It sits ominously on the top of the mountain overlooking my entire life. Shrouded in mystery, some believe it’s owned by the Master Divine Drummer himself, while others would claim the owner is a German who comes around once a year to show university students what a poor Ghanaian village looks like. Either way, it’s […]
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“What do you miss most about home?” I remember asking that question to a friend who had been living in Haiti for half a decade while visiting them. Sitting on their front porch and looking out at the beautiful mountain landscape around us, they sighed, “I don’t know, maybe driving?” It didn’t seem like a […]
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In this line of work, it can be difficult to measure what your work is actually supposed to be. You get dropped off in a village and despite your preparation, you have no idea what you’re doing. In addition, you are expected to create some measurable outcome when realistically there are very few ways to […]
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Back in May, I held a leadership training for my 4-H club officers. It went well for the most part, but I was struck by how shy the officers were—especially the president. The last club president, Ruhiya, was an intense third-year student who had no trouble stirring up her classmates for meetings and the like. […]
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It has been three years since my team of AgriCorps Fellows set out for our training in Texas – a whirlwind of adventure ensued over the following year and has kept me swept up in travels since first being recruited to AgriCorps in the spring of 2014. After completing my year of service […]
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Usually the night before a big event with my students, like most teachers or FFA advisors, I am up worrying and worrying…hoping that the next day will go well. Hoping that I remembered to do everything, call this person, remind this person, print that, or purchase this, hoping that people actually show up. I can […]
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As I step into my Uber for my morning commute to work, I immediately recognize the accent of my driver, who is requesting my name. “Where are you from?”, I smile and ask. He proudly responded, “Ghana!” For the next twenty minutes, from Georgetown to Capitol Hill, we talked about our experiences in one of […]
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Standing there in a group of Booker Washington Institute (BWI) FFA leaders and alumni, I looked off in the distance in the direction of our FFA students who were laughing, yelling, and running around while playing ultimate frisbee on the football field. It was after our FFA End of the Year Program and the sun […]
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I wake up every morning with a similar routine not worrying about getting caught in a net of some sort. I stumble out of bed, I feel the soft carpet under my feet as I make my way to the kitchen. I turn on the lights without ever wondering if they will stay on. Fix […]
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I remember the first time I saw him, this tall, lanky student briskly across the Kumbungu High School campus. With over 2,000 students at the school in which I taught, I was unsure at first if our paths had crossed before. All students at my school were required to wear the school uniform. This meant […]
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