Writing a family newsletter is a good way to reflect on one’s own life. As it is, currently it’s mid-June and I’m
writing this time from my grandmother’s kitchen table in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. I have completed one year at the American
International school of Accra, Ghana, and I’m officially on summer holiday. It is good to be home.
I
distinctly remember writing the last edition of the newsletter. I was high on West Africa and all things
international. I also remember the month
of February, when my Ghana cookie started to crumble as my eyes opened to the
levels of poverty and the amount of rubbish some people basically live in. I had become homesick and lonely as I
reflected on the twinkle that had been in my eye upon arrival.
I’m happy
to say that my rollercoaster is heading back upwards, with most aspects of life
looking bright again. Ghana is
definitely a developing country, and there are unfortunate inequities. There will always be rich and poor, but when
the poor don’t have running water or electricity, life doesn’t quite seem
fair. When people are more worried about
where they will get their next meal than where they throw their trash, the
gutters, the roadways, and even the ocean waves become a sorry sight. They literally overflow with plastic
bags. Yet, all of that would happen
whether or not I lived in Accra. All of
that will still exist if I leave, and if I stay, I may be able to have a small
impact.
Personally,
my job is great. They’ve just moved me into
a bright a spacious new apartment with a pool, and I walk to work. The campus is beautiful and I like the people
I work with. Last year, of my 20
students, there were at least 15 different nationalities and very few kids were
even the same mix. By far the most
interesting case was a boy, half-Norwegian, half-Vietnamese. I recently bought a bicycle and a car so I’m
getting to know the city more and more.
Hopefully I’ll get to know the whole country more, especially the coast,
next year as well.
Plenty of
people ask what I’ll do in the future. I
don’t know! I have dreams of teaching at
the international school in Rio, although I’m less than eager to move around
the world again. Somehow it feels like
it took me nearly all of last year just to settle in. Now I’ve got my apartment in Accra all set up
and I look forward to going back in August.
I’m slowly building a collection of African art and music, and I foresee
it expanding nicely. I’m attracted to
the climate, the culture, the food, the dance, and the lifestyle, so rather
than ‘Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken’, my philosophy is becoming, ‘Don’t break
it if it works’.
This summer
apart from living it up with my family on the Jersey Shore, I’ll be attending a
training for teaching writing at the American School in Barcelona, and I’ll
head west to Colorado and New Mexico for 3 weeks. Overall, I’m enjoying all things
American.
With Love,
Sage Aletheia
