January 26th

This morning I went ahead and did rounds with Solomon even though it
was Wednesday and they are supposed to go “ground rounds” which is
when Tom, Solomon and the other most senior medical staff member,
LA, go around seeing each ward one at a time. Tom said he had other
things to do and didn’t have time to go through each ward which takes
about four hours depending on patient population. When we finished I
headed up to the house. When I got there I noticed that one of the
young papaya trees in the front had been snapped off at the middle. I
asked Pa what happened but he didn’t know. So I took some splints,
tape and a knife and I tried to splice it back together, I don’t know if it
will work but I think I did it the way you are supposed to. It’s been a
long time since Junior year of high school and that’s when I remember
reading about grafting and such things. That finished, I decided to
walk over to the tailor’s and I even I managed to get there in about
15 minutes. Normally it takes 25 to 30 but I was hurrying so I didn’t
waste a whole hour. I got there only to be told that his daughter had
left 30 minutes before meaning that if I had just been a little patient
she would have turned up. I went ahead and paid him and set out for
the house. I almost immediately called Tom and he told me that the girl
had just arrived. She would… Anyway, I walked back to the house as fast
as I could (making it in about 10 minutes) so that I could check and
make sure everything was there since I was the one who had taken all
the stuff for the three of us (Tom, Karen and I). Once I’d done that I set
about preparing lunch and Tom arrived not long after. Following lunch I
laid down for a little bit thinking I had until 1:50 to be at school, but at
about 1:25 I got a call from one of my SS 1s asking if we were having
class, I forgot that class today starts at 1:05 and it’s tomorrow where I
don’t have class until 1:50. Oops, haha. Anyway it ended up being ok
because they have a free period after our two periods so I just kept
teaching, which I will probably keep doing. My SS 1s are my favorites, I
may not know all of their names because there are so many (29 now)
but they pay attention the best, listen when I tell them to stop talking,
and they are the most forward about asking questions for clarification.
It’s easier teaching them as a whole because of their willingness to ask
questions. It makes explaining the material easier because I don’t have
to think of everything I think they need to know. After them comes my
SS 3s, of which I had one today. They are my least favorite to teach for a
few reasons. It’s not that I don’t like them but I think being their friends
inhibits my ability to teach them because they don’t respect me as much
as an authority figure. Also, they just plain are very good students. They
don’t pay attention very well, usually zoning out and they almost never
ask questions so I have no idea what they are and aren’t understanding.
When I think they should know something and so I don’t bother to
explain it they don’t ask if they don’t know. It’s just hard to teach that
way. After my one student left my SS 2s came. They are my middle
grade and are the middle of my scale of who I like teaching most. They
are more respectful but are frequently disruptive in class because they
have a problem with arguing with one another. But they are pretty good
students and ask some questions. But like I said, my SS 1s are my
favorites. After school I was supposed to get to do some Honda practice
but my phone had died on me and by time I got to the house, dropped
my stuff off and walked down to Solomon’s it was already 5:40or so and
at that point there wasn’t a whole lot of point in trying to start a lesson
that I would have to stop in 20 minutes to be back home. When I got to
the house Tom asked if I’d seen Abdul and I told him no, that he hadn’t
been at school so we decided to walk to his house to find out if he was
there and see if he was coming for dinner. We found him there and he
told us he hadn’t been at school because he had to go back to his
mother’s village to take the news that one of his uncles had died in
Freetown (his mother’s brother). He gets sent to the village pretty
regularly by his mother and when he does he pretty much never makes
it back for school. You’d think that the parent’s here would want to
keep from interfering in their kid’s education but here kids do a lot of
the work (which in turn their kids will do it when they have some). The
only problem with that is it often interferes with their studies which
they need as much of as they can do. We told him to come up for dinner
and he said he would. Tom and I walked back up to the house and
decided to water some of the papaya and pineapple trees in the yard
while we waited for Abdul to get here. It was a good thing we decided
to because he took over half an hour to arrive. His mother had asked
him to do something before coming up. After dinner Alusine turned up
to borrow my camera, and Saidu stopped by while he was here. We
talked for a little bit but then they left and I decided to read for a little
while. While I was reading I thought about something. I like it here. I
love to serve and have many different opportunities to serve here. I do
my teaching, but I can also help at the hospital. I can help in so many
ways here. I know from past experience from doing service in boy
scouts, with my fraternity in college, and with Campus Crusade for
Christ that I can do the worst of jobs and be happy doing them for
nothing as long as I know I’m in some way serving someone. But when
it comes to working for a paycheck I haven’t done anything that I don’t
dislike. I even got to work in a research lab and I didn’t enjoy it. I know
in a way I was helping people working there but I feel fulfilled when I’ve
done something I can see. I don’t like working to get money. It seems
like such a pointless pursuit. The money always goes and you have to
keep doing it again and again. Having only my needs met and serving
people is worth so much more to me than having a lot of things. I don’t
know if this is something I could do with my life though. I miss my family,
and many of my friends from college some of whom are like family to
me. It’s hard being away from them. That being said, I’ve been told
countless times that nothing worth doing is ever easy. I’m willing to
serve God wherever he sends me, but I can hope that in the future it’s
a little closer to my loved ones right? Anyway, before I babble on any
more I think I better put a halt to my meandering thoughts.

Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks