I walk into the classroom and grab a piece of chalk. Some students have gathered, but most of the wooden desks remain empty. I turn to the dusty chalkboard and begin to write: 4-H MEETING. As I write the agenda on the board, I hear the school bell ring. A voice calls out, “4-H Meeting, […]
Continue Reading
The long and dusty truck ride is over. I arrive in Konkoney to the site of a mountain with a protruding rock-face. It was early and the air was still cool. I am with OCP Africa, a private company out of Morocco that tests farmers’ soil for free, then recommends/sells fertilizer based on the results. […]
Continue Reading
I grabbed the microphone and took in a deep breath. The day I had been working on for the past month was finally here. As I exhaled to begin speaking, all of the anxiety I had been feeling left my body as excitement and pride filled the space that the nerves once obtained. I looked […]
Continue Reading
I sat in bed staring at the chipped blue paint on the walls. The afternoon sun streamed into the room in long rectangles, squeezing between the frosted glass slats of the window. Speckles of dust lazily drifting in the air were illuminated as the light reached in and further faded the remaining pigment on the […]
Continue Reading
It is a typical Wednesday in the Upper Manya Krobo district. I do not teach today; instead, I dedicate my time to MOFA (Ministry of Food and Agriculture – USDA equivalent) and the extension portion of my job: visiting local 4-H Clubs, visiting farms and consulting extension agents on various facets of tropical agriculture. I […]
Continue Reading
I close my eyes and listen to the conversations happening around me. I don’t always understand what is being said because, most often, it is in Twi, but occasionally, a few English words will be thrown in so I can somewhat stay on track. It is a cloudy, cool day with the warmth of family […]
Continue Reading
“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 […]
Continue Reading
I was roaming from class to class as I usually do during our routine morning break time of the school day. The air was filled with the sound of trampling feet rushing to the lunch line, the bouncing of soccer balls, and the mumble of varied conversation throughout the classrooms. During today’s morning break, I […]
Continue Reading
I walked through my community as the sun was starting to set and the air felt cool from the storm that had just passed. I watched as chickens, followed by their chicks, and goats roamed through the streets, as water flowed through the rocks in the dirt road. Community members called my name as I […]
Continue Reading
My feet kicked up dust as I shuffled across the dirt floor. Forty heads swiveled to look as they heard me approach the classroom. Their matching yellow shirts all moved in unison; the dusty, gray, cinder block walls providing a dreary backdrop for their uniforms, the clean color dazzlingly bright compared to the stark surroundings. […]
Continue Reading