Oct 27, 2008
Well, it's been a little over a month now, and Guinea's feeling more like home. Teaching my one class continues to be enjoyable, and it's great having students who are interested in the subject and even like to work on projects outside of class, although that aspect of it makes me have to work harder to keep a step ahead.
The past week gave me a few opportunities to do some computer "surgery." I've always thought that if being a doctor is analogous to doing computer tech support except with a living patient who doesn't have a "restart" button, then count me out. Actually, count me out of the health profession anyway since I don't do well with blood. Computers are a bit easier because usually the worst that can happen is you have to (1) restart, (2) reload the machine from scratch (a little time-consuming but not the end of the world), or (3) order new parts, which gets a little tricky in Guinea since the mail system isn't really reliable. I had the potential for all 3 of these cases this week, but ended up saving one computer from being reloaded. Another computer needs a new video card, so you can pray for a way to get that shipped over here successfully, whether through the mail or via someone coming for a conference or to visit or something.
I've also had a chance to have some more interaction with the Guineans in the village where the mission center is located. Although my French and Landuma are both lacking, the little bit of French that I get from sitting in on my roommate's class has definitely been helpful for basic communication. Hand and arms motion help, too. There are a couple girls (twins) who have latched on to Jen and I, I think because we're the newest people here and closer than some in age to them. I would say they are about 14 or 15 years old, and it amazes me how they can at times seem older than their years (when they show us methods to improve our fire-cooking skills) and how at other times, they seem like little kids. This week they came over with their school books, and we saw a little peek into their level of schooling, which isn't very high for their age. We also saw how excited they were over paper and markers for drawing pictures and the few stickers that we gave them. I think a lot of these kids kind of miss out on some of the things that we would consider a pretty basic part of our childhood.
Some things you can pray about...
* We're short on propane here, which makes cooking a little interesting. Jen and I have been borrowing a neighbor's tank for the past couple of weeks, but we try to use it sparingly and cook over a fire more often. We were blessed yesterday to receive a new tank that came down from Senegal, so pray that we will use it wisely, that we will have good opportunities to share our blessing with those who are also running low on propane, and that there will soon be more propane in Guinea so people can fill up their tanks. Also, pray that we can continue to improve our fire-cooking skills. :)
* Pray for the AFLC (African Leadership Conference) being held here in Guinea, that the teaching and times of worship can be good and energizing for the people attending. Also pray for the people who are doing everything behind the scenes to make it a success and for their health as they run around trying to make sure things are ready to go.
* Start praying for teachers next year here at the school. A couple of families who do a lot at the school, especially high school level, are going to be on furlough, so there may be a shortage of people able to teach high school subjects. If you're interested, ask me about the Associate Program and how you can be a part, to serve over here for a year or two.
* Continue to pray for the tribal believers, that they can endure persecution from their families and the people in their villages and continue to want to be fed from the word of God.
Thanks for your prayers and for checking in on me. Hope you're all doing well, and feel free to drop me an email or call me through skype sometime.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
One month
As of yesterday, I've officially been in country for 1 month. Life here is starting to feel pretty normal, and I often find myself saying things as if I've been here for years: "Oh yeah, that's common for rainy season" or "We haven't been able to find that kind of cheese at the market for a long time" or "You'll get used to them stopping by and hanging out on your porch."
I started teaching this week. I only officially have one class that includes a couple of middle schoolers doing typing and a high school senior who wants to learn some programming. All three of them are really well-behaved, so sometimes I almost forget that there are two boys sitting in the corner typing away. The programming has been fun so far, and I think it'll be a good challenge for me to try to adapt the "curriculum" to the one student since he has an interest in a program that requires knowledge of Python (not the snake, the programming language). Speaking of snakes, I saw my first one yesterday, already killed by some of the other missionaries. Although at times I think it'd be fun to spot one live, I think for now, seeing it not so alive was a good way to be introduced. :)
I also got to do some substitute teaching for a teacher who was out sick for half the week. He normally teaches just about every class other than English and electives for the high school, so we split his classes among a few of the rest of us. I got to cover physics and algebra 2, and for some reason, I really enjoyed myself. I think part of it is that the students are really easy to work with -- most of the time they sit attentively taking notes, participating when I ask questions, asking me questions if they don't understand. I also got to lead chapel on Thursday with my guitar, which was also a lot of fun. It showed me I could use a little work on some of my guitar skills, but the kids chose some fun songs (Prince of Peace, All in All, Shout to the Lord, Hungry, etc) and did a good job singing along. We also spent some time talking about various things we've all been reading in the bible lately. One girl brought up the story of Ruth and her courage in following her mother-in-law and the true God; another boy talked about the prayer that Paul says in Philippians, that their "...love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight..." Sometimes I wish we did more of that sort of thing spontaneously because a lot of times people see things in a way that I probably never would reading through the same passage.
On Tuesday, the Landuma village nearby had the Abram Cup soccer final, so a group of adults and high school students drove over to watch. We got rained on again, but well... that's pretty common for rainy season. ;) I spent much of the time there amusing the kids with my digital camera -- they love to be able to see themselves in the viewer after the picture's taken. You can see some of the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/kelseyAfrica. Afterwards, they gave us a round of speeches about the history of the school, the origins of the Abram Cup tournament, and a bunch of thank yous for coming, followed by another delicious meal. Sometimes I think that people in the US should learn from the Guineans on how to really show hospitality.
The Sheffield family gave me a ride out to another Landuma village with them on Sunday for the Landuma church service. I'm starting to get to the point where their songs stick in my head, even if I can't really understand what I'm singing. It's still cool to me to be able to worship God simultaneously in different languages. I think I usually take it for granted that God is omni-lingual, but it's actually really impressive, especially considering the fact that I still learn new English words every time I play Boggle, and that's supposed to be the language I know!
Thank you for your continued prayers while I'm here. For those of you hanging out where the leaves are multi-colored, enjoy them for me! :)
I started teaching this week. I only officially have one class that includes a couple of middle schoolers doing typing and a high school senior who wants to learn some programming. All three of them are really well-behaved, so sometimes I almost forget that there are two boys sitting in the corner typing away. The programming has been fun so far, and I think it'll be a good challenge for me to try to adapt the "curriculum" to the one student since he has an interest in a program that requires knowledge of Python (not the snake, the programming language). Speaking of snakes, I saw my first one yesterday, already killed by some of the other missionaries. Although at times I think it'd be fun to spot one live, I think for now, seeing it not so alive was a good way to be introduced. :)
I also got to do some substitute teaching for a teacher who was out sick for half the week. He normally teaches just about every class other than English and electives for the high school, so we split his classes among a few of the rest of us. I got to cover physics and algebra 2, and for some reason, I really enjoyed myself. I think part of it is that the students are really easy to work with -- most of the time they sit attentively taking notes, participating when I ask questions, asking me questions if they don't understand. I also got to lead chapel on Thursday with my guitar, which was also a lot of fun. It showed me I could use a little work on some of my guitar skills, but the kids chose some fun songs (Prince of Peace, All in All, Shout to the Lord, Hungry, etc) and did a good job singing along. We also spent some time talking about various things we've all been reading in the bible lately. One girl brought up the story of Ruth and her courage in following her mother-in-law and the true God; another boy talked about the prayer that Paul says in Philippians, that their "...love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight..." Sometimes I wish we did more of that sort of thing spontaneously because a lot of times people see things in a way that I probably never would reading through the same passage.
On Tuesday, the Landuma village nearby had the Abram Cup soccer final, so a group of adults and high school students drove over to watch. We got rained on again, but well... that's pretty common for rainy season. ;) I spent much of the time there amusing the kids with my digital camera -- they love to be able to see themselves in the viewer after the picture's taken. You can see some of the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/kelseyAfrica. Afterwards, they gave us a round of speeches about the history of the school, the origins of the Abram Cup tournament, and a bunch of thank yous for coming, followed by another delicious meal. Sometimes I think that people in the US should learn from the Guineans on how to really show hospitality.
The Sheffield family gave me a ride out to another Landuma village with them on Sunday for the Landuma church service. I'm starting to get to the point where their songs stick in my head, even if I can't really understand what I'm singing. It's still cool to me to be able to worship God simultaneously in different languages. I think I usually take it for granted that God is omni-lingual, but it's actually really impressive, especially considering the fact that I still learn new English words every time I play Boggle, and that's supposed to be the language I know!
Thank you for your continued prayers while I'm here. For those of you hanging out where the leaves are multi-colored, enjoy them for me! :)
Friday, October 10, 2008
Week 3
Finished up week 3 in Guinea yesterday. Most of the past week has been busy with continued learning on the new NTMAA software. For me, the computer part of it is pretty easy to pick up, but it takes a little longer to wrap my mind around the accounting/bookkeeping part. Overall, I think it's been a good experience for everyone in that it's given the current bookkeepers a chance to iron out some of the issues they've had with things in the past and to get a feel for why accounts were created, what they're used for, etc.
Outside of training, I've been spending my time trying to remember all the things that my roommate usually takes care of when she's around. She and Micha went up to visit some missionaries who work with a tribe about 12 hours drive north-ish of here. From the sounds of things, their taxi ride actually took closer to 24 hours, but they made it safely. Anyway, now I have to remember things like re-filling the water tank outside, re-filling the container inside that filters water to drink, cleaning the filter, getting the water tank outside cleaned, checking the battery level of the batteries that are charged by our solar system, etc. The good news is that it's starting to become more of a routine, so I don't have to think as much about things, I just do them. The bad news is that I still managed to forget to turn off the water pump this morning and Regina had to come tell me that the water tank was overflowing.
This past weekend, I had a chance to ride along with some of the missionaries to a nearby village of Landuma people. They were hosting a soccer tournament in honor of the MK school here because they helped provide cement floors for the school. It was my first official village experience, and I really enjoyed the chance to get outside the fenceline here and see some of the Guinean people. Jim translated for us while we were there, but I'm working on at least picking up the Landuma phrases that are used as greetings. It seems like they say at least 3 different things when they greet someone, usually echoed back by the person they're greeting, and usually heard differently by me every time I try to learn them.
I also got to experience my first real Guinean meal because they fed us after the soccer game. We were inside the school building in the dark (they don't have electricity there), so I'm not entirely sure what my food looked like, but it was good. Rather than serving everyone individually, they put a big plate/bowl in the middle of the table, and everyone reaches in and eats the food in front of them. Jim brought along spoons for us to use, but typically the Guineans would eat with their right hands. Silverware's ok and all, but I'm kinda with the Guineans on this one -- when you have a chance to use your hands, take it! :)
Again, thank you for all yours prayers for me so far. A couple prayer requests I have now are that I can be ready to teach a computer class or two on Monday, that I'm able to pick up a little of the language around here so I don't feel so helpless in communication, and that the tribal missionaries can be encouraged by the work of the support missionaries here at the mission center.
Thanks, and hope you're doing well!
Outside of training, I've been spending my time trying to remember all the things that my roommate usually takes care of when she's around. She and Micha went up to visit some missionaries who work with a tribe about 12 hours drive north-ish of here. From the sounds of things, their taxi ride actually took closer to 24 hours, but they made it safely. Anyway, now I have to remember things like re-filling the water tank outside, re-filling the container inside that filters water to drink, cleaning the filter, getting the water tank outside cleaned, checking the battery level of the batteries that are charged by our solar system, etc. The good news is that it's starting to become more of a routine, so I don't have to think as much about things, I just do them. The bad news is that I still managed to forget to turn off the water pump this morning and Regina had to come tell me that the water tank was overflowing.
This past weekend, I had a chance to ride along with some of the missionaries to a nearby village of Landuma people. They were hosting a soccer tournament in honor of the MK school here because they helped provide cement floors for the school. It was my first official village experience, and I really enjoyed the chance to get outside the fenceline here and see some of the Guinean people. Jim translated for us while we were there, but I'm working on at least picking up the Landuma phrases that are used as greetings. It seems like they say at least 3 different things when they greet someone, usually echoed back by the person they're greeting, and usually heard differently by me every time I try to learn them.
I also got to experience my first real Guinean meal because they fed us after the soccer game. We were inside the school building in the dark (they don't have electricity there), so I'm not entirely sure what my food looked like, but it was good. Rather than serving everyone individually, they put a big plate/bowl in the middle of the table, and everyone reaches in and eats the food in front of them. Jim brought along spoons for us to use, but typically the Guineans would eat with their right hands. Silverware's ok and all, but I'm kinda with the Guineans on this one -- when you have a chance to use your hands, take it! :)
Again, thank you for all yours prayers for me so far. A couple prayer requests I have now are that I can be ready to teach a computer class or two on Monday, that I'm able to pick up a little of the language around here so I don't feel so helpless in communication, and that the tribal missionaries can be encouraged by the work of the support missionaries here at the mission center.
Thanks, and hope you're doing well!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Weekly update #2
Another week has gone by since I last posted here to let you know what's been going on. I'm not sure it feels like it's been a whole week, but a lot has been going on.
I got a little glimpse of what the school is like when I sat in on Jen's science class last week. One of the students was sick, which really just meant there was only one student in the class, so I took notes for the sick kid. Not very good notes, it seems, since Jen told me that neither of the kids did the lab report the right way. Friday was the end of the 1st quarter, so now there's a two week break before second quarter starts. Normally it'd be just one, but we have a new accounting system going into place currently, and that involves a lot of training.
Which brings me to my next topic. John Oliver arrived here from Sanford last Wednesday to start training on the new software on Thursday. He works at headquarters as a programmer, and this (the new software) is his project, so he gets pretty excited talking about it and all of its features, which is nice for those of us learning because he can teach the tricks that a normal user might not know. He can also fix bugs while he's here and add in enhancements that are useful for places like Guinea. The goal for Thursday and Friday was to get the store part of the system up and running well enough to open the store on Friday. I'm not sure if I've mentioned the store yet, so for those of you who don't know, there's a small store in the mission center, stocked by a couple who drives to a city about an hour away once a week to do shopping in bulk. They bring everything back to a buildilng here, sort it out, price it according to the prices they paid, and let the missionaries shop there twice a week.
Anyway, long story short, after a long day of training on Thursday and some hectic preparation on Friday, we were ready to open -- barcodes on everything that could take them, barcodes printed by the "checkout" for items that couldn't, everything added to the inventory on the computer (or at least almost everything). Took a little getting used to doing it this way instead of just writing down numbers and totaling them, but I think overall it was a success, and it's nice to have itemized receipts with prices and what we bought.
This weekend, Jen and I made use of a couple of bikes around the center and took a bike ride out on the road toward town. It was nice to get away from our little duplex and the mission center and see a little of Guinea at the pace of a bike. We rode a few miles toward town, up to the top of a hill (where I'll need to go again sometime for some pictures), and then back past Hamdallaye the other direction on a dirt road, filled with potholes. We realized that it's almost as fast to bike on those roads as it is to drive because the drivers are swerving all over to try to avoid as many potholes as possible.
Saturday night, the women in the group got to do a ladies' night out to a port city that has a few restaurants with semi-American food. For someone like me who has barely tasted Guinean food, it probably wasn't quite as exciting, but some of the ladies couldn't wait to sink their teeth into a bacon cheeseburger or some ice cream. All in all, it was a good time for getting to know a little bit more about some of the people I'll be living with for the year and some good food, all at the same time. (I got a fish dish instead of a bacon cheeseburger, but I may have to consider the cheeseburger for future cravings).
On Sunday, I got a chance to lead a few worship songs for the missionary fellowship. I don't know that I was that good, but people seemed to sing along, and I enjoyed it. There's talk of possibly having more of a band, with another guy who plays guitar, a lady who plays keyboard, her husband on djembe, and a guy who apparently has a bass. I think it would be cool if we could get something going.
This week, training has continued on the new software. More stuff with the store, and then a lot of new stuff with the bookkeepers and other account holders. I sit in on all of it, trying to pick up the accounting information enough to be able to help with the computer part of it later. It keeps me busy all day, and it's been a blessing having a roommate who's willing to cook enough lunch to share with me every day, since I wouldn't really have time for it on my own.
Overall, it's been another really good week, and I'm looking forward to the third. Hope you're all doing well, too!
I got a little glimpse of what the school is like when I sat in on Jen's science class last week. One of the students was sick, which really just meant there was only one student in the class, so I took notes for the sick kid. Not very good notes, it seems, since Jen told me that neither of the kids did the lab report the right way. Friday was the end of the 1st quarter, so now there's a two week break before second quarter starts. Normally it'd be just one, but we have a new accounting system going into place currently, and that involves a lot of training.
Which brings me to my next topic. John Oliver arrived here from Sanford last Wednesday to start training on the new software on Thursday. He works at headquarters as a programmer, and this (the new software) is his project, so he gets pretty excited talking about it and all of its features, which is nice for those of us learning because he can teach the tricks that a normal user might not know. He can also fix bugs while he's here and add in enhancements that are useful for places like Guinea. The goal for Thursday and Friday was to get the store part of the system up and running well enough to open the store on Friday. I'm not sure if I've mentioned the store yet, so for those of you who don't know, there's a small store in the mission center, stocked by a couple who drives to a city about an hour away once a week to do shopping in bulk. They bring everything back to a buildilng here, sort it out, price it according to the prices they paid, and let the missionaries shop there twice a week.
Anyway, long story short, after a long day of training on Thursday and some hectic preparation on Friday, we were ready to open -- barcodes on everything that could take them, barcodes printed by the "checkout" for items that couldn't, everything added to the inventory on the computer (or at least almost everything). Took a little getting used to doing it this way instead of just writing down numbers and totaling them, but I think overall it was a success, and it's nice to have itemized receipts with prices and what we bought.
This weekend, Jen and I made use of a couple of bikes around the center and took a bike ride out on the road toward town. It was nice to get away from our little duplex and the mission center and see a little of Guinea at the pace of a bike. We rode a few miles toward town, up to the top of a hill (where I'll need to go again sometime for some pictures), and then back past Hamdallaye the other direction on a dirt road, filled with potholes. We realized that it's almost as fast to bike on those roads as it is to drive because the drivers are swerving all over to try to avoid as many potholes as possible.
Saturday night, the women in the group got to do a ladies' night out to a port city that has a few restaurants with semi-American food. For someone like me who has barely tasted Guinean food, it probably wasn't quite as exciting, but some of the ladies couldn't wait to sink their teeth into a bacon cheeseburger or some ice cream. All in all, it was a good time for getting to know a little bit more about some of the people I'll be living with for the year and some good food, all at the same time. (I got a fish dish instead of a bacon cheeseburger, but I may have to consider the cheeseburger for future cravings).
On Sunday, I got a chance to lead a few worship songs for the missionary fellowship. I don't know that I was that good, but people seemed to sing along, and I enjoyed it. There's talk of possibly having more of a band, with another guy who plays guitar, a lady who plays keyboard, her husband on djembe, and a guy who apparently has a bass. I think it would be cool if we could get something going.
This week, training has continued on the new software. More stuff with the store, and then a lot of new stuff with the bookkeepers and other account holders. I sit in on all of it, trying to pick up the accounting information enough to be able to help with the computer part of it later. It keeps me busy all day, and it's been a blessing having a roommate who's willing to cook enough lunch to share with me every day, since I wouldn't really have time for it on my own.
Overall, it's been another really good week, and I'm looking forward to the third. Hope you're all doing well, too!
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