Number Crunching

Well, it’s been 40 days since I set foot on African terrain! In honor of this momentous anniversary and also due to the fact that I’m a math teacher and just a number guru in general, I thought I’d compose a list of numbers that pertain to my life here in Ghana that you may find interesting!

0—the number of McDonalds in Ghana! (I’m pretty sure this is the first country I’ve been to that hasn’t been invaded by the golden arch!)
1.5—the number of miles some village people walk (one way) to charge their cell phones…and then they have to wait for it to get charged!
1.43—the exchange rate of Ghana cedis to the US dollar
2—the number of poisonous snakes killed since I’ve been here
$2.30—the cost of most canned vegetables (I won’t complain about the fact that it’s much cheaper to buy fresh produce than canned!) J
6:30—time that it gets dark each night
$10—the cost of a small head of broccoli and cauliflower
20—the numbers of minutes it takes to attach a picture to an e-mail
$22—the cost of a large jar of peanut butter
40—the number of days I’ve been here, thus also the number of malaria pills I’ve taken
68—the number of eggs I’ve eaten since I’ve been here
$70—the cost of the game Uno Attack
86—the average daytime temperature right now
90—the number of minutes it takes to get into Accra (even though it’s only like 15 miles away!)
$100—the cost of a black ink cartridge for my computer
$105—the cost of the game Taboo

Don’t worry…I haven’t had to buy any of these outrageously priced items yet!

Please continue to pray for clear communication between the teachers and myself, because although I feel like I’ve seen some improvement in certain teachers, there’s lots of room for improvement! It can be frustrating to explain something and see someone do the complete opposite thing 10 seconds later when it seems like they understood. It leaves me baffled at times. J

Also, just today there was a situation that came up with a couple of the older girls that I’d like to ask prayer for. For whatever reason, the older girls here (ages16-18) haven’t been very welcoming to me. I believe they’re upset with me for not catering to their needs and treating them differently than the other kids. However, I feel like I’ve still been very kind to them and trying to treat them fairly. Today a couple of the girls walked by and directed some rude comments toward me and then when I confronted them, one of them wouldn’t respond at all and the other admitted that although there was no problem between us and I never did anything wrong, she would not be able to say hello to me when I greeted her. So we’re currently dealing with the situation and it will involve some pretty major decisions, so I humbly ask for your prayers that God would give us wisdom and we would act out of love and that the kids would see that we’re making decisions in the best interest of them.

Thanks again for your loving support, prayers, and e-mails. If I haven’t responded to your e-mail, it’s because my computer has been very temperamental lately and I’m lucky to even be able to check my e-mails some days. I still love hearing from you!

Blessings on your week!

Love,
Oburoni