After Cambridge I needed to widen my horizons. I applied to Voluntary Service Overseas and was sent to teach sixth-form mathematics in Northern Ghana.
Apart from Morocco, I'd never been to Africa but I found it an interesting place. Ghana had been independent for a decade and had already experienced one coup (a second occurred in my stay). My one year extended to two; then to two more. When I left, I was replaced by one of my first students, by now a maths graduate from Kumasi.
In the holidays I took students to support Wycliffe Bible Translators in out-of-the-way villages. I also made one trip to Ouagadougou in what was then Upper Volta. This was my only experience of riding a camel. It looked a long way down.
My focus in maths gradually moved from the pure to the applied. It only made sense to teach the subject if it could be related to local development issues. I came across a new application of maths, Operational Research; and decided to pursue it further.
Apart from Morocco, I'd never been to Africa but I found it an interesting place. Ghana had been independent for a decade and had already experienced one coup (a second occurred in my stay). My one year extended to two; then to two more. When I left, I was replaced by one of my first students, by now a maths graduate from Kumasi.
In the holidays I took students to support Wycliffe Bible Translators in out-of-the-way villages. I also made one trip to Ouagadougou in what was then Upper Volta. This was my only experience of riding a camel. It looked a long way down.
My focus in maths gradually moved from the pure to the applied. It only made sense to teach the subject if it could be related to local development issues. I came across a new application of maths, Operational Research; and decided to pursue it further.