End of School Year Update from Ibrahima

Greetings from Koro,

In Mali, June is the month of Exams. This year’s DEF exam for 9th graders was organized with such an anxiety that I lost many kilos.

Like an Exodus scene of interceding Moses team on the hill while fighting team of Joshua and the army in the valley, teachers and supporters (you) were praying, while students were taking their DEF exams. Many prayers were said on the benefit of our students. DEF was held from the 6th to the 9th of June. Thank you for your fervent prayers.

By hearing students’ appreciation of the exams, it gives me hope for acceptable results. Even though I personally reserve judgment until we see the results.
In our worries for preparing the DEF we postponed Students Day until after the exam. And just before the DEF, the academy (local authority of education) changed the dates of term for the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at the very day of our students feast. We were again obliged to postpone our annually feast of celebrating students.

Students did not at all appreciate that we are now moving to the very end of school year before we can celebrate their day. We still hope to have the party on the 29th of this month.

Lack of water in the city: As usual the lack of water increases when we approach the raining season. The shallow water well dried out. Every day we witness the spectacle of a long queue of donkey carts waiting their turn to get drinking water to bring to the family. Many times I look with questioning heart at this situation as in my own family we depend on those jugs of water on donkey carts. We all need this precious liquid.

Just one rain made a huge difference: As all blessings come from heaven, a rain of 36 mm has made a great difference by the help of filters and water sanitizing tablets. Please pray for reliable running water system in Koro. A worker at the church building reported to me that for a full day of an opened water tap he got only 1.5 liter of water, while showing me in a transparent jug the water in question. Construction is in a state of covering and all is ready waiting for more rain to finish work. Please pray for the rain.

A quick and busy school year that will finish in 2 weeks: This school year felt so short to me that I am surprised we hare done with the school year. It is like we did not get enough time for things we had on plan.

We are making an incredible difference for students that are enrolled since their first years of school. We face real challenge as we try to reeducate those who have done their elementary schools at the public schools with very little control. The parents expect miracles but we are sometime overwhelmed by the work it requires to make those kids ready for the next class.

We know how you pray for us and we appreciate it very much. I don’t see how we could handle some of those students if it was not result of your prayers.

The new building is attracting more students for next year. We are excited that we will soon finish with the second three classrooms. We can then welcome a good number of students.

Thank you again for all what you do for education in Mali, we acknowledge your supports and are thankful.

God bless you,
Your friend, Ibrahima