November 22nd
I took Mrs. Emmit down to the market today. I was worried that
with a severely arthritic knee and having to use a cane that it
wouldn’t be a very good idea but it went pretty well. She made it
down and back alright and even came up to the house directly
afterwards to look at getting some books. People thought she was
my mom or grandmother. I’m not sure what to make of the mom
comment, either that she looks young or I look old, so I chose to
believe it was the former. Some of my kids in class today even
asked me about it. Anyway, I spent the afternoon preparing some
materials and such for my classes today so the afternoon was
really not very exciting. I had class from 2-6 today, five periods of
biology. Fun times that is. I gave all three classes quizzes today.
Many of the results were quite poor but there are a few really
good ones, I’m hoping that I can convince them to study more
because they really need too; most of them are barely passing
right now. Or in the case of one kid carrying a 13.5% average…
Granted they have quite a while to work on that but it’s never too
early to start. But classes went pretty well, though writing so much
on the chalk board is actually quite strenuous. I went downtown to
grab some onions and bread immediately after school because
Tom and the 3 new strangers were coming in tonight. I was just on
the way back when I ran into Pa, the Asher’s watchman, Pa is like
mister but they refer to him as Pa anyway. I greeted him and he
said “Dr. done come” which means that Tom had made it in. So I
double timed it up to the house because I didn’t want to be late to
dinner with the bread, and so I could help if needed. A guy named
Randy and his daughter Meghan came, as well as another lady
named Melanie who is a nurse I think. The guy and his daughter
are here for a week and a half or so the other nurse is here for like
6 days. I talked with Abu for the first time since Saturday, which
was good. Tom and Karen said I had been in the right sending him
out but I don’t think so and so I apologized because I really do feel
bad about it. Not to say that he was blameless I just reacted too
strongly. We talked a bit and I think we came to an understanding,
which is good because he’s really not a bad kid. He’s just young
and needs someone to work with him which I can’t do if we aren’t
speaking. Anyway, I’m glad to have at least gotten to talk with him
bit, even if he didn’t learn anything really. After dinner Rebecca
and I were just chatting when Emma came over because she is
watching the Mahr’s house while they are gone and their kerosene
fridge needed more fuel. The problem is that you have to fill it while
it’s burning because it’s a very finicky thing and if you’ve got it
burning good you don’t want to stop it. She was nervous about
pouring kerosene next to the flame so Tom went over to help her do
it. Emma and I managed to get some ants that bite on us, her worse
so than me. I got them off pretty easily before they climbed very far.
But sadly I can no longer claim to not have suffered any bug bites,
which I’ve been extremely lucky not to have since Rebecca is getting
eaten alive by the bugs. Everyone else has some problems with the
bugs but I haven’t had so much as a single bite before now. Oh well,
bound to happen sometime right? That’s about all I got for now. Off
to bed with me, g’night world.

From Sierra Leone
Ryan Brooks