Community

If you were a second grader in Miss Sopcisak’s class, you would be able to tell everyone that a community is a group of people that interact with one another for a common purpose. I would be so proud of you and probably jump up and down. I am learning about community as I teach my students what this means but I am also learning it through my own life experiences here. I always struggle with finding good friends and this was definitely a prayer request as I journeyed to Ghana. However, like always, God is so much better than I could ever imagine and he has blessed me with great colleagues and roommates which are mostly the same people. I cook every night with my roommate that just graduated from Cedarville. I run and help coach soccer with a girl I played against in soccer and I hang out a lot with the first grade teacher who had all of my kids last year. This is a great community as we all care for each other and share a common bond in Christ and in teaching. I am so thankful for this as I can come back from stressful days and have a great time with my friends. There are about 14 younger teachers at the school and we all regularly hang out together. We play killer uno(best game ever!), Dutch Blitz, go out to eat, or make apple crisp together. Like I found at Taylor, you don’t have to go anywhere big to have fun, you just have to know how to make your own fun. So, I am a social butterfly as we are always up to something. You should all be so proud of me!
I have also found community in my neighborhood as the children no longer call me Obruni but call me by sister Christy since the come to our house on Tuesdays. It is so nice to know people in the area so I don’t feel like a prisoner cooped up in my life. I love walking down the street and being greeted by all of the kids and talking to them in broken English. They are so cute! One day I was on my way to school and I heard a mumbled “Obruni” I looked to see two small boys crouched over the wall of an abandoned house with toothbrushes in hand and a mouth full of paste. It was the funniest thing I have seen, hey whatever gets you going in the morning! Yesterday, I was running after school by myself which is safe! Anyways, we always have people that think it is funny to pretend to run with us. This one man started to run with me in a joking manner. I decided to pull a Meg(the girl I run with) by saying “are you coming?” At this point, they all drop off running and just laugh but this was not the case as the man kept running with me as he pulled up his pants. He then started saying, “Come, Come, faster!” We then started sprinting down the road as fast as we could(I admit, he was a little ahead of me) but then he finally dropped off. It was a fun few seconds and probably fun to watch in action. Meg said that she has only had one person actually run with her when she has asked them if they are coming so I figure I am pretty lucky to already feel part of the area. I have been here for a month and this is already feeling like home. I wouldn’t and shouldn’t be content to just be working and living here because a majority of the experience here is about becoming a part of the community so I can show Christ through my actions and deeds. I do believe that even a smile could make a difference for the Kingdom of God. So… my advice to you, learn the definition of community and practice it!