Friday, August 31, 2007

• The Beginning

  Hello Everyone,

  As most of you know I have an exciting future in front of me. While completing my degree at Ohio University I felt the call to teach overseas.Much to my surprise, opportunities opened up for me in a couple of different areas and schools in Africa.So, on Sunday I’m going overseas for the next nine months to do service on the Continent.

  The first is at Mary Queen of Peace, in Cape Coast, Ghana.I just recently got my placement, and it looks like I will be teaching general education to a class of fifty third graders.My life will not be completely absorbed by students, I will be also staying with a family nearby.Right now, all I know is that there is a mom and a dad, with two grade-school age girls.It is quite intimidating, but I’m sure that I will be just fine.The school itself is a Mission school run by American nuns, so I will not be completely on my own. I will be serving there for one trimester, lasting from September 2 to December 17 of this year.

  In mid December I will be flying even farther away from home to St. Jude Academy in the Central Province of Kenya. I am very excited about this. St. Jude Academy is a small Catholic school, which takes care of orphaned and destitute children by providing food and schooling for them from kindergarten through sixth grade. They are growing year by year and will reach grade 8 in the next two years.  More than a quarter of the school is made up of kids orphaned by HIV/AIDS. The school is situated in one of the poorest parts of Central Kenya and does not have much in the way of resources.I’ll be there, until May 20^th of 2008, at which time I will fly home.

  Both schools are poor, and desperately need help.For this reason they are not able to compensate their volunteers beyond basic help such as food and board.Any assistance you could provide would be much appreciated, from prayers to donations to items for the community.I believe the most basic service I can do is connect people to people.During my stay I will have this website where I will post pictures and news from my service sites. On the bottom of this post there is a link to my PayPal donations site.All you have to do is click, and donate.I would love to hear from you by emails, posts on my blog, or even real letters.If you’d like to get my address or other fun updates by email, please email me at asacksteder@yahoo.com.I will also be posting my mailing addresses as soon as I have them.

  I would like to thank you in advance for your help during this next nine-month adventure.Your support will go a long way for these children, and the experience will do amazing things for me.

  Thank you,

  Annie Sacksteder

   

  

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