February 4th

Another less than exciting morning, I decided I wasn’t up to going
down to the hospital. I just felt like writing so I spent some time
working on a story, got four pages in and then decided I didn’t like
it and it wasn’t turning out how it had in my mind so I decided to
stop writing it. Classes today were ok, I only had two of my three
classes. They canceled the last class of the day to pass out report
cards from first term, four weeks into second term. Talk about
slow. With the SS 1s I just finished going over cockroaches. I tried
to draw a cockroach but I don’t think I did a very good job. The
students thought so though, so I guess that’s ok. I tried to at least
give them an idea of part placement on the cockroach even if I
couldn’t show them what the parts actually look like. I had to give
them a little talking to about studying before the test so that if
they have any questions they can ask me. The day of the test is
too late for that. Class with my SS 2s wasn’t so good. I was not
very happy with them. The majority of them failed my quiz/test.
Only one kid obtained a passing grade before I curved it. I was
worried maybe it was too hard but when I asked who studied
only half the kids said they had at all, and the ones who had said
they’d studied only on Wednesday. So I had to have a chat with
them about what they should be and what their current level
of effort was going to get them, absolutely nothing. I told them
if they didn’t start working NOW then when WASSCE time
comes for them next year they would fail. They seemed to
understand, but we’ll see. I’ve had similar talks with them
before. I also explained the advantages of studying before the
day of the test with them. After class I visited Solomon for a
little bit. He told me about a guy who had come in last night
unable to pass urine. The guy told him that it hurt so much that
he prayed to die, then thought about how painful dying could
be then prayed that he wouldn’t die. I guess that doesn’t seem
very humorous, but it did a little when Solomon told me. After
dinner I waited until 8 to take a board game over to where
the two nursing students and the guys from Itech are staying,
Settlers of Catan. When I got there I heard they went to the
hospital to see a snake-bite victim. When I got there they told
me the boy had died. He was fourteen years old. A death is
never easy, but it seems particularly hard when it’s someone
that young. I mean I literally watched a man die before my
eyes and that wasn’t as hard as just hearing about the death
of someone that young. And it’s not like he was careless or
anything. He had been in his home, reached into a cupboard
to get something and wham, done. Every time I see or hear
about someone dying here it’s like somebody plunges a
dagger into my heart. It makes me so sad. Not only does it
seem fair to die (especially so young) but life is hard enough,
but it also leaves the family to go on without the person. I
can’t by any means fathom that is easy by any margin. One
of my college friends died last year and that was hard enough,
but to lose a family member so prematurely, I can’t imagine.
Karen told me it would be hard, and it is. I don’t think it’s too
hard to deal with but it takes a little time for the occurrence
to settle. Anyway, I don’t mean to be a downer. I don’t know
if those of you who read this do this regularly. But these
people need all the prayers they can get, so the more the
better. Thanks. Anyway, after that we returned to the house
and set up the board game and played a game. Emily ended
up winning. I did pretty poorly. I hedged my bets around a
couple of numbers of high probability numbers but they didn’t
roll much and I couldn’t get the resources I needed. I only had
four points by the games end. Well, that about wraps up the
fluffy bunny, rainbow experiences for the day. Night all.

God bless,
Ryan Brooks