Season greetings to all of you!!!
Merry CHRISTMAS from Grace School students and teachers!!!!

We are thrilled that the feast of celebrating the most important gift to the world has arrived. We hope you all are having a great Christmas season.

​Here, at Grace School the celebration started with a wedding. After a long and challenging friendship and engagement Jacob and Hawa POUDIOUGO, both teachers at Grace School, said “Yes” to each other at the school on December 14th- a working day!!! What a grace!!!!

Jacob joined us in 2015 as an elementary school teacher and Hawa this year as a kindergarten teacher. They are both very loving and gifted. We are grateful to have them on our team. It was a grace for us to be part of that joyous event.

We had the children make drawings for Christmas. It was a great introduction to many of our new students who I think learned much after they underwent this exercise. At the same time it was an opportunity for them to ask many questions about the birth of Jesus and read from the Bible at some level the history of the mysterious birth. It was art combined with religious education.

The support of loving friends like you tells the students of Grace School and their parents that they are not alone, but that there are countless God-fearing people who are thinking about them valuing them, appreciating and investing in their education.

We had our second meeting with the parents whose kids need extra teaching, as they are way behind where they are expected to be in term of reading, writing, math and art. I was surprised to see that those parents need help more than their kids do. Some of them ignore what it is to father a kid!! God has been so generous and gracious to entrust them those sweet kids even though they are that irresponsible. This issue is dragging me to think of our staff counseling the parents. My visit to some families of those challenged students reinforced my conviction of this need. Please pray for wisdom and the right people to be tasked that.

This region is often colored by radical extremists and inhumanity, threatening the safety and the security of the country. In the middle of it, Grace School through the teaching and the Love must stand as a light, a powerful tool that can dispel a great amount of darkness. We are grateful to have you fueling this light. I can’t describe it with my limited English words.

Please pray for a short and hidden visit we are organizing. Our God is the Master of all security and Safety.

We say “Thank you” in the most meaningful way!!!   God bless you.
​
                                                                                                   Your friend Ibrahima

Hello friends,

It is out of a difficult month we are! October was one of the most unstable months in Koro. It was a serious threat after they burned down two Catholic churches and some Toguna (traditional court in the Dogon culture)

My friend Pastor Serge Bayo was coming from Burkina Faso after 6 PM, only 30Km from Koro, when at the border with Mali he was arrested by the Burkina national army. They shoot him in all directions and still miss him. They nearly destroyed his motorbike. Some of the 7 soldiers who were shooting run away believing he was a bullet proof kamikaze.

When his motorbike blocked he heard them shouting “ALT-ALT kneel down” He obeyed. They came and explored and searched for any weapons he may have. Found out he had only some gloves and his Bible in his worn conference bag. After a check they found out that a total of 52 bullets were shoot. Four bullets touched the motorbike and only one passing by had torn his pent, burned a bit his upper leg but did not penetrate him.

All were speechless and wondered why 7 well trained soldiers shooting a total of 52 bullets did not touch this man. The answer is easily found in Psalm 91.7.  His shallow burn was treated by the military nurse before they accompany him to the closer town.

We are privileged to have Serge’s daughter Rose Bayo in our house for high school since 2014. We praised God when Serge visited us three weeks ago.
We know that true peace is the one in the heart and God is the only source. Thank you for your prayers and supplications for us, so that we stay secure in the middle of unsecure environment.

So the School year despite all this trouble, is going very peaceful and well. No unrest is sensed in school. Kids are happy and are learning well. We had a great parents meeting and all went well.  It was mainly about what a Christian School is and is not. We largely talked about parents being the first teachers of their kids and how they must work with the school, partnering for a success in the ultimate Job - educating the kids that God has untrusted us.

This is possible as you fit in with your support, to weld the parts and fuel it making the system work.

​God bless you richly !!!!
Ibrahima 

Hello from Koro,

We just had the results of the national exam in Mali.

In Koro the result was terrible in general (18%) but again God has been good to us. At Grace we had 8 students pass out of 16 that took it. They are now eligible to move on to high school. We praise the Lord for his great goodness to us. I had not expected that good result because of the quality of students we had. Surprisingly two of our good students Nema Saye and Amadou Ganamé didn’t pass. Please pray for them and the others who didn't make it.

We thank God for the kindergarten classrooms we are getting by miracle. Please pray for the administrative documents that would allow us to start receiving the kids in the kindergarten. We want it to be a most fun place for the kids to learn and find friendship.

We continue to work hard towards our goal of a general and professional high school. We need your help to get there. Partnering with you has allowed us to dream and dream big!!!! Thank you!!!

Koro area is in a difficult situation now more than anytime in it's history. A few days ago there was a community fight that cost hundreds of lives. No government or international action was done at that place till now to prevent escalation. There are several places in the country at that condition of security. We deplore that those conflicts are an imminent threat to our education program and development. It is widely reported that many armed people who fought for the radicalized Muslim groups have arrived to fight the hunters who are there to protect the community.

There is a very high risk of a bloody conflict in this area very soon if precautions are not taken to avoid it.  As you know, no education or development is possible when there is no peace. Please take time to bring this issue before the throne of grace.  Please keep praying for peace in Mali.

There is nothing we can do besides prayer. Our government is not powerful in the face of the security challenge in the region. We know for sure that there are some invisible evil hands behind this conflict. Please pray that those who act in darkness to promote conflict in Mali may be exposed and fight by the Lord.

We have good rain now in Koro and the long line of donkey carts in front of the school has stopped even though some families around the school keep coming to find cleaner water as they have shallow wells.

There is no word powerful enough to describe what this school year is like! It is just miraculous. We thank you again and pray that God be with you and bless you in return.

​Ibrahima
 

Greetings friends,

Since late May we have been searching for ways and means to get the kindergarten next year at Grace School because of parents' request.
After many office visits, we understood that we cannot easily get papers before the classes are available. We then quickly started exploring ways to get three classrooms built before October without sounding crazy :) 

All is coming together quickly after we had lost hope in the possibility. A few days ago nothing was stable - It was YES and then NO after we had started making mud bricks. That is why I waited to tell you the final conclusion. 
We got land by the school (just behind) different than what we have bought few years ago. 

We can no mistake say that the Lord has arranged that for us. 

To make it short here is the story:
One of our former student's parent had land behind the school. We had our family land where we were to eventually build our house. With a little extra money we traded the land so that we can have a place for the kindergarten. We have started making mud bricks and building the three mud classes on the land before another change of mind. They are small and simple classes. Within five days here is the result of the construction.

​Please thank God for this construction. And pray in secret for less rain before the building gets dry :) otherwise we will have to start all over again. 

God be with you and bless you,
Ibrahima,

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.