Chickens, goats, and me

What do I have in common with chickens and goats? All three of us have to be back in our yards by nightfall. Turns out all the chickens and goats roaming the streets during the day DO have owners and they know exactly how and when to get back to their homes. I didn’t notice until today when I went for my run a bit later than usual. Normally, I get back from running at around 5:45 or 5:50, so 10 or 15 minutes before the sun really sets. Today, though, I started a bit later so didn’t get back until 6:05. On the last section of my run, I realized that there were a bunch of chickens and goats behind me, all trying to get back to their homes before dark… just like me. You see, I’ve been told by not only my parents, but also my two WPE coordinators AND my two Ghana-mothers that I’m not allowed to run outside after dark. Something about it being “dangerous” and how I might get “lost” or some crazy talk like that. Whatever. I figure if 6 people tell me it’s not allowed, though, I should probably listen to them.

Tomorrow’s a holiday so none of the elementary school kids have to go to school which means I don’t have to go to school either. In other words, I’ll be able to sleep in tomorrow for the first time in weeks! I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am. Then again, “sleeping in” at this point probably means sleeping until like 9 or 9:30 at the latest since I’m so used to getting up around 7:15. It’ll still be really nice though.

Also very exciting is that this weekend is Dartmouth's Homecoming and the the '16s first big weekend ever! I would love to be back at school for the bonfire and all the festivities... especially for AXA's Room-to-Room Tails tonight. Those AXAs that are on campus are just going to have to celebrate a bit extra for my sake. For the first time since getting here, I'm definitely a bit jealous of everyone back in Hanover.

On a much less exciting note, there was a huge tragedy in the neighborhood yesterday that directly affected one of my students and her family. In fact, if you remember from last week, I actually mentioned her as being one of the students I was really excited to work with. Her name is Sherifa. Out of respect for her family’s privacy, I won’t go into what happened, but I will say that it’s something no 9-year old girl should ever have to go through. I spent all of yesterday with her and she was crying almost the entire time. She’s absolutely devastated. So for those of you who pray, please keep her and her family in your prayers and for those of you who think, please keep her and her family in your thoughts. I’ve put a picture of her at the bottom of this post so you can put a face with a name. Thank you all so much.

Sherifa in the library.