It's a Death

Photo Credit:  R. Stoll

To be human is to hope, to set one's heart and mind on an outcome and to desire with all that I am to see it come to pass. 

It doesn't take long for us to learn to hope.  I ran into the Mom of one of my first graders from last year who told me that her son, all of seven year's old, has been shedding tears.  He loves Sahel and he had hoped to be there again this year.  He is grieving the loss of that dream because he knows Sahel is damaged by flood waters.  His five year old sister, an incoming kindergartner, is sad too because she's  been looking forward to being at Sahel with him.

On the other end of the spectrum, I think of one of my former first graders, now a senior, hoping to get a scholarship to play softball in college.  She had been diligently practicing and working out all summer on our softball field.  What will happen to that dream now that our softball field is underwater?

It's a death.  It's a death of the hopes and expectations of almost every student and staff member at Sahel.  It's hard and we are grieving it.

Paul's words in 2 Corinthians1:9 resonate.  "Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death."  But then, they go on to remind us of a glorious truth.  "But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead."

This school, this ministry currently underwater, belongs to God, who raises the dead.  Just like Paul said in verse 10, we, too, can say, "He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again."  We went through this in 2012 and God brought our campus back to life.  Yes, it is far worse and deliverance may not come in exactly the same fashion - we have so many questions about the future but "on Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers." (2 Cor. 9:10) 

This is key, we are being helped by your prayers - those of our community, those of our friends and churches in faraway places and those of our fellow international Christian schools.  Your prayers for us are sustaining us during a chaotic and overwhelming time.  As you continue to pray, we know that God will be our help.  He has helped us to locate and rent two school buildings.  He will help us to see the work on these two buildings, particularly the elementary, completed so that we can fully move in and bring some order out of the chaos.  He will help us, students and staff alike, to understand that He is a God who raises the dead, that in Him our hope is secure.  "Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in answer to the prayers of many."  (2 Cor. 1:10 & 11)

On the left: circled in green you can see a small plaque placed after the 2012 flood to mark the waterline and commemorate the faithfulness of our God during that difficult time.
Bottom right:  Ken F. uses his canoe paddle to measure how far down the plaque is.  Notice that the rock detailing on the side of the building is not even visible.
Top right:  the plaque's apt reminder - 

I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the LORD never ends!
His mercies never cease,
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!"
Lamentations 3:20-24

If you would like to help the school recover from this devestating loss you can do so through TeachBeyond, one of the organizations that partners with us to provide staff.

Flood 2.0

As a school and as a mission, we never wanted to relive this story again.  2012 was enough.  God had spared us in amazing ways.  He had helped us rebuild and come back to our compounds with safer walls that would protect us from the river's threat during rainy season. We were thankful that we could look back and recount all the ways that God had been faithful but had it been our choice that would have been a book we never reopened after the last chapter had been read.

But that is not the story that is being written. Instead we have had a very heavy season of rain and our team of guys watching the river kept seeing the water level go up and up, passing the level that caused the 2012 flood and going up.  They sandbagged. The dyke held. The water level went down and then back up. Our section of the dyke held.  But downriver from us water began pouring in filling the areas behind our walls, walls where a threat had not been anticipated in the past.

Sunday evening we sat on the steps of our Admin building trying to decide the best course of action.  We would give it one more night and reevaluate in the morning.  By 8 am on Monday morning the road to Sahel Academy was impassable by small vehicles and we were starting to enact our evacuation plan, going through the school and putting everything up waist high or more.  I worked together with our elementary team.

At 2:26, I took a moment to look out the window from the second story of our elementary building.  This is what I saw.

I could see all that water being held back by our wall and I could see houses in the distance where it looked as though the water was half way up the doors.  Honestly, it felt like it was only a matter of time, especially when we began to see water leaking through several of the seams.  We continued to work.

Around 4:15, the elementary principal came running around the building shouting that the wall had broken.  There were three of us in the same area and we hopped in one of our colleagues cars and we tore out of that area to one of the higher points on campus.  I didn't want her car to be under water.  I ran by the house of a family in quarantine to yell at them and tell them the wall had broken and then I ran towards my classroom where I had left my phone plugged in to charge. I grabbed it and my water bottle and waited for the principal who had run back to the area as well.  While I waited I watched the water pour in where the wall had broken.  This was not a story that we wanted to be ours and yet here we were again.  

When it was all said and done, we waded out to the front entrance in water that was up to our chests.  It is the first and the last time I hope to be taking a selfie in the Niger river!

I lay in bed Tuesday morning with a barely functioning brain.  Too tired to even open my Bible, God brought the words of 1 Peter 2:23 to mind.  I add a little more here for context:  "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly."  As you can well imagine there are just SO MANY questions.  In the face of those questions, I have the challenge of walking the same road that my Saviour walked, one of continuing to entrust myself, my colleagues, this ministry and our mission to the Father.  He is sovereign and He knows what He wants to accomplish in this that will bring glory to His name.

Here are some things He has already done:

• In those last hours, He sent some strong young men who helped us move alot of things to our second floor where they are dry and safe.
• Just minutes before the wall broke, several men were standing in front of it inspecting the leaks.  When it broke, no one was there.
• He held back the water until the last bit of chemicals in our science lab were carefully stored upstairs.
• He gave one of our guys the foresight to turn off the electricity to the whole campus so that when water began pouring in we had one less thing to worry about.
• He sent some men in through the wall who stuck with us and helped us put up a bunch of last minute things in the elementary, computer lab and some colleagues' houses that hadn't had time to prepare.
• Passports, wallets and lost pets have been recovered.
• He has given us joy and laughter even in the midst of tears.

He is good and worthy of our praise.

School was to have started on September 1.  We are in the midst of trying to recover as much as possible from homes and the school and we need time to regroup and make decisions about the future.  We covet your prayers for wise decision making, for health and safety for those wading into the water and for God's provision of new homes and school buildings.  For several colleagues, this is the second time they have been through this.  Many of our leaders, including our SIM Niger Director, treasurer and the Sahel Academy Director and their families were all living on these compounds.  This means they are dealing with this loss and having to make important decisions about ministries simultaneously. Many of our Nigerien colleagues' homes are being threatened or have already been lost.  Please pray that all will know and experience the loving care of the Father. 

Make Plans to Immigrate

First Grade recently began a study of Mexico.  One afternoon this past week we were talking about the symbols in the Mexican flag and what they mean.  Then our conversation expanded to the flags of each of my students' countries and the meaning of the symbols on them.  When I got to my Indian student, he described the orange, white, and green bands on the flag quite well.  Then he declared, "And it has a wheel in the middle!" 

Of course, I asked what the meaning of the wheel was just to find out the extent of his knowledge.  "The wheel is there so the Canadians will come!" he said with great excitement.  "Oh really???"  I think to myself.  "Yes," he said, "And they will speak Canadian!" 

I'm not going to lie, I laughed out loud then.  "O__," I said, "Canadians speak English."

"No, they speak Canadian,"  O___ insisted.

"O___," I said,  "I am Canadian.  Canadians speak English." 

There you have it, if you happen to be in the Canadian portion of my reading audience and you have felt a sudden desire to immigrate to India, you must be responding to the call of the wheel.  Make plans to immigrate now.  But before you go brush up on your Canadian, eh!

Learning the Books of the Bible

Part of the First Grade memory program at Sahel is to learn the first five books of the Bible.  For such big words, music is always the way to go.  I stumbled across this song and thought I would try it out this year mostly because I love the simple truth that is communicated between all the big names:

The Books of the Bible, 

Time tested and reliable.

Scripture has a power that's undeniable.

The Books of the Bible,

their wisdom's verifiable.

Scripture has a power that's undeniable.

Here's what it's supposed to sound like:

It has absolutely been a hit in the classroom.  So much so that if I would, they would have me play it over and over again.  When I stop playing it well they just keep on singing it themselves.  The evidence is all here.

So obviously, we haven't quite mastered all the names.  In fact, at one point they were singing about the book of  "Eccludiastes".  And of course, there are times when you get lost in all those big names so why not start all over again when that happens!  Don't worry if you never make it to the end!

Love that they are learning important truths about God's word through song!

Jumping Up to High School - The Visible Effects of this Transient Life

 

It was January 2012, I took a picture of my then second graders jumping off the sidewalk.  Then just because it was such a fun picture, I immortalized them in black and white as my blog header. 

In 2015 those second graders graduated from fifth grade and moved up to Middle School.  So just for fun I took another picture, same location, same order.  It was amazing that in such a transient community the core group of this class was pretty much the same.  Three years later and the picture looks much different.

In May of 2018 my friend Anne organized the graduating Eighth Graders for a jump shot in the exact same order.  You can see the group was significantly reduced in number.  Of the group of 9 moving on to middle school, only five remained for the shot.  Four of the students had returned to their home countries - two permanently and two for home assignment with their families.  So in reality out of that core class of 10 that I taught in Second Grade 7 students remain which I would say is still pretty incredible!  Not to mention that they have actually been joined by quite a few more students. 

And here they all are!  The Eighth Grade has adopted a Nigerien cultural practice of dressing up in a uniform to celebrate their graduation.  Nigeriens often do this for special occasions such as wedding celebrations or simply to show their identity as belonging to a certain group. 

One thing that hasn't changed - they are still a great bunch of kids!

A "Welcome Home" Tradition

It seems there is a little "Welcome Home" tradition developing when I return from home assignment.  Upon my return from my last home assignment, I woke up one morning to a flat tire - a little "happy to see you again" gift from my car.  This time I gave myself the gift in a much more dramatic style by running over a six inch pipe sticking out of the ground - a nice pop and "psssssszzzz" as the air fizzled out and all of this in front of a truckload of soldiers.  Oh me, oh my!

The wonderful thing about Niger is that help is just around the corner.  The security guard called the guy on the corner who fixes tires to come and he changed the tire after borrowing a workable jack from one of my friends.  So help came quickly.  Not only that, I now know that I need a new jack and four new tires. So I'm thankful for the wisdom God provides even out of my dumbest moves!

Last Day of School

It doesn't matter what country you live in the last days of school are always filled with incredibly meaningful activities such as:

 

Seeing how many people you can fit on the same chair

Until everyone falls down in a big heap

 

Making silly faces

 

 

And making them with your teacher too!

 

The Fly Tree

Chalk this one up under weird things.  One day I was walking along the sidewalk by my old classroom and heard this incredible buzzing sound.  Turns out there were hundreds of flies gathered on the tree beside the sidewalk.  I've never seen such a phenomenon before and I'm not quite sure what would cause them to gather like that but there they were.

One for the Language Learners

I had a moment of panic last night which has now become the motivation for this post.  You see, one of my students last year drew an amazing picture at the end of the year, full of detail and humour and I thought I had downloaded it and so I deleted it off my camera. But then I couldn't find it anywhere on my computer.  Thankfully, my external hard drive saved the day and I can share this gem with the world. 

My students were reflecting on how God had helped them in the past year and this is what this little guy had to say.

Note the towering stack of paper, the rubbish bin full of scrunched up attempts and the one about to hit the trash.  Clearly it was hard work learning to write in Korean! 

This little guy is Italian.  He came into my classroom with no English at all.  He had already begun to learn French so I could communicate with him through that.  I have to say I have never seen a student learn a language like this guy did. 

Flat Stanley Visits from Franklin, NC

May 25, 2017

Dear Ella and Friends,

My trip across the ocean took SOOOO long and then there was all that time to get sorted in the mail but I’m happy to say that I arrived in the mailbox of Miss Botheras here in Niger just yesterday.  You might be wondering where Niger is?  It is right in the middle of West Africa above Nigeria.  One thing is for sure…I should not have worn a long sleeve shirt because it is hot here!  At 7:30 am it was already 96 degrees Fahrenheit inside.

Miss Botheras is a First Grade teacher at a school for missionary kids here in Niger.  Her students come from all over the world like Korea, Italy, Kenya, Brazil, Nigeria and the United States.  I hung out with them on the playground and I thought you might like to see some of the things that her students like to do for fun.

Miss Botheras forgot to feed me anything for breakfast so my first stop was to hang out with some third graders who were cooking in their kitchen.  They were making spinach.  Not what I prefer to eat for breakfast but since I was hungry…I ate some!  

I was feeling super strong after all that spinach so I decided to go for a race with some first grade boys.

On your mark! Get set!      

         

Go!

After that it was on to the monkey bars,

slide

and parallel bars.

Hey!  Have you ever heard of an antlion?  What are you picturing right now?  A dangerous ant with a furry mane?  That’s not what an antlion is.  Antlions are insects that live all over the Sahel Academy campus. The kids showed me how to hunt one down.  First you have to find a hole like this: 

This hole is actually a trap that an antlion has set for ants.  They wait for an ant to fall in and then they eat them.  So if you want to find an antlion you have to flick a little bit of dirt into the hole to see if there’s an antlion waiting at the bottom.  If he is waiting down there he will think an ant has fallen in and he will kick sand up, hoping to cause the ant to slip even further into his trap.  Once you know he’s down there you quickly put your hand over the hole and grab the sand.  Then you sift the sand away to see if you have caught an antlion.  This is what an antlion actually looks like…

He walks backward and he is very ticklish to hold!

Well it’s been a full day and I have to get this letter off to you because I know school is just about over for you.  I sure do hope this letter gets there before summer break starts!

                                                              
All the way from Africa,

Flat Stanley

                     

The Blessing of Being One Among Many

Two weeks ago in our Bible class we were reflecting on the blessings that God has given us.  One little boy in my class drew a picture of our school - the sports court, Hope Hall, our playground platforms and even our brand new building with its detailed staircase.

 

It was in the middle of drawing those detailed stairs that I stopped to ask him about his picture.  He told me about the first day he came to school to be tested for Kindergarten and how he cried because he was so afraid.  How well I remember that day!  He was terrified and cried incessantly. The teachers were afraid that he might run away at any moment. "But now," he said, "I'm not scared any more.  I feel safe!"  What a sweet blessing to hear these words and to know that Sahel Academy is a safe place for learning and growing!

 

But what happens when our students have to leave? 

 

It was last year at this same time that I found out one of my students was leaving.  He had struggled emotionally and behaviourally all year.  I had worked with him diligently on some of those really difficult behaviours and seen some huge changes in him. But he was still struggling and needed a closer connection to his father.  His mother decided to return to the U.S.  It was a wise decision but I remember being so saddened because I knew that he was leaving a place where he was seeing and hearing about Jesus and he so desperately needed the healing that only Jesus can bring.  I had no guarantee that he was going to a place where he would continue to hear that good news. 

 

One year later and I just had another student leave.  Her father was transferred to Senegal. They have known since before Christmas that this move was coming.  Just after finding out, her mother came to me and asked me if I knew of any schools like Sahel Academy in Senegal.  What a joy it was to be able to recommend Dakar Academy, a Christian school serving the international community in Dakar! 

 

 

So on her last day at school we put her in the middle of a big group hug, prayed for her and joyfully sent her on her way, confident that she is going to a place where she will continue to hear the truth of God's love for her.

 

I'm so thankful that Sahel Academy is just one of many Christian schools serving the international community around the world.  It is truly a blessing to know that when our students leave here, God can take them to other schools where the good work He has begun in their lives here can continue there!

 

Would you consider praying each day this February for Sahel Academy and other international Christian schools like it?  These schools play a critical role in the building of God's kingdom in the hearts of their students and in the countries in which the schools reside.  We need God's provision.

 

 

For a link to Sahel Academy's specific staffing needs click here.  One of those needs is someone who will cover for me while I am away on home assignment next year.  Thanks for praying for teachers!

Second Anniversary

This past week marked the second anniversary of the day that nearly 70 churches were burned across Niger.  I had the opportunity to go back to my friend J's church which was ruined that day.  You can read more about that here.  They were celebrating the completion of the rebuilding of their church and the addition of a new building.  It was a joy to see how God has restored what was lost.

January 2015 - The Church

 

 

January 2017

 

 

January 2015 - Living Quarters (I think.)

 

January 2017

 

 

January 2015 - Teaching Space

 

 

January 2017 - A Brand New Building with Additional Teaching Space

 

 

January 2017 - J & His Family

 

 

J has a vibrant faith and invests deeply in both his church and those that God brings his way that are in need.  You can pray for him and his family.  Pray especially for his son who is not pictured here but who has turned his back on the gospel and is instead following the majority religion.  J longs to see him return to the Truth.



When the Magic Happens

There comes a point in every First Grade classroom when the magic happens!  The magic of reading that is.  This year and more specifically, the last couple of weeks, I have been tangibly seeing it happen in a way that I don't think I've ever seen before.  It just kind of feels like we're all taking off together whereas usually it's a more individual thing as each reader gets it and starts zooming ahead.

Everyone has been engrossed during independent reading time.

But the thing that I love and that has been putting a smile on my face is the story time that this one table has initiated when we are packing up to go home.  Everyone has been taking turns reading their little book to the whole table.

I can't even begin to tell you how sweet it was to hear the lowest reader in my class, the one who has been struggling to sound words out and having his tongue get all twisted, read to his little buddies and to see them all sit and listen and then clap for him as they had done for all their reading friends.  That, my friends, put the cherry on the top of my week!

The Faithfulness of God in the Empty Hallway

Just about two weeks ago, I stood in front of a bulletin board I was decorating thinking about the mountain of work that needed to be done around the school before we would be ready to welcome our students back.  This hallway was a particular concern as it was full from one end to the other of furniture, cupboards, appliances, chairs and who knows what else that had to be moved out of Hope Hall in order for retiling to happen in that building over the summer.  I can't install a kitchen or move a refrigerator on my own and even if I could have, the other building wasn't ready yet.  But I can stress and pine for things I don't have! 

So there I stood thinking about how nice it used to be in public school when the janitors/facilities people just came along and took care of the junk that inevitably fills the hallway in the days leading up to the start of school.  "God,"  I thought, " why can't I be teaching in a school that has one of those amazing people to help move the mountain of stuff and get us ready?"  Almost immediately I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me, "That would be nice, Beth, but then you would miss the opportunity to trust God to help move the mountain even though it looks humanly impossible."

Convicted, I committed it to prayer seeking to trust God when what I really wanted to do was worry...especially when it was the day before students were arriving and the hallway was still filled! In 13 years of teaching I have never once begun the first day of school with junk in the hallways.  My 14th year is no different except that this year, I see the faithfulness of God in the empty hallway.  He brought the right people along at the right time to do what was needed.  And somehow, little by little, the mountain of stuff made its way back to its rightful home.  He is faithful!

Please do pray with us that God would call someone to the ministry of caring for the Sahel Academy campus.  We want to be faithful with the facilities that God has given us and we need someone who is skilled and knowledgeable to help us keep our campus safe and functioning so that we can better serve our students and their families.

How to Make a New Friend

Tomorrow is the first day back to school for us here at Sahel Academy.  Back to school always means that there are many new friends to be made.  What better time to get some advice from a Second Grader about how to best go about making a new friend!  So with out further ado, I give you a short "How To" on making a new friend.

1.  First you say hi.  Then shake hands.
2.  I think you should play with your friend if you want to know him better.
3.  Then your friend will have to leave.  But don't be sad.  He or she will come back tomorrow!
4.  Then you can play with your friend after you to to sleep.

5.  Later at school in recess, I recommend you play soccer with him.
6.  You can teach your friend how to spell April, Saturday, January, May, backstroke.  (All words from the Second Grade Spelling book...too funny!)
7.  And that's how you make a new friend.  The end.

There you go, my friends, get out there and play some soccer and spell some words.  Today is a day for making new friends!  And by the way, if you happen to meet and make friends with Xopop be sure you tell him he's got quite the cool name!

Happy First Day of School!

There is a Mother

There is a mother I know.  She has three children who play nearby on most days.  She sits listening to the happy voices of her children and the varying beats of feet moving by her.  As I pass her, I often think of how I wish I had the words in her language to tell her how beautiful her children are - how they are growing taller and stronger each day.  I want to tell her these things because she cannot see them with her own eyes.  She is blind.

Today as I passed her, she sat alone, her children nowhere to be found.  I wondered again at how difficult it must be for a Mom not to be able to look up and see her children and know that all was well with them.  How, for example, could she come to their aid if just one of those passing by intended them harm?  These thoughts often turn to prayers that God himself would watch over them for her.

My feet walk on.

Suddenly, I hear the frightened cry of a child and the pounding of little feet on pavement.  Her toddler is running furiously and crying out for her.  He has wandered inexplicably far from her and yet, surrounded by a sea of grown up legs, he runs toward his mother's place, absolutely sure that she will be there.

I stop and watch, concerned that he may not know the way, unsure of whether I should help him.  In the sea, one hand reaches down momentarily stopping him but it is not the hand he seeks.  He pushes it aside and continues on as do I, confident that he knows exactly where he is going.

My feet follow the path once more around the stade and there, at the other end, my eyes seek out his mother's place.  She is there.  Resting safely in her arms is her little one.  He is comforted by her whispered assurances and her gentle hand tapping his bottom.  There is a mother.

Dedicated to my Mom and Dad, who, just like this mother, 

have always been a place of refuge and assurance.

 

 



Artfully Sharing The Story

Henna is an art form used here in Niger by women to adorn themselves particularly in preparation for a wedding ceremony.  Usually women will decorate their hands or their feet and ankles.  It's a beautiful art form.  I'm not sure how widely embraced it is in the church.  I recently talked with an almost 30 year old Christian colleague who had her hands and feet decorated for the first time which was kind of surprising to me.  Regardless, I love the idea that this art form could be used to share the stories of Jesus with women.  I have some students in my class whose Moms are learning to do just that.  They are practicing on their children who have been coming in and sharing the stories with us.

Here one of my students shares the story of Jesus' birth.  What I love about this is that it came so easy to her because we had memorized this portion of scripture together in class.

 

 Here one of my little boys got in on the action with a henna design depicting the story of the prodigal son.

 

Simple enough that even children can use them as a way to artfully share the gospel.  Pray for these moms who are learning to draw these designs that as they develop these skills they would have open doors to share with the women of this country.

 

If you are interested in a little more of the back story of this idea here's a more professional video sharing just that.

 



Love is in the Air

Just a month or so ago, Miss Schmidt and I were reviewing our weekly Bible Verse.  It just so happened that the week's verse was Matthew 4:19, "Come follow me," Jesus said, "And I will make you fishers of men." We were discussing the context a little bit and Miss Schmidt then posed the question to our First and Second Graders, "Am I the one that's going to teach you how to fish for men?"  Of course, we all had a good laugh at the silliness of that, knowing full well that it was Jesus talking.  One little First Grade Girl piped up and said, "Yeah, Miss Schmidt's going to teach us how to catch boys!" Since then I've been telling Miss Schmidt she will have to write a little book entitled, "How to Catch Boys."

In January, that little First Grade Girl might have needed such a book but the month of February has been a good one for her.  The marriage proposals have been pouring in, the little boys lining up for the privilege of writing their name beside hers and then today, the first love letter arrived. (All names have been blotted out to protect the innocents.)

My favorite part of this letter has to be the pregnant pause before the "BIG" declaration..."You are the prettyiest girl in class."  I'm equally amused by the last sentence, "and did you know I love you better (than) best friend's name?"  Let me just tell you that these two best friends are tighter than tight so that's a big declaration!

Well, there you have it.  It's February and love is in the air!  We'll try to keep the dating to a minimum though.  After all, it is only First and Second Grade!