The Back to School fundraiser has been going well. We are over half way to our goal of $10,000 by October 1st! Thank you to all who have donated or pledged to donate over these past 2 weeks! Grace Private School only exists because of everyone's hard work and generous donations. Ibrahima, Rachel, the teachers and the students have energy and enthusiasm but without money there would be no school. As little as $25 per month, an amount most of us would not even miss, can educate a child for an entire year, truly changing their lives.  Please consider making a tax deductible donation today. Either use the PayPal button or mail a check to the address listed on the right. Email with questions or for more information. We are volunteers so all of the money goes directly to support the school.

The new building is just about finished! It should be ready for the 7th, 8th, and 9th graders by the first day of school which begins in less than two weeks. Those that follow us on Instagram and Facebook have seen the great progress and met some of the builders. I have been particularly impressed by the pictures of students hanging around the construction site. They are helping out where they can and simply enjoying being near their future school. Ibrahima says that some come every day and others just stop by on their way to somewhere else. The picture is of students screening sand which is used to make bricks. They worked at this for an hour a day for a couple weeks. Their volunteer labor really helped out while providing a time for the students to bond and feel invested in their school.

With gratitude,
Brandon

Join us for Grace Mission Inc.'s  Back to School in Mali annual fundraising event!   But this year, Grace Missions, in support of Grace Private School in Koro, Mali, West Africa Cordially invites you to   PLAY HOOKY   That's right, you heard it correctly. In Mali and here at home students are headed back to class. But we know you're busy, and we want to give you an evening with your family.   So . . .  This SPECTACULAR event will NOT take place! Cocktails will NOT be served at 6pm Dinner will NOT be provided at 7pm You will NOT need to rent a tux, buy a dress, or find a babysitter   Instead, stay home, choose your level of support, and know that your entire donation goes directly to support Grace Private School in Koro, Mali. Thanks to your support,  Grace Missions, Inc. has helped Grace Private School accomplish many things this past year! Expanded to serve six grades in Koro, Mali with high quality Christian education in an impoverished community that is over 90% Muslim. Nearly completed construction on three classrooms that will be ready at the start of this school year.    Purchased textbooks for all students, a first for students in Koro. Met the schools monthly operating expenses every month since our inception. Kept administrative costs to a minimum. Over 97% of donations go directly to the school. We all work as volunteers. There are no paid staff or directors' fees at Grace Missions, Inc. Provided over 75% of the school's yearly operating budget and 100% of capital expenditures for construction of the new school. Supported Grace School's leadership with ongoing prayer, discernment, planning, and capital improvements. Purchased land for future expansion to meet the needs of our growing student population.  Where we are going:  With your help, we can:   Build six more classrooms to complete the school's nine grades (Grades 1-9). $120,000 will be needed for capital improvements and construction over the next 2-3 years.   Continue to provide the annual operating budget(currently $30,000 per year) through your generous monthly support.   Build a high school to provide greater opportunity for the students of Grace School.   Hire a school nurse to provide basic health care and education for students and to be an educational resource within the community.   Provide opportunities for microenterprise in the community of Koro to help Grace Private School work towards increased self-sufficiency long term.   Provide adult education, vocational training, and literacy classes at the Grace Private School campus.    Kidding aside, Grace Private School   needs your help!            Click on the Donate Now button below to donate to  Grace Missions, Inc. Please consider the options below or give whatever amount you feel is appropriate.  Your donation is needed and greatly appreciated! -------------------------------- Donate today!   Donate Today!   Donate Today!! ----------------------------------  Yes! I want to play hooky for an evening and support Grace Private School! Below are some suggestions; click on the  Donate Now button at the bottom of the page and make your donation today!   $100 I'm staying home.  Don't even think about announcing my name at your non-event. $250 My family and I are taking the evening off.  Don't make t-shirts with our names on them. $500 My entire table of 10 will NOT be there.  Keep your silly plaque and don't write a song about us. Make sure all the money goes directly to Grace School. $1000 Call me a Platinum Sponsor  if you need to, but please don't put a brick in the school with my name on it.   Please consider supporting Grace Missions on an ongoing monthly basis. Start today by donating your first month's support; then please reply to this email to let us know of your monthly pledge. Donate Now THANK YOU!

Grace Missions Inc., 8330 Foster, Overland Park, KS 66212

Down to the Wire

Drissa is a mason working on the new classrooms

The school year starts in less than a month in Koro.  Ibrahima is pushing the builders to have the new classrooms ready for the middle school students by then. It will be close, but he is confident that it will be ready.  It will be so amazing to have the 7^th, 8^th and 9^th graders in a brand new building that is fully owned and paid for on our own land. In addition to the classrooms, the administration building is next door and is nearly complete. There are also three restrooms: one for girls, one for boys, and one for adults.

Like construction projects in the US there have been surprises, challenges and setbacks. There has been a severe drought in addition to the seasonal dry months that brought brick making to a standstill. Too much water in July caused different problems. Even a sand shortage at one point was overcome. But in the end we are going to come in under budget and on time.

The 1^st through 4^th graders will return to the rented rooms that Grace Private School has used for several years. But with only four classes at that location instead of six no one will have to be outside in the makeshift grass wall classes. Every year a new grade is added. With the addition of 4^th grade for 2015-16 we are only two years away from offering all nine years of primary school.

With the new building our monthly operating budget will increase. Some of this will be covered by the tuition that the families pay, but we wouldn’t be able to have this wonderful school without help from our great supporters. Please consider becoming a monthly donor. Every little bit really helps.  $180 a year will cover tuition for a student that otherwise might not be able to attend. $600 a year brings us 1% closer to the next 3 classrooms. We feel that the education that is offered at Grace is the best in town. Small class sizes, well-trained teachers, and a Christian education have all been successful in encouraging parents to entrust their children with us. Please keep Grace Private School in your thoughts and in your prayers this season.

Blessings,

Brandon

Lamine

I talked to Ibrahima recently about Grace School. Although he is disappointed in the end of year test scores, there are still great things happening. The building project is moving along nicely now. Plenty of rain has made a tremendous difference.

As important as the new building is to all of us however, it is the students that matter most. I asked him to tell me about one student of which he is especially proud. He told me about Lamine Konate.

Lamine is one of the few that passed the 9^th grade DEF exam this year. This means he will be able to move right into high school in the fall. He is excited to study science there, as his dream is to be an engineer.

Like many rural children lucky enough to attend school, he and his brother, who will be in third grade at Grace in the fall, don’t live with their parents. In this case they live with an uncle in Koro.

Ibrahima says that Lamine is very hardworking and disciplined. He even volunteered to wash the Malian flag. The flag gets very dusty and dirty so he washes it every other week. This is something he chose to do of his own accord and shows the energy and enthusiasm that is frankly not that unusual at Grace.  All students there take pride in their school. On Fridays they clean and sweep the yard and the street. Every day after school the boys wash the chalkboards and the girls sweep the classrooms.

We at Grace Missions are so proud of Lamine and all of the other wonderful children at the school. We are excited about the upcoming school year.  Please keep the children, Ibrahima, Rachel and the teachers in your prayers. Also please consider a one time or recurring gift so that we can continue to grow the school. This is important work.

Peace,

Brandon

Face-to Face Visit with Ibrahima

In the blazing heat it is hard to stay up with hydration. In April it is 108 degrees every day; dry, dusty, smoky, very little wind. There has been no rain since last fall. When I see patients in Mali for constipation or dizziness or headache it is really about the water. Nobody drinks enough. It is mango season now. The big yellow fruit literally covers the huge trees. They provide needed vitamins and fluids for the dehydrated, malnourished poor. The children of Dagabo village this trip often had a mango in their right hand. But even with this God given manna it is well known that the rains are two months away. The parched land, the cachectic livestock, and the impoverished people are barely hanging on at this point. Hundreds of miles to the northeast of Ouelessebougou and Dagabo, in Ibrahima Kodio's town of Koro, it is even hotter and drier. This area in the Dogon receives even less rain and is right on the edge of the Sahara. The construction of the new Grace Private School building on the land we purchased last year has stalled out due to lack of water. A large amount of water is needed to make the bricks. Hundreds have been made but we need hundreds more. It is cost prohibitive to bring a truck full of water from the Niger so the builders are dependent on wells, which are either drying up or private and inaccessible. Ibrahima had a team dig down further on an existing well but no water was found. He currently has people looking more widely and is confident that we will eventually find enough to begin again. Despite these problems, the rains will come and he has faith that the school will be complete for the new classes in the fall. The land will contain three classrooms housing the seventh, eighth and ninth grades. There will be three simple, private pit toilets nearby- one each for boys, girls, and teachers. The existing crumbling small building on the land will be converted into modest administrative offices. First through fourth grades will remain in the rented building that is currently in use. Every year a new grade is added- this will be the first year to have fourth grade. There are currently 22 children in ninth grade. This is the biggest class and getting closer to the goal of 30. Ibrahima said that several students transferred in the fall just to take ninth grade at Grace, hoping that will be enough to be able to pass the national test to get into high school. He says that there is a definite difference between these students and the ones that have attended for three years but he and the teachers are doing their best to prepare them for the exam.  Overall the children are doing well. Thanks to many friends like you they have schoolbooks for the first time. Something that no other school in Koro has. They have very good teachers and daily Bible instruction. They have pride and hope for the future. On May 15th, the school will have a Student's Day celebration. This was held two years ago and was a great success. Ibrahima hopes to make it an annual event. The kids will feast and dance and sing. Each class will have a role and showcase their talents in some way. There will be awards and speeches and special guests. It is a great way to showcase the school and to instill school spirit and pride.  The ripple effect of this tiny school in a remote town in a desperately poor country that is not even on most Westerner's radar is immense. The administrators and teachers and builders and security guard and all of the others that receive an income from the school- the children receiving the education- their families who benefit from the child's education and their burgeoning faith and dreams- and the wider community that will ultimately benefit from these well educated, enthusiastic young people- so many people are affected by the smallest donation, the humblest prayer, the tiniest amount of attention.  Despite lack of safe water, plentiful food, adequate health care, personal privacy, or political stability, Malians are some of the kindest, gentlest, most grateful people on the planet. They share and assist each other in a way that our culture lost long ago or maybe never had. They make due with very little through reuse and recycling; nothing is wasted.  By donating to Grace School you can be assured that all of the money is being used in a remarkably frugal manner. Ibrahima keeps receipts and reports on purchases and expenses to the penny. Although communication remains difficult, internet service remains virtually nonexistent in Koro. Ibrahima and I had a great meeting last week in Mali. These face-to-face meetings are best. Additionally he is able to report in by phone on a monthly basis. We are in need of more people or churches willing to give on a monthly basis. The budget will have to grow as the school grows. $50 or $100 a month - even $25 a month - or a one-time donation- every bit helps. Please email us at gracemissionsinc@gmail.com for more info about Mali, Grace School, or to find out how you can help. The picture was taken at Clinique Paix in Ouelessebougou, Mali. From left to right: Jackson, our head pharmacy tech; Isaac, one of our long time translators, an English teacher in Bamako, and father to twin 3 year old girls and an infant son; me; and Ibrahima in his role as lead translator and local organizer of our medical mission. Peace, Brandon

February update

Greetings from Koro,

The first month of the year has been full of good things as well as challenges.

The parents meeting with the teachers went very well. The parents have been grateful for the textbooks their kids got from the school. We urged them to oversee the use of those textbooks by the kids at home.

Teachers have succeeded in the government test, indeed three of them are quitting us because of success on the government test to go into public teaching. Many teachers quit the private teaching because of the pressure to get a good result while at the public school there is not much requirement of efficiency and results. As we give continuous training to our teachers to be better teachers, it is understandable that they easily pass the comparative test; anyway we will continue to train our teachers for better work as long as they are with us. 

New teachers are getting enrolled. We thank God for the quality of teachers we are getting and we pray that they be able to face the challenges.

Recent events in the world and specially Boko Haram in Nigeria and the“Charlie event” in France have changed how the kids react to the world view education courses. We are grateful that the kids understand the principle of Devil influencing people to make bad decision and act badly.

In some villages around us, January and February are the months of Quran study when some kids leave the classic school to go and study the Quran. For sure they come back and are behind the other students as they stop coming for about two months. Moussa Barry one of our students has done this many times. We can still see how behind he is and how difficult to get things done at school as he frequently asks to go out from class for religious duty.

Moussa’s Dad is an Imam (Muslim version of Pastor) and a specialist of founding and building Mosques. He testified to us through his brother that after he realized how behind Moussa was, he decided to bring him where there is better teaching. We pray that God help us to help better these kids like Moussa, returning from Quran School.

Please pray for the beginning of the school building project starting soon. We are now gathering sand and bricks.

Thanks to you all so much. You have been such a blessing to us and the people we serve here in Koro.

We pray that God returns to you the blessings as he promised.

Your friend Ibrahima.

Moussa Barry