this funny Panda game where you have to butt-bump bugs off of the bamboo stalks to earn points and it’s super funny.

6:00- Head to the Omorefe house for dinner with their family.

6:45- Prep for school the next day, listen to music, clean, or read

9:00- Go to bed and repeat the next day!

I am hoping that as this routine solidifies and I start to work in the resource room, I become both more motivated and more of a go-getter. These first two and a half weeks have been pretty disheartening in the classroom and pretty hard on my confidence as a teacher. I am walking away from this 2^nd grade class feeling as though I didn’t teach them anything, and that is so hard for me. I’m sure it’s also not true, but it feels like it… And I know there is a lot more I could have done. But I still have a whole year left in this school and I need to remember that I still have a lot of work left to do with these kids!!

On Tuesday night this week, I got a chance to talk to Tricia on the phone for a while, which was such a needed and uplifting conversation. However, at the same time, it made me miss home and the people there so much. There is a huge chunk of my heart that wants to be in Spokane talking wedding details with Tricia and spending time outside with Devin and drinking Pleasant Blends with anyone who I can convince to join me. Another huge chunk of me wants to be somewhere in close proximity to Caty where I can go hang out with her and her sweet kittens whenever I want to, with the ability to text those both near and far to me at all times. But yet, the chunk that I chose to follow has been called here to West Africa. The one thing that has the ability to tear me down here is wishing for what I cannot have, and I have to figure out a way to both cope with the desire to be in the States yet learning to love being and living here. I was talking about this at Bible Study last night and Robin was asking us all “What do you to do deal with missing home?” and I had to just say that I don’t have a way to deal yet… Besides leave Chapel crying because it’s all I can think about (that was my Wednesday. I left  class crying twice this week… It wasn’t my best moment). I know that this week I sound like I am just complaint after complaint, but I know I shouldn’t be… I am blessed here and thankful to be in the place where I am at! Time to go finish tying up second-grade ends and prepping for Resource Room! Pray I don’t get blown away (literally) by the crazy wind that is outside right now…

PS- There was a HUGE rainstorm that lasted half an hour during school yesterday and I couldn’t teach because you couldn’t hear anything since the rain was so loud… It was so cool! Even though it makes everything so muddy, we have the ability to be inside during the rain and I just love it. My classroom roof does leak in places though so we had to do some rearranging of the desks during it… I’m sure this was just the first of many experiences like this!