Harvest Time

Sometimes I forget I live in Africa. Honestly I do. I think it’s because I get so into my routine here that it doesn’t always strike me as being very different. But then other times it hits me like a ton of bricks. I took this photo at one of my student’s houses recently and it was a very ‘Yes I’m living on another continent’ moment for me. With the mud huts, drying maize, and big baobab tree in the background, it’s not something that you see in America. Speaking of maize, I was riding my bike through a maize field recently and it dawned on me that it’s somewhat comparable to a corn maze back home (I guess I could call it a maize maze if I did one here). Sometimes I get caught up in what I’m missing at home and forget to enjoy what I have here. I wish I enjoyed eating roasted maize like a Ghanaian but it’s one of the few foods I really don’t enjoy. It’s too crunchy and chewy instead of soft like corn on the cob. Besides some of the maize being ready, it’s also groundnut harvest time! This is great because I do love groundnuts. And people have literally been giving me bags of groundnuts. I like them boiled best so have been chopping (eating) them a lot recently which has helped my protein intake. A couple of times I’ve been out for bike rides and have run across students with their groundnuts with the plant still attached on a donkey cart. They then have proceeded to give me a bunch (not sure if that’s the right word) of ground nuts including the plant.

Last Wednesday was an unusual day for me. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my busier teaching days but this day was particularly busy. First I decided to torture myself last week and give ICT tests in all forms (1, 2, and 3). Basically what happened was that I planned for each class individually and didn’t really plan for my marking workload holistically- oops. Back to hump day, besides teaching my regular 3 classes, I also taught Maths to the form 3s after ICT since the teacher who was supposed to be in their class wasn’t around. I also had an extra class with the form 1s after school. This means that I taught 5 classes which is 6 hours of teaching. You may be thinking to yourself that this is a normal teaching day in America. I also know this to be true so I had this realization that I might be in big trouble when I come back to America and try to work. But for the here and now I’ll feel super productive on days like this and worry about getting my work ethic back in shape later.

On Thursday I’m travelling with two of my students to my friend Sonia’s village for the Upper East Food Security Youth Camp! I’ve been helping plan some of the logistics for the camp and think it’s going to be awesome. 12 volunteers are helping out with the camp, 9 of whom are bringing students. I’m taking our boys senior prefect Michael (the one who wrote me the letter I posted for World Teacher’s Day) and one of my favorites from form 2, a girl named Linda. I’ve been telling my students it’s an agriculture camp since they don’t know what food security is- but they’ll soon learn. The goal at the end of the camp is for us to go back to our schools and start 4-H type clubs to do activities with. We’ll be learning about club formation, nutrition, school gardens, animal rearing, tree nurseries, sustainable farming, and more. The best part is it won’t only just be learning about how to do all this but it’ll actually be hands on. One day we’ll actually help plan a garden and another day we’ll help build a chicken coop to give us ideas of projects we can do. We’re also throwing in some HIV/AIDS health education and, after full day of learning, lots fun at night - games, films, a talent show and a bonfire the last night. We’re all super excited about the camp! I’m sure I’ll be exhausted after it though and a little behind at school so my post next week might be a bit late.