I walk into the classroom and grab a piece of chalk. Some students have gathered, but most of the wooden desks remain empty. I turn to the dusty chalkboard and begin to write: 4-H MEETING. As I write the agenda on the board, I hear the school bell ring. A voice calls out, “4-H Meeting, […]
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The long and dusty truck ride is over. I arrive in Konkoney to the site of a mountain with a protruding rock-face. It was early and the air was still cool. I am with OCP Africa, a private company out of Morocco that tests farmers’ soil for free, then recommends/sells fertilizer based on the results. […]
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February. Black History Month. A time when African Americans reflect on those who paved the way for who and what we are today. A time when we think about our blackness, and what it means to us individually and collectively and how we can continue to navigate spaces in our current political time. Black History […]
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I had just finished up teaching at the school for the day, lesson notes in hand and sweat on my brow, as the scorch of the Ghanaian sun sizzled on the back my neck. With the sounds of my students finishing up their closing prayer, I made my way back home. Just as I was […]
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I grabbed the microphone and took in a deep breath. The day I had been working on for the past month was finally here. As I exhaled to begin speaking, all of the anxiety I had been feeling left my body as excitement and pride filled the space that the nerves once obtained. I looked […]
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It sits ominously on the top of the mountain overlooking my entire life. Shrouded in mystery, some believe it’s owned by the Master Divine Drummer himself, while others would claim the owner is a German who comes around once a year to show university students what a poor Ghanaian village looks like. Either way, it’s […]
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Before I came to Liberia, so many people told me, “Oh, you are going to go there and gain such an appreciation for how good we have it here.” Or a variation of the sort. I’ve always carried that with me in the back of my mind accompanied by a snark, “you don’t quite get […]
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I sat in bed staring at the chipped blue paint on the walls. The afternoon sun streamed into the room in long rectangles, squeezing between the frosted glass slats of the window. Speckles of dust lazily drifting in the air were illuminated as the light reached in and further faded the remaining pigment on the […]
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It is a typical Wednesday in the Upper Manya Krobo district. I do not teach today; instead, I dedicate my time to MOFA (Ministry of Food and Agriculture – USDA equivalent) and the extension portion of my job: visiting local 4-H Clubs, visiting farms and consulting extension agents on various facets of tropical agriculture. I […]
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I close my eyes and listen to the conversations happening around me. I don’t always understand what is being said because, most often, it is in Twi, but occasionally, a few English words will be thrown in so I can somewhat stay on track. It is a cloudy, cool day with the warmth of family […]
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