to DAKAR on DA’BUS

Spring break is here and a group of BCA teachers decided to hit the road and visit the most Western point of Africa!

It started with a 28 hour bus ride… through some of the hottest places on earth! (Kayes, Mali)

Upon arrival and after a LONG shower, we hit the beach! I was very excited to stomp into the waves!!!

We made our way downtown and climbed to the top of some buildings! Dakar is a real city! So different from Bamako- there are real sidewalks!!!

On our way down town- we spotted a place of wonderment- MAGIC LAND!!!

We then met up with our friend from Bamako and headed to N’gor island on a boat for some evening exploration!

 

 

We finished off the evening with SUSHI!

 

The next day we headed to Goree island- a key spot of the slave trade. We spent time looking around the island and exploring the mix of colonial buildings and African culture.

 

The following day was spent shopping- both at a ritzy mall (where we didn’t buy anything) and the local street market. Next to the mall we found Africa!!!

 

That evening we climbed to the top of a hill to look at the giant statue- it’s hard to tell from the pictures, but it is HUMONGOUS!!!

 

 

Our last photo stop was the following morning on a walk along the beach. This was a beautiful mosque about half a mile from our guesthouse.

 

It was a fun-filled, relaxing and beautiful week! I loved being in cooler weather (70’s and 80’s) as well as seeing a new city.

 

Oh, and we survived the 32 hour bus ride home- barely! I forgot just hot HOT Mali can get!

A little remodeling!

A few weeks ago, my roomies and I decided that a fresh coat of paint in our living/dining room would be a wonderful thing. After a quick discussion we decided that we would paint 3 walls white and 1 brown. We called a few friends and headed to a local boutique to get supplies ie paint, brushes, and scrappers. Then we got to work!

Step 1: wash the walls

 

Step 2: scrape away the loose plaster… use anything you find: knives, pie cutter, or maybe a real scrapper

 

 

Step 3: paint!

 

Step 4: enjoy your freshly painted home- don’t forget to clean up! Nail polish remover is great for getting dried oil-based paint off a tile floor!

 

 

                

Special thanks to: David Wong; Mads, Ruth and Micah Baker, and Ed Trussell for you help!

- Sarah, Hilary, and Carolina!

Jesus the Miracle Worker

Usually when I think of Jesus and miracles, the big ones come to mind: Raising Lazarus from the dead, healing the blind man, turning water into wine, etc. However, a devotional I was reading yesterday stated:
“Sometimes "small miracles" can have tremendous impact…(such as) an unheralded change of heart. There is just such a miracle in the story of Peter recorded in Acts chapter nine. We are told that Peter, a Jew, was staying in the home of a Gentile man named Simon. And Simon was, by profession, a tanner! Tanners handled the hides of dead animals, and were considered unclean by Jewish rabbis. But God was beginning to change Peter's heart, and would soon show him that the Gospel was (and is!) for everyone - not just for good, law-abiding Jews. Peter's "sleep-over" at Simon's home might seem insignificant - but it was a micro-movement toward a larger goal: the opening of the door of salvation to the Gentiles.”
The change of heart is hard to witness and may not seem mighty- especially when it is gradual. But, it is through changed hearts that God works. Upon reading this I began to reflect on the little miracles I see in my life. Being a teacher of the same seven students for a year certainly gives me the vantage point to seek out transformation.
This has been a challenging year for my classroom- not just for me as a first year teacher- but for my students as they have had to learn to work, play and essentially live along side others that are different and challenging. However, as I reflect on the actions and conversations of my students, little changes have taken place. There is no longer frustration in some of their voices, they are willing to help other students that don’t understand the material, compassion- rather than annoyance- is displayed in their interactions. Little changes of heart are taking place and that is truly a miracle.
I realized also, that these little changes are not due to my action or ideas- rather it is God working through my students. I would love to say that it is because of my teaching, and my patience that hearts are changed- but that is not true in the least! I have to surrender these tyes of transformation to the only ONE who can change people- Jesus- and rest in the promise that He is working.

Pig face for breakfast

Most of my time in Mali is spent in the big city living with and serving the missionary community. However, my friend Lisa invited me to spend a day with her in a village as she is finishing up the photography project she was sent here for. I was excited to leave the city, even if just for a day, and get a taste of the “real Mali”.

With the pastors wife

While in the village, we stayed with a Christian pastor and his family. Time was spent sitting under the mango tree, drinking tea, preparing food, and living life. It was calm and refreshing… except for one thing.

About halfway through the afternoon, a man drives up in a moto with a large bag on the back. He hops off and tugs the bag to the ground. Curious as to what is in the bag we look over, and as it is opened a pig, still freshly killed, rolls out. Interesting. It is the first pig I have seen in Mali, because Muslims consider pigs unclean, and it was right in front of me.

Gabriel the pig

About an hour later two missionary friends show up. Apparently they had asked for a pig on their last visit and just today the hunter was able to catch one. They conversed with the family, and then had the pig skinned and packed up in the cooler they brought.

As the missionaries left, Lisa and I noticed they left the head and feet behind. The Malians seem to know that most white people do not share in the enjoyment of the head and feet. That being said, somehow we both know those could be our next meal. The process of mentally preparing myself to eat pig head began almost immediately.

The sons start a fire in one corner of the courtyard and pretty soon the head and feet and being cooked. Disgusted, yet fascinated, we watch the process of burning off the fur, and cooking the head.

Cooking the head

That night when dinner was served, I was shocked and excited to see that pig head was not on the menu! It looks like I am safe for now.

The next morning we sat down with the pastor to eat breakfast. One of the sons had gone and purchased bread, so I was looking forward to some rice and bread for breakfast. The pastor took the lid off the bowl and SURPRISE there was part of the pig head.

I silently gasped, looked at Lisa, and made the resolution “you have to at least try it”. We dug in. First we started with the juices. Soak bread in juice, place in mouth. Hey, that’s not too bad.

Then I watched as the pastor took a big piece of skin, pulled it off the bone and placed it in his mouth. I told myself “you can do this” and proceeded to do the same with a small piece of meat that was exposed with the skin removed. Hey, its not too bad. Kind of salty- actually tastes a lot like ham. Ok! I CAN do this.

For the next fifteen minutes I pick off small pieces of meat and cooked organs (the brain and tongue), place it on my bread and pop it in my mouth. It is actually quite tasty. Once I forget what I am eating that is.

We finish our bread, sit back and I am fairly satisfied! I did it! I ate the really disgusting looking food and actually liked it! Winner!

As if to congratulate me, the mother brings in a bowl of millet soup. It is tiny balls of millet cooked in lemon juice and honey. It was refreshing to wash down the salty pig with the sweet millet! YUM!

The rest of my day went equally as pleasant. We went to the market and enjoyed spending time with the family for the rest of the morning. What a great experience!

 

 

Walking back from the market

Money MONEY money!

In Mali the Communaute Financiere Africaine franc is used- most commonly known as CFA (see-fa) or franc. The exchange is around 500 CFA to $1- so, as you can imagine mental math becomes a norm. This currency is used all over West Africa- brought in during French Colonization.

Today in my Bambara lesson I learned how to say the different values of money in Bambara- simple, right? Not so much! You see in Bambara the money is in units of five. For example if something costs 100CFA (or Keme) the shop keeper would tell me Mugan or “20”. 1000Cfa is Kemefila or 200, and 300CFA is biwaru or 60. Confusing, right!

 

Here’s a little practice

Bambara          Actual number     Value in cfa            What it can buy

Mugan                    20                     100cfa              small packet of powdered milk

Kemefila                 200                  1000cfa              taxi ride, liter of milk

Biwaru                   60                      300cfa               loaf of bread

Bisaba                   30                     150cfa               ride on a sotrama

Tan ni duru             15                      75cfa                 1 egg

 

and just in case you are curious what it looks like

 

Some of the coins

All the bills- the cleanest you will ever see them!

Support Us

In order to teach, we are on missionary support with TeachBeyond. 

We raise our own support to enable the cost of tuition at the school to be minimal. To donate Click here or you can use this form. 

Thank you and we greatly appreciate your help in our ministry to children!

100 days and counting!

This past Friday the students and staff at BCA celebrated our 100th day of school! Over the past month, there have been a variety of “fun days” and celebrations. Here are a few of the things my students have been up to!

The BCA Lion!

The first week back from break my class finished a 5 week mural on the wall.. check out the progression!

 

Drawing the grid lines

Beginning the painting (with oil-based paint, EW!)

Mostly finished!

All FINISHED!

 

TWIN DAY!

Rules are simple: dress alike

 

 

Stranded!

On our “flight” to Brazil we crashed into the jungle. There we learned about survival, plants and animals as well as enlisted in the school to help us escape! We transformed our classroom into a museum and made displays showing about life in the Amazon rain forest!

 

Lost in the jungle takes a lot out of you!

Outrageous Oven Outing. Part 1, 2, 3, 4

When you live in West Africa simple things such as home repairs are never simple.
It all started on Thursday. Our kitchen smelled of natural gas and was too strong to ignore. This has been going on for a while- so finally we decided to find out where the problem was.
By turning off and tightening all connections between the stove and the gas bottle we determined a loose screw was not the problem. So Ed took apart the entire oven. The conclusion? The valve to the oven was leaking. Solution- get a new part to replace it. Dont worry that in the mean time, there were fireballs in my kitchen and lots of screws thrown about. That's completely normal.

After consulting a few veteran missionaries- we decided that the market would be the best place to look for the part, so on Saturday we set off! We arrived at the market, showed our part to a few venders and were pointed to the opposite side of the market. There we found the junk yard of everything metal.
Hopeful as always- we asked a vender if he knew where to get our part. He pointed us to a nearby stall. We walked over and asked where he pointed us back where we came from and gave us a name to ask for. We went back and asked for the person- who was not in at the moment. We were then directed another way, then another, and finally ended up talking to a man selling alternators to cars. He recognized the piece and told us, "Coulibaly by the mosque at the other market would be able to help us". For those not in Mali there are some major problems with this helpful advice.
1. Coulibaly is as common a last name as Smith or Jones in the USA
2. There are mosques on almost every corner
3. He was at the other market.
Rather than leave it at that, this man acted in a very Malian way and called his friend for us. He then gave us his number so we would actually find him. We all hop in a taxi and head to the other market (about 15 minutes away). Arriving at the mosque we called our new friend Coulibaly, couldn’t understand him and then handed the phone to the taxi driver. After a brief conversation we headed to the OTHER mosque (remember there are LOTS of mosques in Bamako).
We arrive at the shop and he looks at our part and starts digging around while we wait in the taxi- the closest I have been to a drive through since arriving. Five minutes later he comes back with a part- but not the right one. We shake our head no, but it doesnt end there. He decides that we can come back the next day and he will look for the part that night.
Sunday morning we call Coulibaly again, and he tells us he fixed the part. We are not really sure what that means, but excited that progress was being made in the right direction. After our morning of Sunday school and Youth group we head back to the market to meet up with our friend. Sure enough he has fixed our part! We pay him and head off on our way.
That night Ed re-installs the part and our oven is working! Oh, the joys of helpful people, lots of walking, hot weather, and success!

Football!

I am not much of a sports fan. However, if it involves hanging out with friends, yelling and screaming for no reason and witnessing a different culture- I'm all in! That's how this football game came about (which is technically soccer).

It's typical Bamako Sunday afternoon- which means sunshine, lots of people milling around, and dust. My friends and I were invited by a taxi driver friend to join him for a soccer match- the two Mali teams were playing.

We gathered around 3 in the afternoon, making sure to sport our friends team color of red. There were 5 of us total, so as we hailed a taxi we divided into two groups- following the Malian law of no more than 4 passengers. My taxi consisted of Ed (my boyfriend), Carolina (my Brazilian room mate) and I. As always, the taxi was a little run down, and that led to no worries. However, when we were about halfway there- the clutch broke on our taxi and we stalled in the middle of Bamako traffic. Needing to get off the main road, the driver hopped out and started pushing. Not moving forward, Ed hopped out as well, and together the two of them were able to steer our taxi to the side road.

Pushing the taxi! GO go GO!

We decided to catch another taxi- to ensure that we would not miss the start of the game. Arriving at the stadium 10 minutes later it was a sea of red and white (the two teams). We purchased our tickets from a man on the street for 1000cfa ($2) an pushed through the crowds to enter the stadium.

As we moved through the passages, we passed vendors selling all sorts of game-day food: carrots, bananas, crackers, soda, tea and water. No beer. No hot dogs. There was also a variety of paraphernalia such as whistles, movie posters, keychains made of leather- and well, basically anything that people might want to buy.

Eating some oranges at the game. Healthy, huh?

We found some seats and I looked around. We are the only white people. We are only a few of the women (not selling things). As the time drew closer to the start of the game, drum circles started beating, and people started getting in the "game" mode. There was no pep band. No cheerleaders. Just Malians and their soccer players.

The game started promptly at 4:30. There was no national anthem. There was no starting announcements. All of the sudden, players were on the field and a ball was being kicked- high and long. I dont know much about football (soccer) but I am aware that ball control and keeping it ON the field are two important aspects. Apparently in Mali it's different. the goal is kick the ball as high in the air as possible. My Brazilian roomie went "I am from Brazil, I know football, this is NOT football". I think she still had a good time though.

 

Check out the obvious middle line!

The score was 0-0 for the whole game. I was getting tired and thinking this was fun, but I want food. In the last second, however, the red team scored a goal! The crowds went CRAZY! We jumped up and down cheering, then our taxi-driver friend looked at us and said "lets get out of here". We quickly dodged into the aisle (where the overflow seating took place) and started pushing through the crowd to make an exit. As we were going several Malians made sure we made it out safe. As we exited the stadium we were told that it was a good thing, because people were going to start throwing stuff, and it was not really safe. GOOD THING!

My roomies and I in our red!

Working at an MK school...

.. Has brought me face-to-face with missionaries from around the world. It is so cool to see the global work of missions and reminds me daily MISSIONS IS NOT JUST A NORTH AMERICAN VENTURE!

I was reading the newest edition of Operation World (an amazing resource for understanding what is happening around the world- country by country) that "since the 1970's there has been a surge of interest and involvement in missions from the majority world (Asia, Africa, South America). Mission sending has recently gained or maintained momentum in countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, Brazil, Philippines, South Korea and others." (page 7)

In my school of 12 families we have students from 3 of the 5 countries listed! In my class there are students from Brazil and Nigeria, and also we have a student from South Korea. I was reminded of the truly international aspect of BCA and excited to see, not just read, the global plan God has for the world! SO COOL!

Sometimes my kids look a little scared... or maybe it's just the sasquatch...

Focus

I sent part of this out in my most recent prayer letter, but I thought I would elaborate a little and share what God is doing in me.

I work with third and fourth graders- I understand what an inability to focus means. As an adult however, I am just as guilty of becoming distracted from what really matters in life. I become trapped thinking about my needs, my emotions, my wants and my frustrations. Basically- the focus is on me.

I have been reading through the Psalms and stumbled across Psalm 63. It is a declaration to God to be the only satisfaction in the writers life. I was convicted and reminded that God alone is my source of hope, energy and strength. In those times when I am frustrated, unhappy, grumpy or exhausted- it is because my carnal desire to focus on me is on full blast. I lose focus.  

This became apparent the last few weeks of school before break. It was a rough time– not only did I have a cold, but there was tension at the school and I was caught in the middle. By the time Christmas rolled around I was burned out, grumpy and exhausted. Some of the reasons were legit- physical illness does lead to exhaustion- but some reasons were from my selfishness.

I love how God knows what I need. He is good and has given me the rest I have been craving. Naps, down time, and His word have restored me little by little. I have been reminded just HOW important time in the word is and WHO is my strength. Rather than allowing my needs to drive me, I need to focus on Christ alone. With that, I am excited to start class again and know WHO MY teacher is.

I cant believe....

 ... it's December! Christmas season is in full swing and last weekend was the BCA Christmas program. Each class participated in a short skit and sang several festive songs. My class did a goofy skit focusing on the Innkeepers and their "frustrations" of the night. My students were fantastic- they remembered all their lines and really got into character.

One of my students- Melissa- and I at the program!

The 3-6th grade classes singing!

Part of my class in their skit!

 ...  how tired I am! School has become exhausting and I am ready for a break (one more week!). God has given me a very interesting class this year, and has enabled me to grow in so many ways: as a teacher- dealing with challenging students, as a co-worker- dealing with issues in a professional manner, and as a friend- knowing when to stop and listen (still working on that). He is good and I am constantly reminded where my energy and focus must stay.

My room mate,  Hilary, and I after the concert.

... I am singing in a choir. My room mate directs a choir for anyone in the community who wants to join. She convinced me and Ed to participate, so for the past 3 months we have been working on Vivaldi's "Gloria" as well as several other festive pieces. The performance is the12th. I am excited to see everything come together and celebrate the birth of Christ with friends here in Mali.

Some BCA students who were also part of Gloria! Aren't they cute?

... I am cold! It is cold season here and the weather has DRIED out! It was 85 degrees today and I needed a sweater. Also, in the mornings, I wake up cold with a blanket on- the low temperature? 72!