Getting ready for school

EXCITING NEWS: Humphrey has received notice that he has been accepted into teachers college!!! This is so exciting as it has been a dream of his that has taken a long time to be answered. I wish him well. He will be going to school in the Volta area, which is 3-4 hours from Accra. If you want to be a part of this dream coming true let me know.


WOW what a month this has been. It could not already be the second week of September, but that is what my calendar says.

When I was home I wrote the teacher’s curriculum for The Reading Lesson. We used this at SCEF with the Reading is Fun program. What progress we are seeing the children we have invested in for almost a year now. They are reading books, but even more important, the students understand what they read. So exciting!!! SCEF will continue this program at Adedenpko 1 and 2 this fall as a free, after school program for Primary 1, 2, and 3. Most after school classes people charge for.


With all that said we need more books. Kelly and I have a friend who is shipping to Ghana the middle of October and we have space on the container for books. Kristen and Ginny so graciously donated books their school was no longer using. This will be a great benefit. But we need more. SCEF needs:
1. Series of beginning reader books using phonics
2. Teacher manuals for JHS and SHS Math, English, and Science. Need the books to know how to teach the subject and has the answers.

In this morning’s news Ghana Education announced that they will be implementing a mandatory “one hour reading” in every government school in Ghana, including all grades. The theory is great but when schools have no library and no text books for students, what are they going to read? We are so thankful for our library we recently opened. But many of our shelves are empty.


During August Raphael and Bernard were both home on school break. He has been so much fun to have them both here. Raphael left Thursday for boarding school, where he will start JHS 2. He is growing up too fast. Actually is taller than me. Bernard’s school will start in about 2 weeks. He is beginning to read and is so excited.


This month we went through our first drive-through fast food restraint here in Ghana. KFC. It really is quite amazing. Trying to explain to the taxi driver how to press the order button and tell them everything we wanted was a major challenge. (They actually got it right)


This month’s Bandon Heath’s song “Give me Your Eyes” keeps coming to mind. As we educate our students and parents about Ebola and Cholera, It is so different looking through the eyes of children and parents who are directly affected. They are so scared, yet have few resources to counter these two. We are teaching about simple hand washing and how sanitation can help. We pray Ebola does not cross the border to Ghana.


This morning the government destroyed part of the housing behind the Art Center (which is in walking distance of our office). The government’s reason is that it is responsible for the Cholera outbreak we are having. So sad!!! These are truly “the least of these” that Jesus talks about. We know that at least one school was destroyed and not sure how many businesses and homes.


Thanks for each of your prayers and financial support. Thanking God for your part in sharing Jesus in Ghana.

Elaine