The Sahelian

December is now here and with it the sad reality that our Math teacher, Mr Dan Field, will be leaving us. We are still praying for who will fill his very large shoes next semester. I took a little time to interview Mr. Field, and I learned some new things about him which I’d love to share.

Mr. Field grew up in Southeast England as the son of a pastor. He accepted Christ as his Savior in his late teens and was baptized in his third year of college. He attended the University of Warwick where he majored in Math. After university he didn’t know what to do, so applied to do a short term with Wycliffe. Wycliffe sent him here to Sahel to do six months of teaching math. Six months has stretched into three and a half years! It is now time for the next step in Mr. Field’s life, and he is going home to England where he will apply for jobs. He is looking for something in management accounting possibly for a corporation with sponsored studying on the side. His first choice would be a job with the National Health Service. The idea of this training is so that he could possibly go back into missions when he is more qualified.

Mr. Field has been involved in many things while here at Sahel and in Niger. These include teaching, Student Council, coaching soccer, organizing Field Day, organizing Math Day, Admin Team, doing scheduling, Singles Bible Study, dorm sitting, and helping at the Foyer.

When asked why someone should come and teach here at Sahel, Mr. Field had a whole list of good reasons. There are small classes and great kids who you can get to know well. It is a great staff and missionary community to live in and work with. It is great to experience a different culture and stretch your boundaries. There are many opportunities to integrate into the local community if you want to. During break times there are great places to visit. Two highlights were his visits to Agadez and Timbuktu, both famous desert cities. It’s not all fun and adventure and Mr. Field did admit that there are hard things about living here as well. It’s difficult not having transportation, being single and having to cook (not much fast food around). It’s just all around more difficult to do the daily living things, especially when life gets so busy.

Some of Mr. Field’s favorite memories during his time here have been:

• the play the grade 7/8 class did imitating his classroom;
• playing soccer in the rain.(twice at end of the year games);
• generally talking and getting to know students; and
• the baptism services.

Lastly, Mr Field’s advice to the new teacher who is going to take his place, “Take time to build relationships; it’s a great opportunity to do more than just teach. His advice to Sahel students is, “Make the most of the time you have here. It’s a unique environment even if it’s not where you would choose to be.”

Thank you, Mr. Field, for all of your hard work, great teaching, heart of service, and all the many ways you have invested in each of our lives! You will be greatly missed!  ~Aunt Cathy

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 9:30 am and is filed under Sahel Staff Past/Present, Current News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.