The Sahelian

Adam’s perspective:

This Saturday, November 3rd, was a busy day for many people. While several missionaries and a few national artisans tried to sell things outside, the student council ran a 50’s style diner in the dining hall with hot pancakes and coffee.

Inside 1000 cfa could buy you all the pancakes you could eat and coffee or hot chocolate to wash it all down. Meanwhile, oldies music played in the background creating a fun atmosphere. Another attraction was the Lego building competition where people of all ages had a chance to compete in constructing first a space ship then a land vehicle much fun was had.

Outside a horde of potential buyers swarmed around the tables rented out by the senior class which also had a table of its own where they sold donated. Many other people came hoping to empty their cluttered closets and earn a little money in the process.

Overall it was a fun-filled morning where almost everybody found something to do. Both student council and the senior class made a decent profit to help fund more fun events later on in the year.

Jonathan’s perspective:

It’s Saturday morning. The seniors have all helped set up the scene for their first annual garage sale. It is almost 8:30. Miss Carriger, Jonathan, Adam and Matt are frantically pricing last minute items, setting up the items and making their senior table ready with all the stuff on it. Thirty minutes later, the stuff is ready to be sold. All four of these hard-working people are finally done and are eagerly waiting for the series of fortunate events to begin. Meanwhile, Student Council is preparing for a pancake breakfast at which they hope to make some profit too.

 It is finally 8:30!! The distant car sounds can be heard over the horizon. Customers are arriving. The seniors and StuCo are going to make some profit today. Artisans are coming down the dirt sodden road to sell their jewelry and weaponry in hope to gain something out of what they have skillfully made.

The dining hall is decorated with records hanging on the wall. You could hear the 70’s-music, the noise and activity from outside as people gathered around tables, chatting and getting caught up with each other. The music and the atmosphere were now becoming one harmony, both inside and out. It is a great gathering as many people from outside the community have come to join in the fun and interact. People from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds are interacting; exotic clothes and flamboyant dresses are clashing and blending together as we speak-literally!! The many voices that are heard sound like one piece of music blending together, each piece a part of the grand design that God has created.

The goodies were numerous. Ranging from freebies to Christmas ornaments, to artisan stuff to clothes-you name it- we probably had it! Many people came by to every stand and found a thing or two that they wanted. Some of the more African people bartered and we reduced the cost to make their day.

Chantelle’s perspective:

On Saturday the senior class and Student Council held a ‘double-whammy’ fundraiser. The seniors had a garage sale, where they sold donated items and rented tables for other people to sell stuff. They had creatively named it ‘A Saturday of Fortunate Events’. Student Council had a pancake breakfast with a 60’s twist. They decorated the inside of the Dining Hall as a 60’s diner called the Bee-Bop Pancake Shop. The StuCo members dressed like they were from the 60’s era with poodle skirts for the girls, and slicked-back hair for the guys!

I saw the from a very different perspective than most Sahel students. With my mom helping StuCo and my dad doing other stuff, I was the one responsible for our 6 garage sale tables. We were finally selling TONS of our old junk! When the sale started, there were very few people wandering around. Things were fairly easy, and I sold some things. As the hours passed however, I began to feel like I was running the Grande Marche single-handedly. There were so many people coming to buy our stuff, and I was feeling very overwhelmed! One small problem was change. There never seemed to be enough change around, and at least twice someone had to get change from elsewhere. There was also some confusion over purchased items. Some people bought things and thought that I would remember what they had purchased, and they could leave them sitting nearby. With so many people, and so much to sell, I didn’t remember for a few people. I accidentally sold something that someone else had reserved (but thankfully hadn’t paid for). I almost did this twice, but someone corrected me before I made the same mistake. It was very embarrassing.

I hadn’t eaten breakfast and as all this was going on, I was getting hungrier and hungrier. It was past 10 am before I was able to eat any of the pancakes that were being sold. Mr. Gillespie brought me something to eat when the crowed had thinned a bit. When you’ve waited that long for breakfast, it really tastes GOOD! By noon people were leaving, and we began to clear up and consolidate all the items that we hadn’t sold. It was incredible how much we had gotten rid of and along with that, the amount of money we made! Although parts of the morning were stressful for me, it was a very productive morning.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Sahel Students, Current News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.