June 2017 School Update

Greetings from Koro,

As we move towards the year-end exam, we greet you from Koro

May was super busy for us and not very secure but because of your prayers things are better here now.

From the eyes of the teachers we evaluated the school year during our staff meeting. It was great to share our fears, our satisfaction, our weakness and our strength. The conclusion was encouraging.

“And the child grew and become strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him”. Luke 2.40 KJV
There is nothing more a teacher likes to see than the growth of his students with wisdom under the Grace of the Lord. Here at Grace we see the kids growing and it rejoices us more than anything. When we look at the kids we clearly see the difference in many ways between when they came in this school and now. We know the Lord has done things in their lives during this school year and we look forward to see further growth in their lives in the coming years. 

This month was full of activities because the government squished the different pedagogical evaluation in the months of May as March and April were seriously disturbed by the continuous strike. So the second term was in late April and the third in May. Please thank God for the third term those passed well, and pray for the DEF Exam (9th graders national exam) that starts on the 5th of Jun.

We had the privilege to visit many students’ families and it was amazing to hear firsthand the appreciation of parents. It brought us to believe that the school is well appreciated by all no matter which religion they practice. The frequent request from the parents was the kindergarten and the high School. We kept giving them hope about those requests to be fulfilled in very short future. This year we deplore the school abandon of two students including one boy who went to the artisanal gold mining field despite all the counseling of parents and teachers and a girl who prematurely got married and didn’t want to do nothing with school. 

The deplorable attitude is that many parents force their kids to fast during this Ramadan. Those kids come with complains about belly pains, dizziness and many more, driving crazy Abel the school nurse to go tell the parents to stop forcing the little kids for fasting. Many believe it is a sin to cook in the family during this Ramadan period. If you do it, they believe you will bring curse in to the family.

We had one big rain but it is still not enough to stop the water crisis in the town.
Please pray that we get some more rain soon.
The school water pump failure was felt by the entire town of Koro before we get to replace by a new one.  As soon as it was fixed the news went quickly and the line of donkey chart with colorful jugs was automatically there.

For the construction we are short in cement because of transportation issues and we hope we will get it very soon to resume with the work.

We acknowledge your support in this ministry, miracle is happening here because of your different supports. God bless you in return to all you do.

​As I finish this newsletter I get a call from Bamako telling me that my lost backpack (with my new laptop, electric tooth brush, an amount of CFA cash, document for the school and some of the church plus cloths etc.) was found with everything inside. Praise the Lord with me for that. He answers all our prayers all the time.
 
Your friend Ibrahima.