Self-Quaratined with 100 People
Once COVID-19 breached Ghana’s borders, we decided that it would be best to close down the ministry and enforce a self-quarantine for everyone living at the CORM Children’s Village. We put up signs that said we were under a self-quarantine and NO ENTRY. All university and senior high students came home, and all essential staff who weren’t already living on campus moved in.
Our goal for the past five months has been to keep the kids busy and make life as “normal” as possible. One of the strangest things for us since the beginning of this pandemic has been no volunteers.
We have continued to have church on Sundays and Bible study on Wednesday Evening. Our staff have done a fantastic job filling in with game nights, daily activities, talent shows, sports activities, and movie nights; we are so grateful for each of them!
Our school remained open for our kids. Both our CORM and teaching staff filled the gaps in our classrooms. Even our university students stepped in and led some of the classes.
I had the privilege of doing homeschool with my boys. Miracle and JJ started Liberty University Online Academy last year for their Sophomore year, and with Richard’s help, they made it through Algebra 2 (thank you, Richard)! My main focus was on Caleb and Justice. Caleb was finishing up 7th and Justice 5th grade. I have been teaching art at the school for the last couple of years, but I haven’t done much subject teaching since I taught Justice 2nd grade. The only change I made in their curriculum once I started teaching was switching out their math curriculums to CTCMath.com (I loved that I didn’t have to teach them math on my own, such a blessing!)
Then the President declared that the students in their final years of senior high and junior high should return to school to prepare for their final tests. We decided to end our primary and JHS1 & JHS2 classes at the end of June to prepare for the JHS3 community kids moving onto campus. We had heard that there were a few COVID cases in the communities around us, and we didn’t want these students coming in from off-campus every day, so we decided to move them and the JHS3 teachers onto campus to make things as safe as possible.
JJ and Miracle finished up their Sophomore year in June. We had a few late nights since they had fallen behind and had to have everything completed by a specific date. I’m hoping that we can stay a bit more on task this next school year. Justice and Caleb weren’t about to continue with school once the other kids were done, so we finished up the end of June.
My family has enjoyed my new found joy in baking and cooking. For the past decade, I haven’t done much of either because we have primarily been eating Ghanaian food. Once COVID hit, I started baking everything I could find on Pinterest! Most days, Caleb and Justice’s school day would get cut short, and we would find ourselves in the kitchen baking cookies or cake.
I have loved learning to use yeast! I had never made homemade pizza before COVID, but once I figured out the science of using yeast, pizza became a regular. I seriously love to see the dough rising in the bowl.
After four months of baking all the things, I am now on a low carb diet! Learning to cook healthily in Ghana has been a journey too! A decade of mostly rice has gotten a bit boring.
Our kids are enjoying their “summer” break. (It’s always summer in Ghana!) This week and next week is basketball camp. We usually have Hoops Care International from Cape Coast come to the lead the kids, but because of COVID, we decided to have our older boys, who are very good in basketball, coach the younger kids.
We are waiting to hear from the President if schools will reopen this September. We are planning to have classes for the CORM kids regardless if the community kids can come to Faith Roots or not. We are planning other options for education in the communities if the schools are to remain closed.
In these uncertain times, one thing I am sure about is that God is good. He continually amazes us time and time again when He shows up for us, for the kids, for this ministry, and for the communities we serve. We can see Him everywhere we look, and we are so grateful for every person He has led to CORM to serve with us. We know that we could not do what we do without our fantastic staff and supporters.
SUMMER FUN!!