The Sahelian

Every outreach tip is different from what we expect. No two outreach trips can be compared to each other in the same ways. For some trips, the people are different, for other trips the circumstances are different. One thing is true about all outreach trips, though, and this is that the people that go on an outreach will come back a different person. They will have new experiences, new memories and maybe even new friends or new convictions.

The first outreach trip of this year was on Oct 12-14. It was a trip to a rural village called Makalondi. Since Oct 12-14 was the last weekend of our October break, everyone was very excited and full of energy. After loading up the two vehicles, the 10 team members consisting of Collin, Casey, Ryan, Chris, Daniel, Claire, Esther, TJ, Julie, Suzanne and two adults, Dave Totman and Bob Gillespie, piled in and pulled out of Niamey for the hour long road trip.

When we arrived, Gary Freemen greeted us at his gate with a huge smile. Later we also received a very warm welcome from Joy Freeman. Uncle Gary instructed where in their big yard to set up the tents and we got to work. After the tents were set up, we met on the Freeman’s veranda and discussed what we were going to do this weekend. We had a plan, but we would never know how God was going to use this plan for his glory. The mysteries of the next few days excited all of us. We could imagine the building we were going to paint, but would the picture in our imagination look anything like what we were actually going to work on? We soon found out. The Freemans had planned to take us to their favorite hiking spot, a small hill about 10 km outside of Makalondi. On the way to the ‘mountain’, we stopped and looked at the building that we would be painting the next day. The small building is a dormitory used for kids that would like to attend school but live too far in the bush to come to school. A wonderful Christian couple runs the dorm for the school, the church and the kids. The dorm is small, one large room for the 13 boys and one small room for the 2 girls who attend. Another small room is the dorm parent?s personal space. Cooking is done outside.

Continuing on towards the ‘mountain’ we enjoyed laughing and getting to know each other better. The hike was quick, complete with prickers and antics from Chris, Ryan, Daniel, Casey, and Collin. When we returned from the hike, Aunt Joy pulled out some already made pizza crusts and the chore team helped finish making the pizzas. Everyone enjoyed eating Aunt Joy’s wonderful pizza. After dinner the team practiced some songs in French and Gormache for the church service on Sunday morning. After the serious singing, everyone had a fun time laughing and telling jokes. Finally, everyone trooped off to bed. Unfortunately, the neighbors had planned their daughters wedding for that night, and the loud music kept almost everyone awake until past 2.

Saturday started bright and early with breakfast, and everyone quickly loaded in the Freeman’s truck to head to the dormitory to begin painting. We mixed the paint into a rich blue and began painting the walls. The team worked quickly and efficiently and still had a lot of fun. By noon, we had finished painting the two smaller rooms and we had more than half of the large room done. At this point we ran out of paint, so we returned to the Freeman’s house for some lunch and rest.

At about 4, many Makalondi youth began showing up for a large soccer match. The Sahel team and some of the Makalondi kids split off into teams and played a very enjoyable game of soccer for about an hour. The score ended up being 0-0. The soccer ball was donated to Sahel Academy and was used to demonstrate the wordless book since it had patches of black, red, white, yellow and green to show sin, the blood of Jesus, cleanliness or holiness, the hope of heaven and growing in God. After the soccer game, everyone grabbed a drink, and then gathered with the Christian young people in Makalondi for supper and a time of playing games. The team from Sahel taught the youth group PIT, Uno, Twister and Mafia. Everyone had a blast laughing with each other and learning many new things.

Saturday night, everyone went quickly through the showers and to bed. The wedding was still continuing, but most of us were so exhausted that we could just ignore it.

Sunday morning everyone woke up to a large breakfast of cinnamon rolls, banana bread, banana muffins and more banana bread. Then we went to a nearby EBM church in Baniera. The church was a medium-sized building made out of concrete with rows of benches, and a pulpit at the front. Women sat on one side, men on the other, and many children were crammed in the middle. The entire service was in Gormache, although the Sahel team did sing a few songs in French and even one in Gormache!

After the church service we returned to the Freeman’s house, ate a quick lunch and packed up the cars.

After every outreach trip, there seems to be something disappointing–and that is that the time is over. Many people look forward to rest and a nice shower, but the memories from the trips will always last and the lessons that God has taught us will always be with us.

The tension’s high. It’s the top of the 7^th and the Suns are winning by a stretch. This being the finals, the crowd is filled with excitement!

The first batter for the Suns steps up to the plate as the cheers of people calling out his name echo throughout the ball field. The first pitch soars through the air and lands on the plate with a thunk. Strike one! That’s ok. Never swing at the first pitch, some say. The ball gets back to the pitcher and he loosens up and throws another one. This time you hear a ting. Contact! The ball goes bouncing along the ground and under the second baseman’s legs, giving the runner just enough time to get to first base.

The second batter steps up to the plate. The pitch comes. He swings and swish, he misses. “Come on, wait for the right one,” someone says. The next pitch comes. This time he doesn’t swing. It lands a little too short. “Ball one,” the umpire calls. I hear “good eye, good eye” resounding all around me. Another pitch soars through the air. This time it’s a little too high. “Ball two,” the umpire calls. Yet another chorus of, “good eye, good eye”. The pitcher throws the fourth pitch, this time a good one, but the batter swings just a bit early and just barely nicks it, sending it straight up. The catcher puts out his glove and catches it. Batter’s out. “Good try,” I say as I watch the batter walk off.

The third batter pats the second on the back and then walks up to the plate. The first pitch comes, he swings and misses. The second time he swings and misses yet again. “Come on,” I scream, “you can do it!” The third time the pitch soars through the air. It’s a beautiful one. The batter swings and hits the ball right over the infield. He runs as fast as he can, touching first base and then sliding into second, just before the second baseman catches the ball.

The next batter steps up to the plate. The outfielders converse among themselves and then all move back. They know he can hit. The ball is pitched. The batter swings and hits the ball deep into the outfield. Everybody watches expectantly. “Please don’t catch that,” I whisper. Swap! The ball lands in one of the outfielders’ gloves. Batter’s out. That is the second out.

The next batter steps up to the plate. The pitch soars through the air and hits the plate. Strike one. The second time the batter makes good contact sending the ball bouncing along the ground to the second baseman. The second baseman picks up the ball and throws it to first getting the batter out. The third out, but it doesn?t really matter since we’re winning anyway, and there isn’t much of a possibility that the other team, JICA, can catch-up now.

“You can do it guys! Show us some good defense!” I shout as I watch the Suns move out in the field. Various other shouts are heard around me as the players reach their positions. The first batter steps up to the plate. The ball flies towards the batter but lands too far to the side. “Ball one,” the umpire calls. The ball comes again and this time lands a little too short. “Ball two,” the umpire calls. The pitcher sends the ball soaring towards the base once more. This time the batter swings and hits. The ball goes flying into the field but lands in foul territory. “Strike one,” the umpire calls. The pitcher regains the ball and pitches it, this time a little too flat. “Ball three,” the umpire calls. Yet again the pitcher throws the ball and yet again the batter does not swing. The pitch is too high. “Ball four,” the umpire calls, as the batter walks to first.

The next batter is at the plate. The first pitch soars through the air and hits the plate. The second pitch flies toward the batter. He swings and misses. Then the fourth pitch comes toward the batter. He swings and hits the ball straight into the second baseman?s glove. Batter’s out.

The next batter approaches the plate. The ball is pitched. He swings and misses. The second pitch he swings and hits right between the right fielder and the center fielder. He takes off, as the right fielder and the center fielder run to get control of the ball. Finally one of them does and throws it to their cut-off who then throws it to home. Swap! The ball lands directly in the catcher’s glove, holding the batter at third base and getting the other runner out just before he could slide into home.

Another batter is ready at the plate. He swings at the first pitch and sends it deep into the outfield. “Mine, mine,” one of the outfielders shouts as he runs forward watching the ball all the way into his glove.

A cheer goes up as the Suns all run into the field patting each other on the back. “They did it!” I say shaking the person next to me. “They really did it! The Suns won the finals!” I run to the field to congratulate the players. I say “good game” to many of the players on both sides and then hug one of my friends saying, “I knew they could do it! I just knew it!”

Even as I watch all the people celebrating around me, I think of the other Sahel team that I had been on. The Comets was the girl’s team. We had come pretty close to winning sometimes, but had lost all our games in the end. That wasn’t what mattered though. What mattered was that we had come off that field better than we had gone on, and we had kept up a good attitude of joy, team spirit, and good sportsmanship.

As I watched the Suns line up for their team picture, I smiled. Sahel would always have a winning season, no matter what the final score was, as long as the players continued to have a good attitude, to show fair sportsmanship, and most importantly to trust God in all things. ~Julie

This year, NUTS (Niamey Universal Tournament of Softball) was an exciting, edge-of-your-seat, fun tournament to watch. While there were only three competitive teams, there were eight social teams, including the Comets, an all-girls team from Sahel Academy.

As usual, games were played simultaneously at the Rec Center and Sahel Academy. At Sahel Academy, snacks were sold at the ‘Snack Shack, a booth set up by the Sahel Academy Stucco and senior class. Some of the many goodies for sale were cotton candy, funnel cakes, brownies, popsicles, tampicos, cookies, hot-dogs, brochettes, the best quesadillas in town, coke, sprite, fanta, and tonic.

Some of the social games were really fun and exciting to watch. The best games to watch were the games between the Cotonou Zemis and the Sahel Suns. In their first game, at the bottom of the 3^rd inning, the Zemis were up 12-6. By the end of the 5^th inning, Sahel was back in the game. In the last inning Sahel scored 2 run to give the Suns a 14-13 lead over the Zemis; but in the bottom of the inning, the Zemis got 1 run to tie up the game 14 all. In the semi-finals game between these 2 teams, the Suns came alive and showed their fielding brilliance in beating the Zemis 10-7! In the finals, Sahel played the Japanese team and beat them 13-6 to take first place with an all student team for the first time in Sahel Academy history!!

The Comets showed a great effort in all of the games they played. They made some great hits and plays both offensively and defensively. Even though they didn’t win any games, they showed great team spirit and positive sportsmanship, as well as being an encouragement towards the teams they played.

Sunday evening, an awards banquet was held at the Rec Center. There was a slide show of softball pictures taken by lots of people, followed by the awards. An award for the best softball accessories’ was given to a member of the Zemis who wore pink socks and a Boston Red Sox hat. A ’king of the road’ award was given to Tim Smith for hitting three consecutive homeruns in one game while having an injured knee. Some other awards were ‘most missed’ for injured team members and ‘pumpkin pitcher’ for pitchers that wore orange shirts during a game.

Last but not least were the trophies. In the Social Division, the trophy went to the ‘Sahel Suns’ for their 13-6 win over the Japanese team in the finals. Next up was the Nomads who received the first place trophy for defeating the Sahel Angels in a bone-crushing 30-6 win in the finals!! ~Jonathan

This year, Sahel Academy has a girls’ softball team. We are the “Comets”, and are going to play in NUTS. We are all playing to have fun, not necessarily to win; but if we do win, all we would say is “HALLELUJAH!” We practice every Friday after school till five, and on Saturdays we have practice games at 1:30 pm at the Recreation Center with other teams. Last Saturday, we played the American School’s (ASN) team, which is mixed (both boys and girls). We won 7 to 5. It was pretty close, but we did our best and we won! The Comets will be playing in the NUTS the October 5^th to 7^th. Come and cheer for us!!!! ~Susana

Last week we had the privilege of hosting a team of four wonderful people come to Sahel to work. This work team had a special mission: to install our new phone system. Thanks to a security grant from the US government (the same grant which provided our wall), we were able to buy a completely brand new phone system which should last for many years to come. Now the system is completely installed and we say a huge thank you to Ellen, Earl, Weston and Jerry from Tech Serve who came all the way from the US to help in this way. They had a busy time while in Niger as they were able to do phone work at the SIL center, SIM office and also flew out to Galmi Hospital to spend a week working there. ~Aunt Cathy

 ”Moms in Touch” is a group of Moms who meet together on Thursday mornings to pray for Sahel students and staff. They have been very active this year and been an encouragement to all of us. Last week all the staff had a big surprise during our staff in-service time. We entered the staff lounge and immediately saw a table set full of ice-cream toppings. Once we were all there they pulled out vanilla and chocolate ice-cream and we thoroughly enjoyed our ice-cream sundaes with more toppings than we knew what to do with! Today the Moms went to all the classes to let the students know they are prayed for every Thursday and invited them to give specific prayer requests. There are now nicely decorated boxes around campus available for students to put requests into. Then today the Moms surprised all the students by giving out frozen tampicos during recess time. We are all thankful for the prayers and great encouragement from our Moms in Touch group! ~Aunt Kathy

Bible study is one of those things that I (and hopefully everyone) look forward to each week. It is a place where we not only get to talk about God?s word, but get to grow together as brothers and sisters in Christ. One of the things that makes me look forward to Bible study each week is the fact that each of our groups becomes so incredibly close and somehow we feel that we can share almost anything with each other. Bible study provides a safe place to be vulnerable and to learn about who we really are.

Last night, Bible studies began. We split up into groups by both gender and grade:

In the past Bible studies have been a very encouraging time for me. God has showed me a lot about myself and how to love like Him. Not only that, but it is a time when I can just relax and forget about all of the things that are bothering me. I am really looking forward to what God is going to do in Bible studies this year! ~Tam

Bullying! What is bullying all about? What does it mean to bully someone? Does bullying just involve hitting somebody till he or she bleeds? Is it just something physical? No! Absolutely not!

Yesterday in assembly, Uncle Brian (the director of Sahel Academy) shared some memories of his growing up years in Liberia - his memories of bullying. He told us a story about him and his friends when he was young.

His friend Billy was weak and was always sick. Jimmy was a bully and he always picked on Billy. Billy was always hurting. Uncle Brian and a couple of his friends felt that what was going on was plain injustice, but none of them had the guts to stop Jimmy.

One day, however, Jimmy took Billy’s bike and was riding about on it with Billy trying to follow on his heels. Uncle Brian got so mad that he told Jimmy to stop it. Jimmy did not listen to him, so he lunged at Jimmy on the bike. Unfortunately, his arm got stuck in the wheel. He was hurt, but he had stopped Jimmy from bullying Billy.

To cut a long story short, Uncle Brian, assured each and every one of us that the staff of Sahel Academy wants to make Sahel a safe place for every student. He advised us to talk to a staff member or our parents if we ever get bullied in any way. He also charged us to take a stand against bullies and to stop bullying before it gets started. The story struck a chord in the hearts of all who heard its powerful message. ~Susana, Antony, Adam

Today, Pastor Dave invited those who had birthdays in the months of July and August to his house, out near the American Embassy. There were around 10 people who showed up, eager to begin the festivities!

As we all waited restlessly for dinner, we chatted and shared things about the week with those that were around them. At long last, Uncel Dave emerged from his house and announced that dinner was ready! He then selected people to go first based on the date of their birthday!

The dinner was very exotic! Tacos were on the menu and everyone was eager to start making their favorite taco out of almost every topping available! Everyone indulged in the great fun of making tacos: putting on topping after topping as if the dinner was a food contest.

Soon afterwards, it was time to eat the cake! We all huddled into the room and gathered round the cake! The pastor told each of us to blow out one candle. After each one of us had successfully blown out one candle, we each got to partake in the delicious and decorative cake!

Next, was sharing time. We each had to share some information about our birth. Mine was pretty funny because at the time of my birth, I was kicking like a soccer-ball in my mother?s stomach!

We ended the night by playing a game I had never heard of. This game was called speed uno. It took a while after Uncle Dave told us how to play, but I eventually caught on. Soon afterwards you could feel the adrenaline of the intense game soak into your mind. You were always thinking ahead of what to do and you had no time to lose. It was a do or die situation!

The dinner was a great event to start off the school year and was a kind gesture from Pastor Dave and Aunt Anora that made all the July/August people leave feeling special and happy.  ~Jonathan