Greetings from Koro!
It
is Tabaski season so everything had to pause; even the negotiation of peace in
northern Mali did not make an exception. The
Tabaski season impacts every aspect of
life. School starting was postponed one week. One thing is most important - get
your lamb for the Tabaski !!! Bamako streets were jammed by sheep. The
means don’t matter: buy, borrow, win a lottery or in the extreme case, even
steal; all that seems to matter is to get the lamb. One lamb to honor the
family’s devotion to the Muslim religion, for the family to look like the
others the whole year. In some families, the skin of the animal is kept and
used as a prayer mat. Tradition
is to imitate Abraham in offering a sacrifice to God.
(You
may read more about Tabaski here. It is the biggest festival every year in
Mali. The date changes depending on the lunar calendar: )
School
is starting very slowly due to the fact that people are coming from Tabaski feast
and you hear the refrain “There is no more money to face other expenses after Tabaski”
when they are asked to buy uniforms or pay tuition.
We
have started this school year with 78 students including 28 newcomers so far
and we are hoping for more as people see the new changes and improvements we plan
to make.
My second week in Koro is ending. So many
things still need to be done when I look at my “Made in U.S.A to do list”- a
list that I had made during my six week stay while thinking of the work I want
to get done here in very short term; however I thank God for the little I was
able to do by His grace.
My first activities have been to finish repairing the benches; remaking the 3 grass walled classes that we will use for
first, second and third grades; test, interview and hire some new teachers; and
time tables for the teachers and students; parents and teachers meeting; exploring
possibility of buying adjacent land to the land we have etc…
We had the first teachers meeting which
allowed us to debate openly some changes including: extra student care to help
the challenged students, the uniform requirement from 1st of November; teacher
uniforms and the Grace Student Day preparation. The increase in salary was well
appreciated. In return of the praise we gave to the teachers for good work
during the past year, the teachers on return openly congratulated the
administration for faithfully paying them.
The
idea of text books for all students was not believed but welcomed with a laugh
as Sara did when hearing prophesy on the birth of a child at her age; to say it
short this is believed “unbelievable!!!!!!” This doubt is easily understandable because
none of us, present at the meeting have had textbooks in all subjects as a
student.
Please
thank God for the students He has untrusted us for this School Year and pray
that we have a good and successful school year.
Pray
for wisdom and knowledge for the teachers to share with the students.
Thank you for reading this!!
God bless you!!!
Ibrahima
