International Day

Everyone representing Ghana! Do you see the white kid jumping? That is mine! He has only lived in Ghana for two months but he felt like he already belongs. I love that about kids! There are also a lot of Lebanese on the stage and that is because their family has lived in Ghana almost 100 years.

These ar ethe families from South Africa. We have great families, supportive families from there.
This is kind of blurry but these are our Lebanese students.

Our children and one student from South Korea. They were the most colorful out of all the countries. I love that for traditional clothing, everyone dresses up but we Americans wear a t-shirt and jeans as our "national dress". Oh crazy America!
My own international clan! Aren't they beautiful! With 13 children(two absent at the time) they represent 9 countries. They are the best International Community I could wish for!

Pretty much everyday is International Day at school since we all must interact with people who come from difference cultures, mindsets, and traditions. As we sometimes struggle with interacting, we know that the Lord is refining us as He is using the International church to strengthen His body. Every year at school, we celebrate all of our nationalities and unique backgrounds by learning about the cultures in which we come from. In the morning, each teacher taught the elementary students about a country, using crafts and games to bring that country to life. I taught on Brazil, a country I know a little about after traveling there and I had so much fun as I showed the kids pictures of Iguazu Falls which I have visited. We also took a trip into the Rainforest and got to visit some ferocious animals without getting eaten! I especially enjoyed teaching the first grade class as they will be my students next year. It is a little scary thinking I will have new kids since you get so use to the ones you have but I know the Lord will prepare me for the next adventures when the time is ready. Anyways, after I taught about Brazil 6 times, it was finally time for the best part of the day: lunch!!!!! Okay, so try to understand this. When we have International Food in America, people might cook dishes originally from different countries but they still have an American flare to them, well at least where I am from. However, here, we have the real deal! You name it and we had it at our lunch. We had a lot of Korean and Japanese dishes, a lot of Ghanaian traditional dishes like Fufu(ball of something that you don't chew but swallow), and even Ethiopian food which consists of Injere(flat sourdough break) and arugula. It brought me back to Project Mercy! After lunch, we called up each country that is represented in our school and took their picture. The kids would cheer on each other as they are good at remembering who comes from which place. I don't know exactly how many nations are represented in our school but I know it is over 20. I have 9 nations out of 13 students in my own classroom. Another thing you must understand is that a lot of students have 2 nations as their parents come from different backgrounds. This causes some confusion in their lives as they have passports from two countries but then live in a Ghana. It is always interesting to ask the students where they are from because they hesitate and tell you something that is somewhat half true just because it is easier to say that. Oh the International Community. Anyways, it was very special to see all of the countries represented and for the children to be proud of their countries. We have two girls whose mother is from Haiti so they got the biggest applause which was well respectable and bought chills down my spine. Can you guess which country had the most people? I hoped you guessed Ghana because you would be correct! America probably had the second most since all of the teachers are from there. God's church is international and I jsut have a taste of what it is like to be worshipping with God's universal church. I am very thankful to be learning from my brothers and sisters with different view points and to be able to share my relationship with Christ with those around me. AIS is a small way in which the nations are hearing the message and I pray that we never lose sight of that vision.