The terrific tshirt tale

Last spring BCA held a tshirt design contest for the new school shirt. The staff chose the winner, or in this case winners, and created a modified design combining several favorite elements of the entries. The kids were pleased, and so were we. Now, the trick was,  how to get the tshirt made. Fortunately about the same time of year we were ordering supplies for the next year and we decided to screen printing kit would be a useful tool for the school.

Fast forward a few months. The kit arrived, as well as the tshirts. Somehow Ed and I decided that tshirt making was in our future so over the course of the following two Saturdays we learned the ends and outs of the screen printing process in order to produce this years BCA tshirt of wonder (cue triumphant music).

Here is what went down…

First we had to create a space with no light. In Mali in the middle of the day- that means blocking in a bathroom window!


After a few steps in total darkness (hence no pictures) we shone a bright light on the screen to create the stencil. Notice the elaborate use of brooms, adapters and electrical equipment.
 

The screen was completed and was looking good!!!

 

Next we taped off the edges to make sure there were no extra lines of ink.

 

Setting up the press, we were able to center the image and actually ready to print!

The first shirt actually looked pretty good!

 

It takes a lot of time to get the ink through all the stencil

  

My classroom is starting to look like a workshop!

Last shirt! Ed looks a little tired! 

This next week we will be selling the shirts and soon will have a school picture taken in the royal blue!

One day

Life at Bamako Christian Academy is one word: unpredictable. It’s a gamble to what mood the students are in, what tricks they are up to, and how hot it is. Then it varies on the day of the week as well… so here is just a snip-it of a “typical” day…

6am- The alarm goes off and Ed and I both groan. Snooze!

6:05am- Second alarm. Time to roll over. Snooze!

6:10am- alright, alright, I guess we DO have to get up… maybe just 5 more minutes. Snooze!

6:15- ok. I roll out of bed and stumble to the bathroom. After taking care of my necessaries, I wander into the living room, flip open my computer and do a quick check for any emails from the night before.

6:28- I ask Ed if he has any ideas for lunch, grab some leftovers from the fridge, and wander out the front door, slipping on my flip flops as I head down the stairs.

6:32- wander through the neighborhood in a half cognizant state of mind towards the sotrama stop.

6:48- after being bombarded with drivers yelling, we hop into the “green machine” heading in the right direction. I HOPE I heard them correctly.

6:56- hop off the green machine, cross the line of moto traffic, jump over the open sewer, dodge the men eating breakfast on benches, traverse the car wash lot, and make our way to school. Think frogger in real life. That about sums it up.

7:02- stop at the house across the street from the school and buy mini pancakes for breakfast. 5 hot cakes coated in sugar for 10 cents is a great deal.

7:05- unlock my classroom door, open the windows, and set up my computer. Time for “teacher Sarah” to start.

7:12 -gather with school staff to pray for the students. today I have an 8th grader… good thing it’s a small school and I can know all the students.

7:27- finish praying and head back to the classroom. Ed heads to the kitchen to make a cup of instant coffee to get through the morning.

7:30- bell rings and the kids are released from downstairs to their classroom. My students make their way into the classroom, take down their chairs, and start talking at once.

7:35- my brain has started to wake up and we get going on lessons for the day. Today we are talking about natural resources- they each get to choose one and make a mini poster

8:15- my French speaking students are released to go to French class while I work on spelling with my English-speaking students.

9- the student groups switch, now it is time to work on vocab with my ELL’s

9:45- Snack time! I bust out the tin of oats, pour on some water and zap it in the microwave- breakfast part 2!

9:54- the kids are done eating and head across the street to the playground. Now I have to figure out what the rest of the day holds…

10:30- I yell at the kids from the balcony that it is time to head back to class. next is math. My third grader take a unit test while my fourth graders review for their test the following day- I love easy teaching days like that!

11:43- One of the students name is drawn who will pray for lunch. We line up at the door and pray for our food, then lunch begins.

11:57- lunches are eaten and the kids head out again to play. Peace and quiet. Almost. Usually the teachers stay at the lunch table and talk about their day so far. The upper kids have been getting detentions for being late to class… uh, oh!

12:45- time to yell again and call the kids back! Next is Bible and we have to practice our verse for chapel tomorrow! Duck, duck, goose game it is!

1:30- Third graders head to music class where Ed is teaching them about brass instruments, and fourth graders head to Drama, where another teacher does games and activities. Me, I get to prep for the next week!

2:13 the kids storm back into the classroom “whatsmyhomeworkwheresmybookseeyoutomorrow”. I wave them off and they head down stairs to wait to be picked up by the parents.

2:30- I walk downstairs to see if the printer is working. New cartridge is indeed installed. One small victory for this BCA teacher!

2:56- I pack up my computer and double check that things are ready for tomorrow. Everything looks, good- downstairs I go.

3:05- Ed and I pile into the van with another teacher family and we drive off towards home.

3:12- Hopping out of the van, we sluggishly walk back towards our house. it seems to be cooler today, but I am still tired

3:18- I drag myself onto the couch and open my computer again. Time to check facebook and unwind for the day

3:47- the power goes out. I silently thank God that it seems to be cooler today than usual

4:06- the power goes back on! that wasn’t too bad!

4:25- I look at Ed and ask what he wants to do for dinner. We have some steak and mashed potatoes, that should work right?

4:45- too hungry to wait any longer, Ed and I head into the kitchen to make some dinner. We are glad the power was out for only a little while so the meat didn’t go bad!

5:05- like old people, we sit down to eat dinner. tastes pretty good!

5:26- we pop in a movie. Tonight is one of our “down” nights with Bible study and choir the night before, and several other activities other nights of the week.

8:04- I get hungry again and decide corn flakes and yogurt sound like a good snack. Then it’s time for some reading.

8:32- The wind starts to pick up outside, and it sounds like a storm is blowing in. I go outside and gather the laundry left of the line for the day before. I don’t want it to blow away or get wet again.

9:13- I think its time to bed. I start to fall asleep on the couch, then move to my bed. Outside I can hear thunder and every once in a while a flash of lightning. I think it might be the last real rain of the season- so I will enjoy it while it lasts.

Rest

About once a week I hit the wall. If you think of that literally, it would be more like once a day because of my clumsiness, but this time I mean the “AH- I cant do anything” type of hit the wall. It usually comes in the form of being tired, grumpy and loss of patience. As a teacher- this is not a good thing!

Yesterday was one of those days. Friday at school are half days, with the afternoon being spent for prep time and big-picture planning. Usually with a quick lunch and pick-me-up Coca Cola, I am good to go, however yesterday I was done. D.O.N.E. done. Thankfully, I had enough steam to finish the minimum amount of work before Ed and I headed home. I walked into the house- grabbed some bread and jam for a snack- then fell into bed. About 40 minutes later Ed hollered at me that he made lunch (I am a lucky woman!) and I mustered enough energy to get out of bed and eat sweet & sour meatballs and rice (see, I really am lucky!!!) then crawled back to bed. A two hour nap later, I was pretty much back to normal.

Sometimes the “wall” days concern me. Am I sick? It must be that I am lazy? Or maybe it’s just Mali heat mixed with hyper kids on a Friday. Anyway, it happens.

I am reminded that although I like to think of myself as invincible, God didn’t create me perfect (gasp). No, really, he created me to crave him. I cant do things on my own. I cant go without stopping. Its because I have to REST. To stop. To breath. To focus. To focus on my God and my creator. God calls to himself those who are weary and He will give them rest. The forever kind of rest.

I am lucky. Not only do I have a husband who cooks- but ultimately I have a God who loves me, and wants nothing more from me than to worship HIM. He wants me to feel rested. Sometimes he gives me that rest in the form of good food and a nap. Where sometimes that rest is in the peace he gives me when I sit with Him. Listen to Him. Worship Him.

Ah, rest. hmmm….